I am delighted to inform the department that Joel Wainwright and Ola Ahlqvist have received word from the Provost’s office recommending their promotion to Professor, effective June 8, 2017. Well done!  Congratulations on this positive result in the next step of the review process.

In what may be a record week for visiting speakers all over campus, let me mention one here that may have gone unnoticed: Megan Ryerson (University of Pennsylvania) will be speaking to undergraduate aviation majors. The talk is entitled Incentivize it and they will come: How local governments are leveraging airline incentive programs to grow air service in Enarson Classroom Building at 1:30 today (Friday). The event is put on by the Center for Aviation Studies, as part of their 100th Anniversary of Aviation Education Speaker Series. The event is in Partnership with the Knowlton School of Architecture, City & Regional Planning Section.

I encourage the inclusion of language such as the following in your future syllabi and web sites:
The Department of Geography promotes a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students and staff, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, disability or sexual orientation. There is no tolerance for hateful speech or actions. All violations of this policy should be reported to the OSU Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART).

The Department encourages diversity at all levels, particularly among the next generation of colleagues. Students are encouraged to participate in organizations that provide support; see for example College of Arts and Sciences resources

Please join us in congratulating – again! – Dr. Calvin Tribby (PhD, 2016) who is being awarded 2017 PhD-level Jacques May Dissertation Prize from the Health and Medical Specialty Group of the AAG.  This is the second dissertation prize he is receiving this year at the AAG; the other is the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Transportation Geography Specialty Group. Congratulations, Calvin!

Preparations are under way for the AAG annual conference in Boston next week. Good wishes to all and I hope your work represents OSU in a very positive way!