West Lakes Regional Councillor's Report, August 2002

In the past year, the AAG Council has focused on reinvigorating the Association through membership initiatives, long-range planning and strategic initiatives, and building an endowment to allow the Association to enhance support for new and existing projects.  All three of these activities are related, of course.  Many members of the Association (and of the Council) are interested in increasing our linkages to geographers working in the public and private sectors. More geographers are seeking work outside the academy (in NGOs; in federal, state, and local governments; and in private industry). How might the AAG better serve these colleagues, who usually do not retain their AAG memberships once they leave their universities?  This question is being debated not just as a way to increase the number of AAG members; it has broader implications in terms of what we (the membership) would like our Association to do for us. Should we be "only" a scholarly society?  Should we make a bigger effort to reach out to geographers that the Association typically has ignored (to put it bluntly)? How do we--can we?--be a society that serves both academic and non-academic geographers?   Our discussions are ongoing, and I encourage you to pass along to me, or to other members of the Council, your opinions about these ideas.  Doug Richardson (AAG Executive Director-Elect) has been heading the Associationís Strategic Initiatives (SI) project, which seeks to foster a greater coordination and integration of public, private, and academic geography.  Attendees at the first Strategic Initiatives meeting included representatives from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau, ERDAS, ESRI, America Online Inc., and faculty from nine U.S.

universities. The SI Steering Committee proposed six areas in which the AAG should increase its activities:  (1) undertake programs to reach out more effectively to other organizations in all sectors of geography;  (2) undertake a more active role in federal geographic activities; (3) work toward fostering geographic research partnerships; (4) develop web-based geography informational resources; (5) participate more in efforts to raise the visibility and influence of geography and the financial resources available for geography research and education; and (6) participate in programs to address the educational needs of all sectors of geography, both in higher education and for K-12 students. The complete report of the SI Steering Committee is available from Doug Richardson (drichard@aag.org). You can also contact Doug to volunteer your ideas andóbetter yetóyour time.  AAG President Duane Nellis is chairing the AAGís Endowment Committee, which has as its objective a "Campaign for the Advancement of Geography: The AAGís Centennial and Beyond." The Committee has been working toward identifying a solicitation strategy for approaching corporate, foundation, and individual donors, and to support Campaign publicity. The Campaign tentatively is slated to "go public" in early 2003, with an initial Campaign Kick-Off at the AAGís New Orleans meeting. Please contact me if you would like further elaboration on any of the items above, or if there are issues you would like forwarded to the AAG Council (phone: 612-625-3452, e-mail:  klink@umn.edu).

Kathy Klink, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; West Lakes Regional Councillor, 2000-2003, AAG Secretary, 2002-2003