Contact
Department of Geography
P.O. Box 755840
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-5840
(907) 474-7141
Fax: (907) 474-6184
email

Education
B.S. Journalism. University of Kansas, 1984.
M.A. Cultural Geography. University of Kansas, 1992.
Ph.D. Cultural Geography. University of Kansas, 1997.
CV (pdf)

Selected Publications
1998. “Food-Place Associations on American Product Labels.” In The Taste of American Place, Eds. B. Shortridge and J. Shortridge. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

2001. “Women’s Sense of Place on the American High Plains.” Great Plains Quarterly 21:29-44.
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2004. “Emptiness.” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
In Press
In Press. “Flyover Country.” Encyclopedia of the Midwest. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Current Research
Currently, I'm working on a book, based on my dissertation, called Sense of Place on the American High Plains.  This work deals with the cultures of small farming communities in western Kansas and eastern Colorado, including landscape perception, attachment to place, American rural culture, and especially conflicting perceptions between American rural and urban cultures.

I am also working on a study of non-residents' popular perceptions of Alaska. The initial work involves collecting imagery from advertising, postcards, films, and other items that convey ideas about Alaska, or that are marketed to tourists inside and outside of the state.  Alaska is one of the most recognized states in the Union, and yet one of the most inaccurately perceived. Since before statehood, news stories, popular books, popular films, advertisements, and lately, "Northern Exposure," have filled American minds with images of Alaska as a wild, exotic land full of rustic Sourdoughs, polar bears, and igloos. Contemporary evidence of these popular perceptions are available in some very ordinary media: postcards, restaurant place mats, and other items aimed at visitors to the state, or at their friends and family back home. The images conveyed by these items appear intended to conform to the popular perceptions that visitors bring with them from the lower 48, and as such may offer clues to contemporary popular perceptions of "The Last Frontier."

Courses Taught
GEOG 101: World Regional Geography (Every Semester)
GEOG 302:  Geography of Alaska (Every Spring)
GEOG 303: Geography of US and Canada (Every Fall)
GEOG 303: Geography of US and Canada (Every Fall)
GEOG 311w: Geography of Asia (Even Fall)

Downloadable Outline Maps (pdf)
GEOGRAPHY 101 OUTLINE MAPS
World Map 
Canada 
United States 
South America 
Middle America 
Europe 
Russia
Africa
Southwest Asia  
Israel & Occupied Territories
South and East Asia
Central Asia
Australia and New Zealand 
Hawaii 

OTHER OUTLINE MAPS
Pacific Basin
Atlantic Basin
North America
Alaska without rivers
Alaska with rivers