Report on the Sixty-Second Annual Meeting

REPORT ON THE SIXTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING Reno, Nevada September 29-October 2,1999 T he return of the APCG annual meeting to Reno after nearly 20 years offered the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada the opportunity to showcase northern Nevada as a unique and some­ times provocative setting for geographical studies both human and physical, not to mention its role as a venue for having a good time. Northern Nevada welcomed 198 attendees to this year's meeting. Following in the footsteps of last year's Flagstaff meeting, student participation remained high at 90, orjust over 45 percent. Geographi­ cally, California provided 105 attendees, followed by Arizona with 23, Nevada with 22, Oregon with 13, Washington with 12, Idaho with ligand Alaska with 2. We also were joined by geographers from as far away as Ohio, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Louisiana, and the winner for distance is—Hong Kong. Special note should be made of several schools whose students came en masse, including San Francisco State, Sonoma State, Arizona State, Western Wash­ ington, the University of Oregon, and the 11-person contingent from the University of Idaho. Congratulations to faculty advisers, home institutions, and the students themselves for such outstanding rep­ resentation. The Poolside Terrace at John Ascuagua's Nugget, host hotel for the meeting, provided the venue for Wednesday evening's opening plenary session, where it was not lost on a group of geographers that the Mayor of Reno was welcoming us while actually located in Sparks, once again reminding us that "Reno is so close to hell you can see Sparks." The 115 people who attended the opening plenary session heard artist Peter Goin, geographer Scott Mensing, and State Water Planner Naomi Duerr give three different approaches to un­ derstanding of the Truckee River, one of northern Nevada's natural treasures. A post-plenary session reception established the Great Basin Brewing Company, located within walking distance of the Nugget, as a favorite watering hole for the remainder of the meet­ ing. 158 Annual Meeting Report 159 Thursday was filled with 12 paper sessions and the presidential plenary session, where James Allen, Peter Groth, and Phillip Pryde offered insights into the importance of locality in an era of global­ ization. Thursday's activities ended with a reception and poster session in the Poolside Terrace. On Friday, meeting participants chose one of three all-day fieldtrips with John James to the Tahoe Basis, Bill Kersten and State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James to Virginia City, or Scott Mensing and Kate Berry to Pyramid Lake. Despite low visibility as a result of the intrusion of smoke from Cali­ fornia fires into the clean high desert air (surely a kind of symbolic statement on the relationship between the two states), participants returned tired but enthusiastically complimentary about their ex­ periences in the field. The demands of an all-day fieldtrip did not diminish enthusiastic APCG students from competing in this year's GeoBowl later that afternoon. Saturday's paper sessions brought the total number of papers presented to 86 over the course of the meet­ ing, of which 33 were student papers! The Women's Network luncheon was filled to capacity, and after the final paper session, AAG President Reginald Golledge spoke at the Business Meeting about current AAG issues of interest to the APCG. It has been contended that if John Ascuagua's can't do Basque, nobody can. Saturday's closing banquet proved this true. Ninetynine people enjoyed this northern Nevada dining experience. Incoming APCG President Tina Kennedy served as MC for the evening's program. As a special treat, University of Nevada Presi­ dent Joe Crowley entertained the crowd with stories and anecdotes about geography and life as explained to him by his kid brother, Bill. As always, Bill Crowley was a good sport after being spitted in the mini-roast. The evening concluded with outgoing APCG Presi­ dent Robin Datel's Presidential Address, in which she offered insights into past APCG and AAG presidential addresses. Now that the attendees have departed and the skies have cleared of California smoke, it is possible to stand back and appreciate what we believe was a challenging, yet worthwhile...