Alumni News
Jeff La Frenierre (PhD 2014, Geog) and Bryan Mark were featured in this Science Magazine article, discussing the impact of global warming on the peak, Chimborazo, Ecuador. Jeff is now an Assistant Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Naomi Adaniya (MA Public Health 2010, MA Geog 2013, Ph.D. Public Health 2016) received the William Oxley Thompson Alumni Award, honoring young alumni who have demonstrated distinctive achievement in a career, civic involvement or both.
Michael Niedzielski (MA Geog 2005, PhD Geog 2009) has achieved "habilitation" (tenure) and the rank of Associate Professor in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He and his wife, Gosia, are also proud parents of a new son, Tomasz.
Abdilahi Hassan (BA, Geog 2016) was featured in a USA Today article: Ethnic eats in Columbus, Ohio: From Nepal to Somalia, it's all here.
Elizabeth (Libby) Wentz (MA, Geography 1989), professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and dean of social sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, has been appointed vice provost and dean of the Graduate College.
Gunhak Lee (PhD Geography, 2008) has been promoted to the rank of Professor with tenure in the Department of Geography, Seoul National University.
Mike Bettes (meteorologist for the Weather Channel) "dropped in" via Zoom to give a guest lecture in our class GEOG 3900: Global Climate Change: Causes and Consequences.
Jill Clark, PhD Geog 2009, now associate professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Canada for "Scaling-up food democracy: An analysis of Canadian and US food policy councils." Clark will be conducting research at Carleton University in Ontario.
Gary Sharpe, (BA, Geog) gave a virtual guest lecture for our Geography 2400 (Economic and Social Geography), taught by Ariel Rawson (PhD candidate). Gary's talk focused on medical supply chains in pandemic times.
Where are They Now?
Matthew Campbell (BS Atmospheric Science, 2017) - National Weather Service Wilmington, OH
Yuxi Zhao (PhD 2016, Geography) - Lecturer in Economics at Wenzhou-Kean University
Debangana Bose (Ph.D. 2019, Geog) - Lecturer in the Geography Department at Maynooth University, National University of Ireland
Xiang (Peter) Chen (PhD Geog, 2014) – Assistant Professor, Department of Geography University of Connecticut (UConn)
Nora Sylvander (PhD Geog, 2019) - Fellow in Environment, Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Alex McCarthy (MS, ASP 2017) - Director at Tuscarawas County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency
Lili Wang (PhD Geog, 2016) - Assistant Professor (tenure track) in the Center of Social Sciences of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China
Chen Zhao (PhD ASP, 2020) - Backend Developer for Synoptic Data in Salt Lake City, UT
In Memorium
Our alumnus Dr. Tiruvarur R. Lakshmanan passed away at his home in North Carolina last week. Together with his wife, Dr. Lata Chatterjee, he established The T.R. Lakshmanan and Lata R. Chatterjee Graduate Scholar in Geography Endowment Fund in our department in 2009. This fund is used to recognize a distinguished graduate student either from the Global South (Asia, Africa, or Latin America) or carrying out research on the Global South, and professionally focused on issues of benefit to humanity. He also received an honorary doctorate from OSU in 2007.
Alex McCarthy
In June of 2017, I was hired as the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Tuscarawas County, Ohio shortly after graduating from the Ohio State University with my Master’s Degree in Atmospheric Science, and a graduate interdisciplinary minor in Public Sector Policy and Management. For the last several months, everyone’s lives in the United States, and the world, have been centered around the pandemic and its effects. About once every 100 years we see pandemics of this nature; capable of straining hospital systems to their limits and stopping nearly all of the regular activities we are so accustomed to. More frequently, we see a barrage of other natural hazards impact people and infrastructure, such as floods, tornadoes, windstorms, and other weather events.
As an emergency manager, it is my responsibility to ensure that my County is prepared to respond to and recover from any disaster that may occur. To accomplish this, our team follows a process of identifying the hazards that we may face, predicting the potential impacts that these hazards may have on our residents, planning for how to respond to these impacts, and identifying protective actions we can take to mitigate these impacts. Skillsets beneficial to this include an understanding of the climatology and environmental issues facing a jurisdiction, an understanding of the different cultures that exist within a community, a strong background in GIS, knowledge of mobility and transportation networks within the community, as well as a sense of political savvy.
Various physical geography courses within the OSU Department of Geography have helped me develop skillsets to help me succeed in my career. Being able to forecast the weather locally allows our agency to push out information on impending significant weather events to our stakeholders early, giving them more time to prepare and pre-position staff and resources. We rely heavily on GIS visualizations for developing our emergency coordination plans, managing resources during a disaster, and conveying information to the public, who respond very well to data visualized in maps. In addition, the strong climatology background that I received from the Geography Department will continue to be essential, for long-term mitigation planning for hazards associated with climate change will continue to be a challenge for emergency managers across the Country for the foreseeable future.
An Article Featuring Philip Williams-Cooke
I recently met Phillip Williams-Cooke a little over four weeks ago. We were introduced through Zoom during one of the Social Media Working Group meetings. Phillip took the minutes for that meeting. He is a peer advocate. We, along with other Fountain House members and staff, are working to help members in our clubhouse community engage in social media appropriately, to connect with one another through social media, and have easy technical references that can be picked up quickly in order for us to move forward with our work.
Phillip introduced a Slack channel working group called #chat_academyofpeerservices to support members trying to navigate the Academy of Peer Services (a collaborative effort by members of the Regional Advisory Committee and staff from the New York State Office of Mental Health who oversees the RAC)…which can aid our virtual Facebook community members to familiarized themselves with the APS website…to take the online courses, to pass those courses, and apply for a provisional certificate as a peer specialist.
Phillip came to New York in early October 2008 and became interested in peer support work three months later. He became actively involved with organizations like the New York State Office of Mental Health, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York Association for Psychiatric Rehabilitative Services, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Institute for the Development of Human Arts, the New York City Peer Workforce Coalition, and various LGBTQ organizations. Phillip joined Fountain House in November 2013 as a member of the Communication Unit.
Phillip embraces the knowledge he has gained over the years, especially the person-centered approach to intentional peer support, and has extended his arms and lent his voice tirelessly to help other Fountain House members and peers from outside our clubhouse community achieve their goals.
He has worked tirelessly to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Urban Geography from the Ohio State University in June 2002 and later several certificates, including a certificate as tax preparer though Community Tax Aid, completing the NAMI Peer to Peer Program, and a provisional certificate as a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate. Phillip has completed the 13 required core courses through the Academy of Peer Services (including 2 prerequisites) during the fall of 2019 through undergoing peer specialist training in Mt. Vernon NY and is currently awaiting approval for his provisional certification as a peer specialist.
Phillip shared with me that everyone’s recovery journey and experiences are both unique and different…that one should not label others nor reduce the world we live in into a lot of generalizations but we all should be seen as human beings with dignity and value. Every person has a story worth sharing with the world because, as he sees it, we are all both students and teachers.
Phillip has committed himself to advocate for all those who have been engrossed in social injustice experiences brought on by government institutions and non-for-profit organizations that supposed to assist and guide those who seek services from them on a regular basis.
I look forward to continuing to work with Phillip and other peers. He is a dedicated worker and a valuable asset to our community and throughout New York City. He currently has a supportive employment appointment with Fountain House as a peer specialist through Bee Well LLC. Once the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted and we all can return to our physical clubhouse space, he is eager to return to work at Fountain House and other institutions as needed…re-strengthening the connections that he has made (both inside and outside Fountain House), as well as connecting with new peers and behavioral health workers.