Geospatial Technologies as a Vehicle for Enhancing Graduate Education and Promoting the Value of Geography

Abstract

Geospatial technologies (GSTs), such as geographic information systems, global positioning systems and remote sensing, present an avenue for expanding the already strong interdisciplinary nature of geography. This paper discusses how GSTs served as a common thread for a crosscutting faculty institute that was established to enhance graduate student teaching and learning at a comprehensive university. Results of this institute demonstrate that this effort advanced graduate education and promoted the value of geographic scholarship across the university.

Keywords:

• Graduate education
• geospatial technologies
• comprehensive universities
• faculty development
• interdisciplinary research

Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the generous support of the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. We thank Provost Susan Koch of Northern Michigan University (former UNI Graduate Dean) for her foresight and early efforts in developing the framework for the Carver Graduate Institutes, as well as securing funding to ensure the program's success.

Notes

¹ Comprehensive universities are institutions that typically focus on undergraduate degrees and select Master's level graduate programs.

² In this context, the term ‘institute’ refers to structured program of workshops and activities that has set goals and a mechanism for evaluation.

³ These are overarching goals that apply to all three annual institutes including the 2006–2007 Geospatial Technology Institute as well as two subsequent institutes with unrelated themes.