Greetings from UWM Geography, and welcome back to another academic year!
This is a year of transition for the University, the College of Letters & Science, and Geography. Following Provost Andrew Daire’s departure from UWM last May, Dr. Tina Freiburger, who had been serving as Dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, was named Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Campus is currently conducting a search to fill the permanent position. In addition, Letters & Science Dean Scott Gronert retired in June after nearly eight years in the role. Dr. Jason Puskar, formerly Associate Dean of the Humanities, is now serving as Interim Dean as the College launches a national search for its next dean. Within Geography, we celebrated the retirement of Distinguished Professor Mark D. Schwartz following 34 years at UWM. Please join me in congratulating Mark and celebrating a career that has made substantial and lasting contributions to the fields of geography and climatology, to UWM Geography, and to the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Mark, thank you for your scholarship, leadership, and service. We wish you all the best in your retirement!
Perhaps the most significant change to share is that the Department of Geography has merged with the Department of Geosciences and the Conservation and Environmental Science (CES) program to form a new department: Earth, Environment, and Society (EES). The new department will officially launch in Fall 2027. Geography will continue to offer all current degree programs, including the BA and BS majors, the minor, and the MA and MS programs. However, our PhD program has been suspended for the time being. Much of the planning and groundwork for this merger took place during the 2025–2026 academic year, and this year we are focused on bringing our communities together. We see this as an exciting opportunity to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty and students whose work centers on human and physical environments. We look forward to building on the successful partnership we’ve formed in the development of the EES department and deepening our collaboration with colleagues in Geosciences and CES.
The fall semester is already in full swing, and we have enjoyed several successful events while looking forward to many more in the weeks ahead. On September 18, we welcomed guest speaker J. Phillip Grygny, who presented Wild Knowing: The Role of the Arts in Ecological Culture and led a walk through Downer Woods. The UWM Alpha Mu Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, the international geographical honor society, held a coffee hour on September 30 and will host several events throughout the academic year. On October 9, we will welcome past AAG President Professor Patricia Ehrkamp of the University of Kentucky as the speaker for the Fall 2026 Harold and Florence Mayer Lecture. Professor Ehrkamp will present Naturalization and Trauma of Citizenship. The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) will hold its annual meeting in Milwaukee from October 21–24. Two Geography graduate students and one faculty member will present their research at the conference. Looking ahead, graduate students and faculty are already preparing abstracts and registering for the 2027 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), which will take place February 8–12 in New York City.
As we transition into the Department of Earth, Environment, and Society, UWM Geography remains committed to its award-winning research and teaching on urban environments. We are excited about what lies ahead and look forward to sharing more updates as we prepare for the official launch of the Department of Earth, Environment, and Society. Stay tuned for additional announcements throughout the coming year.
Anne Bonds
Chair of Geography