We're-not-shy Brag Sheet

Our brand-new "Internship with GIS" course (G&ES 395) had three students its first semester (Summer 08). Dan Baranski worked in the GIS lab of the City of Chicago's Department of Transportation, Camille Stewart was a Cartographic Technician with the USDA Forest Service in Montana, and Kevin Sullivan did GIS work for the City of Naperville. Camille then got a GIS job with Kowalenko and Bolitti, Chicago - based Environmental Consulting firm.

Kate Ekman, E.S. major, was voted chairperson of the Green Technology Fee Committee, on which she, Banerjee, Howenstine, and Georgia Yelton serve. The committee recently purchased many new bike racks and an electric utility vehicle. Its web page is www.neiu.edu/~greenfee. Ekman wrote the University's main Green web page (~green), and is intern with Facilities Management, facilitating green campus projects. She has written a $2,400 G&ES -sponsored grant proposal to the National Wildlife Federation to measure NEIU's carbon footprint.

Jim Williams, from way back, stopped by to say hello. He's Project Manager of SET Environmental, Chicago based environmental and hazardous materials management company. He's been there since 2000.

Twenty eight attended the first annual (?) Fall G&ES get-together, a pot luck afternoon in the park-like area north of the P.E. building the Sunday before classes. The weather was great, the company excellent, and there's talk of doing it again -- next time with more notice. Scott Garfinkel took the organizational lead.

Dr. Grammenos reviewed three articles for academic journals recently. One for Urban Geography, one for City and Society, and one for the Geographical Bulletin.

Dr. Banerjee participated in the Summer 2008 Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Institute in Santa Clara, Calif. in August, with colleagues from Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Math, and Earth Science. Goal: explore possible Environmental Science program.

In a sea of NEIU umbrellas at the May 3 2008 Covocation we proudly presented 18 students. These were M.A's : Matt Anderson, Samantha Serrano, and Kim Strout; Environmental Studies B.A.'s: Kelly Bougher, Stephenie Creegan, Natalie Dutack, Garth Huskey, Danuta Siedlarz, Jessica Zich and Juan Rivera; and Geography B.A.'s: Isiah Dalton, Steven Gallup, Lazar Ilic, Dariusz Marek, Abdul Parsons-Bey, Mary Schultz, Kevin Whitney and Matthew Wickstrom. Congratulations all!

Fall '07 Dean's list is out. Full time students: Kimberly Blaszczak, Michael M. Buibas Jr, Kathleen M. Darr, Elizabeth T. Foster, Roxanne K Lllanes, Matthew Migon, James R. Miller, Jason A Tinkley, Kevin D Whitney, Cornelius O Williams, Lakesia Wright. Part time students: Thaddeus J Cellak, Natalie E Dutak, Pauline M Miraburda, Lazar Illic, Eric T Pearson, Danuta A Siedlarz, Gayle D Tulipano, Danie;J Wojtas, Jennifer R Wyatt, and Georgia B Yelton. Congratulations!

Kevin Whitney presented a paper at the 16th Annual NEIU Research Symposium, titled: "Spatial 3D Modelling: Google's Platform." Advisor, Erick Howenstine.

Dr. Banerjee delivered "Charting a Different Course: Can India Avoid the Common Pitfalls of Biofuels?" at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in Boston April 18 2008. Kim Strout and Matt Anderson, both G&ES M.A. students, presented papers. Kim's was "Wal-Mart's Sustainability Initiatives: Real Gains or Greenwashing?," in the Business and Environment Around the World session and Matt's was "Place, Subdivisions, and the American Dream" in Urban Geography: Property and Sprawl. Matt will be starting a PhD program at the University of Illinois in Urbana Fall 2009. Jamison Miller and Ethan Halpern-Givens also attended the conference.

G&ES faculty member Emily Good gave a lecture to teachers on toponymy -- the study of place names -- at the Field Museum April 4 during the Illinois National Geographic Bee/Competition. She also presented at an NEIU conference called The Future of E-Learning at NEIU April 9 at NEIU. Her Intro to Env. Studies is one of the first three NEIU courses which are entirely on line.

We had the pleasure April 8 '08 of a brown bag colloquium lecture titled Drinking Water in Northeastern India from Dr. Hari Prasad Sarma, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Environmental Science in Gauhati University, India. He was in the United States for a conference. Thanks to Dr. Banerjee for the arrangements.

Our G&ES M.A. grad Moneen Jones, now doctoral student in Entomology at U.of I. Champaign, just received a $10,000 grant for a study of Oriental Fruit Moths in Apples and Peaches, from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

Dennis Grammenos was interviewed by Radio Netherlands on the topic of Political Opression in Colombia Feb. 8 2008. You can hear it here

Matt Anderson, finishing his G&ES M.A., has been accepted to University of Southern CA (funded), U. of Ill. Urbana (funded) and UIC's PhD in Urban Planning and Policy. Our B.A. Ethan Halpern-Givens has been accepted into UIC's Master's program Urban Planning and Policy. Congratulations!

G&ES faculty member Emily Good will chair the Illinois Geogrphical Society's annual meeting which will be held at NEIU April of 2009. This is a two-day conference including a day-long field trip and a paper-poster session on Saturday April 25.

Dr. Banerjee is now the faculty advisor of the Green Cycle Group and a member of the Green Technology Fee Steering Committee. Howenstine is also on the committee along with our Kate Ekman. Kate is also on the Steering Committee, she is the intern providing research support to the projects.

Judy Bock, G&ES Adjunct, is new president of the Geographical Society of Chicago. Our Emily Good is a member of its Education Advisory Panel; she's serves as Secretary for the Illlinois Geographical Society, where she's also on the Teacher Education Steering Committee. Good and Bock will jointly chair the Summer Geography Institute for Teachers K-12 to incorporate geography education in the classroom and school communities. This is a six-day Institute to be held at Elmhurst College, July 7-12, 2008.

We participated with a poster in the Global Initiatives fair Feb. 19 2008 in the Student Center. The poster showed how G&ES has global scope (as well as a local one). You may know the university is gearing up for an interdisciplinary major in Global Studies.

Emily Good made a presentation February 9, 2008 at the Field Museum as part of their Teacher Education Workshop in conjunction with the "National Geographic Live" Lecture series. The topic was how to incorporate geographic activities with class visits to the Field Museum.

Several new courses have been created: Grammenos has written Environment and Urbanization, Social Geography, a CAD-platform course Urban Design Studio, and a graduate level Qualitative Research course. Howenstine created a second-year GIS syllabus (GIS II), a 3-hour Internship in GIS and variable Topics in Geography and in Env. Studies. Banerjee has contributed a 300-level course called Sustainable Development and has revived both Environmental Planning and Alternative Energy Policy and Practice. Jones' Freshman Seminar Environmental Chicago is going up as a permanent course, as will Grammenos' Global Chicago. Good's Geography of Tourism, Qutub's Solid Waste, and Jones' Chicago Rivers will get their own place in the catalog, as will the graduate courses Population Problems and International Environmental Policy. Mostek's Oceanography sequence -- awkwardly placed in its own department (G&ES -OC) is refashioned as a new Regional Geography: World Oceans; all the Regional courses (G&ES 302) have been rearranged to better match the modern world.

In the past two and a half years faculty have met more than 45 times revising and revamping the program. The first wave of the resulting proposed changes have been approved. These include some course revisions, new prerequisites, new program requirements, some new courses and greater integration of course content, along with a well-planned scheduling sytem. Courses which have not been taught for ages -- and are not likely to be taught soon -- have been removed from the catalog. Current students can choose to go with the old requirements or the new ones. We're still meeting to "tune" the undergraduate curriculum and attend to the graduate one. It all will be explained; we're sure you'll like it.

Anna Wagner is now Geographic Specialist at the Census Bureau, the third G&ES student in that capacity there. Marcin Dabrowski and Kathleen Derel are the others.

The Department was given a new tenure track position -- GeoSpatial -- to begin Fall 08. Dr. Grammenos chaired the Search and Screen Committee which included Dr. Banerjee and two outside members -- Marcelo Sztainberg from computer science and Sangmin Bae from Political Science. Many excellent applications, seven phone interviews and four campus interviews later -- we're close to making an announcement!

We've received a list of "active"graduate students from the Graduate College. Over 60! Not that many are taking classes at any time, though.

Nick Ames, a newly admitted grad student who has been taking classes for a while, is the new Technical Assistantship after an excellent several-year run by Matt Anderson. Anja Claus and Shelly Burlincourt are taking on the Teaching Assistantship together. Thank you all!

The department sponsored a meeting for faculty across NEIU with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning 10/15/07.

Abhijit Banerjee, our newest tenure track faculty member, completed his doctorate and has received his PhD from University of Delaware. He starts his NEIU career with two new courses fall '07 Environmental Planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels. And a bread-and-butter Introduction to Environmental Studies. Find him in S-344C.

We're beginning a 3D modelling project which will put NEIU in Google Earth. See a clip of work in progress by clicking here.

Emily Good is one of five NEIU faculty selected to create an on-line course. Her G&ES 150 (Intro to Env. Studies) is one of three slated to go live Spring '08. The project is called SPELS (Setting the Pace for E-Learning Success), out of the Center for Teaching and Learning.

First thing fall term, the department is rolling out an all-new G&ES Graduate Student Handbook, a 40-page booklet that rivals the new Undergraduate Handbook in G&ES that came out last year. The cover is blue (undergraduate cover is yellow). Get yours in the front office.

Libby Hill, our M.A. and long-time Instructor for the Belize trip, has published a long articlle in the Chicago Tribune Magazine July 29. The title: "The Making of an Urban Legend": How did an 1885 Flood of Little Consequence become and Epidemic that 'killed' 90,000 Chicagoans?". Here it is.

We have a lot to brag about. These G&ES students have made the Dean's List Spring 07: Kimberly Blaszczak , Kelly Bougher , Natalie Dutack , Steven Gallup , Princess Harris , Jamison Miller , Fiana Shapiro , Danuta Siedlarz , Camille Stewart , Kevin Whitney , Cornelius Williams , Tara Wilson , Jennifer Wyatt , Jessica Zich , Mary Brassie , Kate Ekman , Melissa Graney , Ethan Halpern-Givens , Paulina Haraburda , Elzbieta Irla , Eric Pearson , Luis Pineda , Giany Sfintu , Brian Teichert , Georgia Yelton. Congratulations!

G&ES has been given approval to hire a new faculty member to begin Fall '08. Specialization: GIS.

Dave Jones' City Planning class got together for a Brown Bag presentation of their projects April 26. Then he took his Freshman Year Experience class "Environmental Chicago" onto the river canoeing April 30.

The following students are presenting at the April 20 2007 Student Research Symposium, now in its 15th year:

• Nina Roberts: "Tourism and Consumption in Santa Fe, New Mexico"
• Kelly Bougher; "Management Issues and Solutions for the Nine-Banded Armadillo"
• Ethan Halpern-Givens: "Demographic Change and Gentrification in Latino Chicago's Northwest Side"
• Tara Wilson: "Highrise Howlers: Coyotes in Chicagoland"

Congratulations to the following students who made the Dean's list Fall 2006: Kelly Bougher Alessandra Conversi Melissa Graney Lauren Schmitz Danuta Siedlarz Elizabeth Vashro Tara Wilson Mary Brassie Natalie Dutack Kate Ekman Steven Gallup Garth Huskey Jeremy Slate Brian Teichert Ethan Halpern-Givens Elzbieta Irla Kevin Whitney Tanusri Banerjee Eric Pearson! Good work!

Wilfredo Matamoros gave an excellent presentation at a Brown Bag Network meeting March 8: "The Fishes of Honduras." He has spent two years traversing the remote reaches of Honduras, cataloging fish species more thoroughly than has ever been done there before. Not only has he found a much greater diversity of species than was previously known, he found more geographic specificity in their habitat than the literature suggested. And he found at least one new species known to science -- maybe three. He intends to continue the effort until the entire country is complete. Wilfredo, 2004 G&ES M.A., is working on his PhD in biology at the University of Southern Mississippi.

We are very pleased to welcome our new tenure-track faculty member Dr. Abhejit Banerjee, who will join the department Fall 2007. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware and has been teaching at the Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University and in the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning at Towson University. Dennis Grammenos chaired the Search and Screen committee. Thanks to Jon Hageman (Anthropology) and Jeanine Ntihirageza (English Language/Linguistics)for serving on the committee as well.

G&ES co-hosted the Chicago Wilderness' "Wild Things" conference March 3, bringing nearly 1,000 nature enthusiasts to NEIU again this year. Congratlations goes especially to Elizabeth Wiley, G&ES intern who worked exclusively on the project. "We couldn't have done it without her" was how Judy Pollack, Conference Coordinator from Chicago Wilderness and Chicago Audubon put it. But many students from the department helped make the event another great success: Gina Lettiere (Env. Studies grad), Kelly Bougher and Danusia Siedlarz recruited and organized volunteers while Scott Goedert, Ricky Youngs and Mary Schultz showed their leadership skills and commitment on the conference day. Also volunteering on day of the conference were Stephanie Brauning, Diane Gritton, Natalie Dutack, Kim Strout, Georgia Yelton and Anja Claus. Sorry if we forgot somebody! Libby Hill, G&ES instructor, and Lydia Sikat, department secretary, provided crucial administrative support and liason contact with the other people in all areas of the university that were essential: Chaelecia Cooper, Dean Paul, Ann Weaver, Sofia Quir and Sarator Whitehead and their staff. The day-long conference had more than 100 break out sessions in classrooms across campus throughout the day.

At the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (San Francisco) our Marne McArdle (G&ES M.A. student) will present "Where Have All the Lesbians Gone? Lesbian Placemaking in Chicago," to the section Sexuality and Identity; Derek Tait (G&ES M.A.) will present "Consumption of Place: Exploring the Sociospatial Implications of the Coffee Trail and Agrotourism in North Central Nicaragua" to the Human Environment Interactions session, and Matt Anderson (G&ES M.A.) will organize and present to the Suburban Solution, Three Decades Later session: "Place making and Suburban Culture -- Transformation over the Past Three Decades." Dr. Dennis Grammenos will present "Cafe con Leche: Critical Geographies of Latino Racialization in Chicago" to Racialized Places, Racialized Bodies I, and will Chair and organize that session. Dr. Debby Mir will present "Preparing Future Environmental Studies Teachers through the Illinois MSTQE Program" to the Geograpic Education/Active Learning session.

More than 60 people attended the screening and discussion of "An Inconvenient Truth" this month, sponsored by Green Cycle Group. GCG is a cross-departmental environmental club faculty sponsored by G&ES's Debby Mir.

Dr. Mir won a grant for a CSU/NEIU Online Teaching Partnership for Spring 2007, to create a hybrid/online course involving video conferencing, with assistance from the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Department of G&ES will again cosponsor the Wild Things Conference with Chicago Wilderness, March 3. Dr. Debby Mir will present "Engaging Educators from Urban Communities in Nature Education," Adolfo Sanchez, G&ES M.A. student, will present "Integrating Restoration Ecology into Educational Settings," and Kevin Dick, also a G&ES M.A. student: "The Importance of the Private Landowner in Protecting Critical Habitat."

Dr. Charles Schmidt, G&ES Instructor, presented "Recent Environmental Issues in Africa: A Focus on Water Resources" to attendees of the 11th Annual African ... American ... Conference Jan. 31

Emily Good, G&ES faculty member, was guest speaker on the topic "The United States and Immigration" for the Oak Park-River Forest League of Women Voters in January.

Jack Giles, M.A. grad from 1993 and long-time chair of Social Studies at Northside College Prep H.S. reports from retirement. Jack continues to publish in Geography Journals, three since 2005, and quite a few in Japanese!

We had a successful prairie burn Nov. 20, with the participation of about 10 G&ES students and Steve Frankel of biology, who does some research in that area and helped lead the burn. About 80% was scorched, but it was a little slow going due to a little moisture in the grasses and leaves. Now that we understand the process better, it'll be easier and even better next time. Soon there will be more pictures on the prairie burn page: http://www.neiu.edu/~deptges/prairie .

The Search is underway for our next Tenure Track position: Environmental Planner/Environmental Geographer. We've received a good number of excellent applications. The faculty member will begin in Fall of 2007

Becca Raven Uninowicz is the new department secretary (half-time in the afternoons) who you will see in S-346B. She is handing Economics business, which our heroic Lydia Sikat has been doing along with G&ES work for several years. Lydia will focus on G&ES now. She and Becca will stand in for one another when necessary.

Geography major Cornelius Williams has an article published in the Illinois Geographic Alliance's Aliance Reporter, Fall 2006 issue. Its title: Ibeju Lekki Peninsula, Nigeria. Also in that edition is an article on the IGA Fall Conference by Karla Young-Giles, Teacher Consultant and M.A G&ES grad. Here is the link.

Dr. Mir presented a paper 10/29/06 in a sesson on Exhibit Development at the Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Conference in Tennessee. Her paper was on Green Buildings as Environmental Exhibits/museums/visiting centers.

We have word now that the Wild Things Conference, sponsored by Chicago Audubon and Chicago Wilderness Society, will again be hosted by G&ES and held at NEIU, March 3 2007. Last year this successful event drew 1,000 participants, and we expect it to be another great event. Read about the 2005 conference here: WILD THINGS CONFERENCE. Planning is underway, please contact Judy Pollack at jpollock@audubon.org to help out. Thanks already to E.S. majors Danuta Siedlarz and Kelly Bougher for agreeing to take on responsibilities for volunteers, with Gina Lattiere (2005 E.S. graduate, instrumental in last year's WTC, and now volunteer for Audubon).

Yes, the department will burn the prairies on campus this year. The scheduled date is Nov. 16 with weather-delay Nov. 20. Volunteers (about 17 of them!) will be contacted by email. To get on that list, write jerrymostek@hotmail.com .

On Aug. 3 Wil Maheia (B.A. 1992) was honored of 2006 Alumnus of the Year for Distinguished Service to the Environmental Community. He is the founder and executive director of the Toledo INstitute for Development and Environment, to protect Toledo's marine and terrestrial environments. In 2001 he helped negotiate the first Debt for Nature Swap between Belize and the U.S. He received the prestigious Equator Initiative Prize from the U.N., Environmental Organization of the Year Award from the government of Belize, Cliff Messenger Award from the Nature Conservancy, and others. The ceremony -- food, some speeches, and lots of camaraderie -- was held in the B courtyard. More than a hundred people attended, including Dean Forhan seven current or former faculty and staff, Wil's family, and many many students who have traveled to Belize since 1993. Wil has been one of Belize's environmental leaders since graduation, and is running for president there. Libby Hill, who organized the event, has teamed with Wil for the past 14 years to take NEIU students on an environmental field trip there Spring terms. More than 200 NEIU students have experienced Belize through this rigorous course. Hats off to Sponsored Programs for making this possible!

Joshua Marine (2004) is working for the Park District of Highland Park, GIS/GPS mapping for natural resources and amenities.

The Audubon Society (Chicago Region) is considering NEIU as venue for their "Wild Things" conference again this year (Feb. 2007). Last year the one-day conference drew 740 people to campus, thanks to sponsorship of G&ES, and particularly G&ES faculty member Libby Hill.

G&ES faculty member Emily Good has joined the executive board of the Illinois Geographical Society as secretary for IGS. She is also on the Teacher Education Steering Committee of the Illinois Geographical Alliance.

Catharine Mann, 2004 grad, is Assistant Horticlturalist at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Mike Martinez, our grad, is Senior Planner Environmental Policy & Review, in the Division of Ecological Services, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

6/16/06: date marker

The department has added a few new courses: (1) G&ES 219:GIS Across the Curriculum (2) G&ES 109a:Freshman Seminar: Global Chicago, and (3) G&ES 109b:Freshman Seminar: Environmental Chicago. A short while ago we added G&ES 3XX:Latino Metropolis and G&ES 387:Interactive Cartography.

Kevin Dick is Technical Assistant for the department Summer 2006, after which Matt Anderson, M.A. student, will take the position. Derek Tait is Teaching Assistant beginning Summer 2006.

Dr. Grammenos recently led a field trip through Humboldt Park for the Annual Meeting of the Illinois Geographical Society early May. I received a letter of thanks to him from Keith Yearman, Assistant Professor Geography at the College of Dupage. Keith is our M.A. grad.

Kevin Dick, M.A. student, presented "Greening Your Facility with Clean Air Initiatives" to the Center for Green Technology. He runs the Clean Air Counts Campaign for the Chicago southland (www.cleanaircounts.org).

Fall Arts & Sciences Dean' List included quite a few of our students:

Melinda Bosco
Monique Dubray
Ethan Halpern-Givens
Kelly Larsen
James Metz
Matthew Meyer
Lauren Schmitz
Jeremy Slate
Elizabeth Vashro

Professor Musa Qutub received a Landmark Strategic University Grant 2006-COM-034146; software ($129,360)

Grammenos publised “Immigrant Metropolis,” in the Association of American Geographers’ Newsletter v. 40, n. 10 p 1.

Aaron Durnbaugh, M.A. student, presented“Soil food web response to compost tea treatment on a Chicago Brownfield," presented at the American Community Gardening Association National Conference, August 2006.

Erick Howenstine attended a 2-day workshop on "Healthy Departments," sponsored by the Association of American Geographers, in Athens GA. June 9-10 2006. Lots of good ideas!

Howenstine gave a day-long GIS workshop to Master's Students in the department of Biology at Northwestern, and another to the Bureau of Land Management interns through a program at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Dennis Grammenos gave a talk to DePaul University based on his chapteter in Chicago's Geographies, "Latino Chicago."

Sarah Moloney completed her thesis: "Moloney, Sara (Grammenos Assistant Professor). Selling Appalachia: Tourism and the Marketing of an Appalachian Identity." in 2005

Moneen Jones completed her G&ES thesis, "The Distribution and Habitat of the Ladybird Beetle Harmonia Axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) In Illinois" in 2006, received her M.A. and began her PhD program at U of I Champaign, in a funded position.

M.A. student Kevin Dick presented “Diversity of Stree Tree Distribution in Chicago,” presented at Practice or Restoring Native Ecosystems 6th National Conference. Nebraska City, Nebraska, Nov. 8, 2005

Presentations at the Illinois Geographical Society's Annual Meeting April 27-29 2006 included the following:

Assistant Professor Debby Mir: "Are Environmental Agencies Targeting Service Micro-enterprises as Neighborhoods Gentrify?"

Assistant Professor Dennis Gramennos: "The New Latino Metropolis: Geographies of Race, Ethnicity and Class in Chicago. "

Moneen Jones, M.A. student: “The Distribution and Habitat of the Multicolored Asian Ladybird Beetle in Illinois.”

Susan Casey, M.A. student: "Understanding the Wind Energy Opposition."

Nina Roberts, G&ES major: "Geographic Literacy at the Freshman and Senior Levels: A Survey of Students at Northeastern Illinois University."

Assistant Professor Dennis Grammenos co-edited a book, Chicago's Geographies: Metropolis for the 21st Century, which was published by the Association of American Geographers. Grammenos also wrote a chapter in the book: "Latino Chicago." pp 205-216

Professor Erick Howenstine wrote a chapter in Chicago's Geographies, titled "Race and INcome in the Chicago Area." pp 163-171.

At the 14th Annual Student Research Symposium at NEIU April 21 2006.

Nina Roberts, Geography major, “Geographic Literacy at the Freshman and Senior Levels: A survey of students at Northeastern Illinois University.”

M.A. student Moneen Jones presented a poster: “The Distribution and Habitat of the Ladybird Beetle Harmonia Axyridis (Cleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Illinois.”

Several faculty and students gave presentations at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago:

Assistant Professor Dennis Grammenos: "A Pound of Flesh in Uptown: Revanchism and Community in a Gentrifying Chicago Neighborhood."

Professor Erick Howenstine: "Class-Based Segregation Within Racial/Ethnic Groups in Chicago."

Assistant Professor Debby Mir: "Environmentl Behavior in Automotive Repair Micro-Enterprises in Chicago."

Chivia Horton, M.A. student: "Selling Rain Gardens: PUblic Perceptions of Bioretention Facilities in Chicago."

Susan Casey, M.A. student: "Tilting at Windmills: Opposition to a Wind Energy Project in Bureau County, Illinois."

Marne McArdle, M.A. student: “Where the Girls Are: Lesbian Territories in Chicago.”

Moneen Jones, M.A. student: "The Distribution and Habitat of the ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis by survey throughout Illinois Landscape."

Sarah Moloney, M.A. student: “Selling Appalachia: Tourism and the Marketing of an Appalachian Identity,”

Derek Tait, M.A. student: "Have Coffee, Will Travel: The Development of Coffee Agrotourism in Nicaragua."

Kevin Dick, M.A. Student: "). “Street Tree Diversity in Chicago: Chicago’s Response to the Asian Longhorned Beetle Infestation," poster presentation.

Grammenos chaired a session: Class war and geography: revisiting the 1886 Haymarket Square massacre, was a pannelist on a session: Street Level Geography: University-Community REsearch and Action in Chcago and Beyond, and served on the Programming Committee

Howenstine Chaired a session: Segregation and the City, and served on the Programming Committee

Mir Chaired a session: Urban Environmental Hazards

Casey chaired a session: Blown Away: Geography of Wind in the U.S.

Tait chaired a session: Development in Central America.

Mir's pepar. “Environmental Behavior in Chicago Automotive Repair Micro-Enterprises (MEPs)," was accepted for publication in Business Strateby and the Environment.

Mir's paper “Factors Affecting Environmental Behavior in Micro-Enterprises: Laundry and Motor Vehicle Repair Firms in Jerusalem." was accepted for publication in the International Small Business Journal.

Rob Rebecchi, long-time teaching assistant for G&ES 104 and 2003 M.A. graduate, is now teaching an occassional session of World Geography for us, beginning Spring 06. Dr. Robyn Flakne, G&ES M.A. 1989 taught Forest Resource Management Spring and will offer National Parks and Forests in Spring 07.

Mir presented “Training Teachers and Students to Explore Environmental Science: University-Museum Partnerships: Using Outdoor Exhibits to Learn Environmental Science,” Presented at the City Park and the Environment: Challenges Related to their Use, International Workshop. Sao Paulo, Brazil June 28-30 2005.

Sarah Moloney, M.A. 2005, works at the Center for Green Technology, a branch of Chicago's Dept. of Environment. Nicole Kamins, another G&ES grad, is program director in the dept. for the Calumet Projects.

Gerry Bakker is now working for the EPA.

Keith Yearman, B.A. Geography, M.A. 2000 G&ES, received tenure at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn where he is an Assistant Professor of geography

Arthur V. Bourland, B.A. ES 1989, is an environmental health ad safety coordinator at The Lockformer Company. He is the project manager for the electic resistive heating soil cleanup project in Lisle.

Scott D. Levin, 1994 B.A. ES, is a project manager at ATC Associates Inc. in San Diego.

Wilfredo Matamoros (M.A. G&ES 2001) was accepted to the doctorate program in biology at the University of Southern Mississippi

Yong, Kim, geography minor 2003, is happily employed at Suntrans Freight Forwarding, and reports his geography clinched the job.

Chivia Horton, G&ES M.A. student, has published a paper in the Chicago Wilderness Journal, titled "Accepting Flood Management Strategies: Public Perceptions of Rain Gardens in Chicago." You can read the article at THIS LINK.

Cameron Rex, current undergraduate major, won the Illinois Geographical Society Student of the Year Award in 2004. He also won the Illinois GIS Association Student Achievement award in 2004. Cameron wrote BUGHOUSE, the NEIU conferencing board, with G&ES Professor Erick Howenstine's assistance and advisement. He also developed the department's first GIS server, and is experimenting with a veriety of server side software to deliver projects such as the NEIU Vegetation GIS on line. He is also updating that project, which the department initiated in 1997.

Jayne Lilienfield-Jones, G&ES M.A. student, recently won a position as Inspector General for the Federal EPA. Congratulations, Jayne!

A letter just received from the Region 5 of the U.S. EPA, was signed Megan Gavin, Environmental Education Program Manager for Region 5! Megan graduated with Environmental Studies a few years back.

Both Adam Gibson and Julie Tochor, G&ES grads, were seen at an ESRI meeting in 2004, learning ArcGIS ver. 9. Adam is Application Support Specialist, using GIS skills to trace stolen/recovered guns for the Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives! Julie is GIS Specialist with Earth Tech, a Milwaukee firm specializing in Global Water Managemen.

G&ES secretary Lydia Sikat won NEIU Employee of the Month award this year February, an award which may and should be extended to Employee of the Year.

Elizabeth Sanders' thesis was published in the Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society Fall 2003. It's title: “Grassland Birds: The Cook County Nesting Season Bird Census.”

This page is just getting started -- we'd very much like to hear about events and successess in the field. here's an easy opportunity to get in touch with us -- tell us what you're doing!! Thanks very much! Send a note to E-Howenstine@neiu.edu .