Inviting you to the annual meeting, and to the presidential plenary

Faculty and student colleagues in the semester system are well into their summer break/session, while those of us in the quarter system are in the final inning stretch.  Soon, it will be summer for us all, which means that it will also be time to take a break.

After the break, a new APCG year will begin with the annual meeting at Tucson, Arizona.  I invite you to a few days of All Things Geographic in the gorgeous desert setting.

And, come prepared with ideas that you can kick up over the summer, especially for the discussions that I hope will be in plenty at the presidential plenary.

The title for that session is Quo Vadis?

Back in 1935, when the APCG was chartered, the nature of higher education was very different from what we experience now. Well, "very different" is an understatement, yes. Scholarly exchanges and creating a community of geographers would have been quite a challenge nearly eighty years ago, as opposed to the ease with which we are now able to exchange ideas--in person, and via print and emails--and to create communities of like-minded people in the real and virtual worlds.

As much as the changes have been remarkable over the years, we can certainly expect a lot more to come in the next few years. Meanwhile, the nature of higher education is also rapidly changing. Technology, for instance, is facilitating, and forcing, new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. There appears to be a greater push for "professional" higher education than was the case even in the immediate years past.

In 2014, as we look ahead into the future, what would we like the APCG to achieve? What should the APCG's role be, in all these rapidly changing contexts, when it comes to the important aspects of exchange of ideas, the teaching of geography, and professional development, among other issues?  Hence, quo vadis?

I imagine that each panelist will have about 10 to 12 minutes of presentation time. After all the panelists complete their respective presentations, we will have enough and more time for the audience and the panelists to collectively think more about how we want to (re)shape APCG's future.  The APCG, and I, would immensely benefit from your participation.

For now, your response to quo vadis? is a simple one: you are going to Tucson, right?  See you soon.

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