I am pleased to update everyone with this week's good news.

I was happy to attend a lunch meeting for department chairs at the AAG. I sat with several colleagues including Cindy Brewer (Penn State) and Robin Leichenko (Rutgers) -- both well known to some members of this department. Glen MacDonald (UCLA) incoming AAG President presided over the discussion which covered a lively array of topics including the impact of "Geography + " programs (i.e. geography plus urban studies, environmental studies etc.)  It is clear that many universities have varied approaches to this conundrum and geography's position is not always clear cut. Comparatively speaking, OSU Geography has benefited from a recent strong external report and continues to enjoy good relations with our partners in other allied fields.

The AAG plans a reorganization of the Annals structure. The AAG plans student recognitions with nominations from the regions to attend the national meeting. The AAG is concerned to keep the cost of membership affordable, which is good news for folks in early career stages. There are also plans under way for awarding AAG Fellow Status (to be prestigious on a par with AGU Fellow, AAAS Fellow and so on). These awards are also to be open to institutional members emphasizing service and teaching at the undergraduate level (i.e. not just aimed at R1 universities). Details of all these initiatives are forthcoming from the AAG.

In San Francisco, Emeritus Professor Harold Moellering was recognized as a 50 year AAG member at the Awards Luncheon. Congratulations Hal – quite an achievement!

Harvey Miller and Gil Bohrer received NSF funding for a conference entitled "Advancing Movement and Mobility Science by Bridging Research on Human Mobility and Animal Movement Ecology." This award starts May 1, 2016 and ends April 30, 2018.

Kenneth Madsen tells me that his FPL / sabbatical application for next year at Newark has been approved, which is great news. All our cases are now approved! Madsen studies borders and bordering from the perspective of political and cultural geography and was recently interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor and the New Republic for timely articles on the topic of border walls.                      

Nora Sylvander just heard she received a research grant from Mershon that will go far in supporting her fieldwork in Nicaragua in the coming year. Nora’s advisor is Kendra McSweeney. This was a tough competition, so well done to Nora.

Debangana Bose is a recipient of the American Geographical Society Council Fellowship.  She will receive a citation from the AGS in April, along with a cash award. Congratulations Debangana.

Finally on the National scale, three Guggenheim Fellows are announced: Mei-Po Kwan, Katharyne Mitchell, and Laura Pulido received 2016 awards in Geography and Environmental Studies.  Links available here: http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/#gf-search-submit-btn.

All in all a very eventful week for the department and our discipline. I hope all had an enjoyable trip to SF.

MOK