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Department of Geography

Mapes (left) and Koopman (right)

They remember the sights and sounds of helicopters and trucks as the Ohio National Guard moved into their small college town. They remember the smell of tear gas. They remember the chants of the protesters against the Vietnam War and invasion of Cambodia. They remember the panic and fear that ensued immediately after they heard that four students were killed and nine wounded when the guardsmen opened fire on campus. On May 4, 1970, many people in Kent experienced a traumatic event that they will never forget.

An image of the globe over North America, showing increased warm weather in a yellow-to-red scale

Research into the air masses that drive changes in our day-to-day weather has been limited by land-based and regional studies, leaving wide gaps in our understanding of these impactful phenomena. A new paper by a Â鶹ÊÓƵ geographer has just filled in most of those gaps.

Picture of sun shining over Kent campus

David Kaplan, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, has been elected president of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the premier academic and professional geography organization in the United States, for 2019-20. 

Chris Post, Ph.D., associate professor of geography at Â鶹ÊÓƵ at Stark, is a memorials expert who serves as a member of Â鶹ÊÓƵ President Beverly J. Warren’s Advisory Committee for the 50th Commemoration of May 4, 1970.

Growing up, Chris Post watched as his mom juggled her collegiate studies and motherhood, balancing everyday life with dreams of earning her Ph.D. And while field excursions with his biologist mom are a memory of his childhood, the impact of place is something this cultural and historical geographer seeks to define today.

Chris Post, Ph.D., associate professor of geography at Â鶹ÊÓƵ at Stark, is a memorials expert who serves as a member of Â鶹ÊÓƵ President Beverly J. Warren’s Advisory Committee for the 50th Commemoration of May 4, 1970.

Growing up, Chris Post watched as his mom juggled her collegiate studies and motherhood, balancing everyday life with dreams of earning her Ph.D. And while field excursions with his biologist mom are a memory of his childhood, the impact of place is something this cultural and historical geographer seeks to define today.

David Kaplan (center), professor in the Department of Geography, is one of three educators honored with the Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching award a tenured or tenure-track professor can receive.

Many professors have certain influences that inspire them to teach. For David Kaplan, Ph.D., professor in Â鶹ÊÓƵ's Department of Geography, that inspiration comes from his father.