Report of the Honors Committee, 2001

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXXII, No. 1, May 2002, pp 137-140 REPORT OF THE HONORS COMMITTEE, 2001 Laurence W. Carstensen, Jr. The Honors Committee was pleased to have a full slate ofworthy nominees for all of the Division's awards, and the winners were announced at the Lexington meeting. For information on the criteria for the awards, please see a recent SEDAAG newsletter, available at , or the Southeastern Geographer, Vol. 37, May 1997, pp. 109-1 10. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Risa I. Palm University ofNorth Carolina, Chapel Hill The lifetime achievement award this year goes to an outstanding geographer whose broad career has been most exceptional among her peers. Her accomplishments , according to her nominator, are "nothing short of extraordinary; she is the exemplar of quality work at all professional levels." In the words of John Adams, one of her supporters, she is "one of America's most accomplished and influential geographers." Our honorée conducts research in urban geography and environmental hazards. She has published 12 books and monographs, numerous articles, book chapters, and reports, often funded by the National Science Foundation. In teaching, she has wider experience than most SEDAAG members, as she has taught at the K- 12, community college, and university levels. In all of her university teaching appointments she has shown strong research mentoring qualities as evidenced through numerous co-authorships with junior faculty and students. Her nomination letter goes on to point out that "her service contributions to the discipline know few peers. She has served on an array of editorial boards and national commissions (from the National Science Foundation to the National Academy of Science), while she has played a long series of leadership roles within the discipline, including councilor to the American Geographical Society and the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Her scholarly achievements and professional activities in the AAG culminated in 1 984 with her election as the president of the Association ofAmerican Geographers, the first woman to be elected since Ellen Churchhill Semple in 1921." Her distinguished academic career is even more impressive when her successful , parallel, and high-level administrative career is considered. She began as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado 20 years ago and quickly moved through the system. By 1987 she was that university's Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School. She left that Dr. Carstensen is Professor of Geography at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. E-mail: carstens@yt.edu. 138HONORS COMMITTEE position in 1991 to become Dean ofthe College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon, where she was successful in guiding the college, in the words of Oregon's Geography Chair, Alec Murphy, "through a most difficult fiscal period while managing to strengthen the college's commitment to research and fostering greater organizational efficiency." She left Oregon in 1997 to become Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In short, our honorée has truly "done it all." In our evaluation of her dossier, the Honors Committee noted: "It is very clear that an individual who can have a profound impact on all levels of Geography is rare and more than deserving of this award." As a professor and a dean, she shows the important contributions that geographers can make by being innovative scholars and tireless university administrators. The Honors Committee proudly awards the 2001 SEDAAG Lifetime Achievement Award to Risa I. Palm. RESEARCH HONORS AWARD Graham A. Tobin University of South Florida The winner of this year's Research Honors Award has amassed an impressive record of scholarly publications and research grants dealing with natural hazards and water resources. His vita lists over 50 articles and six books. Our honorée is not only active in refereed research, but also contributes regular book reviews and reports. He is a promoter of research at various levels by encouraging others to develop their research portfolios. Our award winner plays a significant role in facilitating research among younger faculty. As a faculty member at the University of Minnesota at Duluth (1992-1996) and currently at the University of South Florida (since 1996), he has...