Professor Schuck Contributes Chapter to Babe Ruth Book

Professor Ray Schuck contributed a chapter to a new compilation entitled Babe Ruth at 100, published by AMS Press, Inc. The chapters are based on papers presented at a conference in 1995, held at Hofstra University. Schuck's chapter “When the Broadway Limited Stopped in Lima: An Ohio Town Embraces the Babe” deals with games that Ruth and other all stars played in Lima Ohio as part of barnstorming tours. Schuck's son, also Raymond, a frequent contributor to the Western Civilization Speaker Series also contributed a chapter entitled “Babe’s in Tourland: How Babe Ruth Was Well-Suited for Barnstorming.”

More information can be found on the AMS Press webpage.

Professor Jimmy Wilson presents paper at Historical GIS Conference

Professor Jimmy Wilson presented a paper at the Historical GIS Conference in Essex, England this past August (19-22). The conference attracted over 200 attendees from around the world, including historical geographers and others interested in the application of GIS to historical research. My presentation summarized a portion of my multi-disciplinary research on urban and rural growth and development immediately before the end of the colonial period in Pensacola, and the title of my presentation was “The Development of Spanish Colonial Pensacola, 1791-1821.”

Abstract

Pensacola evolved through the second Spanish period (1781-1821) from a fledgling military outpost to an increasingly complex urban center. Local and regional demographic trends and environmental conditions prompted Pensacola to evolve through three phases of urban development. This morphogenesis grew from a small colonial military town and scant landowning class congregated near the central fort before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, to a more traditional Spanish administrative regional center with increased population after the Purchase, to a town threatened by American influence and speculation after 1816. Pensacola’s residential and landowning patterns never experienced the degree of socioeconomic residential clustering noted in other Spanish colonial urban centers. Middle-class whites made up the overwhelming majority of landowners and owned property in every section of town, while elites and lower-class families bought less land in Pensacola and lived interspersed throughout the residential section. An historical geography GIS case study, this research illuminates the morphogenesis of Spanish colonial Pensacola between 1781 and 1821.

Geography Students attend GIS Day at Rhodes State

On December 11, twenty nine Introduction to GIS students from ONU attended 2008 GIS Day at Rhodes State University in Lima. Each year, GIS Day provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems (GIS) technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in our society. More than 80 countries participate by holding local events such as corporate open houses, hands-on workshops, community expos, and school assemblies. The events held at Rhodes State University included interactive workshops and lectures provided by representatives from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Allen County Sheriff's Department, Allen County Engineers, Wannemacher Enterprises, and GeoSnapper website. ONU students in attendance come from a variety of academic disciplines, including: criminal justice, marketing, biology, history, psychology, political science, civil engineering, accounting, and environmental studies. ONU students attendees included: Aimee Baehrens, David Beale, Kenzie Bock, Ryland Breeding, Erin Buehler, Patrick Dochenetz, Amanda Dodson, Adam Fleming, Joseph Francis, Patricia Fuller, Derek Hunt, Janel Jerraid-Perrey, Jamal Jones, Sean Kazmierczak, Dam Yun Kim, Samantha Licata, Toni Lininger, Jesse Longbrake, Jordan Martin, Brianna Nagy, Marcus Quinones, Joshua Ryan, Jonah Simons, Megan Skinner, Kenton Sneed, Leeann Sullivan, Kimberly Trinkle, and Ian Williams. ONU Professors Jimmy Wilson, David Smith, and Ellen Wilson also attended.

Professor Lee Delivers Paper to American Society for Criminology

Professor Suengmug (Zech) Lee (on the left) delivered a paper entitled "Domestic Violence Against Women Among Korean-American in New York City" to the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Criminology in St. Louis, MO on November 12.

Phi Beta Delta Hosts Talk by Ice Core Specialist

On Thursday December 4, 2008.in the Dicke Forum, Phi Beta Delta, The Honor Society for International Scholars sponsored a presentation titled " Global Climate Change: A Paleoclimate Perspective from the World's Highest Mountains" by Lonnie G. Thompson, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Research Scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University.

Professor Thompson is one of the world's foremost authorities on paleoclimatology and glaciology. He has led more than 50 expeditions during the last 30 years, conducting ice-core drilling programs in the world's polar regions as well as in tropical and subtropical ice fields.

Thompson is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Research Scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University. His research has propelled the field of ice core paleoclimatology out of the Polar Regions to the highest tropical and subtropical ice fields. He and the OSU team have developed light-weight solar powered drilling equipment for acquisition of histories from ice fields in the tropical South American Andes, the Himalayas, and on Kilimanjaro. These paleoclimate histories have advanced our understanding of the coupled nature of the Earth's climate system. Special emphasis has been placed on the El Niqo and monsoon systems that dominate the climate of the tropical Pacific and affect global-scale oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns. His observations of glacier retreat over the last three decades confirm that glaciers around the world are melting and provide clear evidence that the warming of the last 50 years is now outside the range of climate variability for several millennia, if not longer.

Professor Nsia-Pepra Delivers Paper at King-Mandela Lecture Symposium

On November 20th, Professor Kofi Nsia-Pepra (pictured on the right) presented his paper entitled Changing U.S.-Africa Relations: Reconsiderations for the New U.S. Administration to the King-Mandela Annual Lecture Symposium held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center on the campus of the University of Georgia.

Professor Smith Delivers Paper at Conference in Tehran, Iran

Dr. David R. Smith, pictured at the far right, associate professor of geography at ONU, was part of the 16th International Conference on Central Asia and the Caucasus, held Oct. 28 and 29 in Teheran, Iran. Also pictured are, from left, Dennis Sammut, United Kingdom, executive director of Links, a non-government organization and publication on the Caucasus; Johana Papjanevski, Sweden, deputy director of the Institute for Development and Security Policy; Manuchehr Moradi, panel chair, director of the Center for Central Asia and the Caucusus, Institute for Political and International Studies, Foreign Ministry, Iran; George Sanikidze, Republic of Georgia, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgian Academy of Sciences; and Michele Brunelli, Italy, researcher on international law and international relations. Smith’s paper, “The Russian Federation and the Republic of Georgia: a Geographic Perspective on the Conflict,” was part of the session on a regional cooperation approach and prospect for an enduring peace and stability in the Caucasus. In addition, Smith said, “I met and had tea with the first deputy foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the conference. I talked with him and discussed how ONU and IPIS could increase ties with one another.” The convention was subtitled “Confrontation in the Caucasus: Roots, Dimensions, Applications.” This was Smith’s third appearance as a guest speaker at the Institute for Political and International Studies annual conference.