Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Geography at Indiana University is to be a national and international center of excellence in theoretical and applied research and instruction within selected areas of expertise. The latter areas are Atmospheric Science, Geographic Information Science (GIS), and Sustainable Systems. In Atmospheric Science, general fields of research include air pollution meteorology, micro- and boundary layer meteorology, forest and urban meteorology, climate change and statistical climatology. In GIS particular emphasis is placed on the application of GIS, remote sensing and statistical and numerical modeling. Within Sustainable Systems the emphasis is on sustainable development, cities, and transport, and resources.

Our Past

Although a separate Geography Department was not established at Indiana University until the summer of 1946, geography was taught in the Geology Department by Stephen S. Visher beginning in January, 1919. He was assisted by J. Elmer Switzer (appointed 1923) and at various times by W.N. Logan, Wallce Bucley, William D. Thornbyrt, Chauncy Harris, Edward Ullman and Otis Freeman. In 1923, Clifford M Zierer received the firtst M.A. in geography; five others received M.A. degrees in geography before the Geography Department was separated from geology. Although graduate work in geography was informal and consisted of readings and supervised research, these six M.S.'s have produced significant accomplishments in teaching and reearch.

The newly established Geography Department took up "temporary" quarters in the attic of Rawles Hall. It was the year of the first G.I. bulge and school started three weeks late. The new chairman, Otis P. Starkey, purchased and renovated an old house to keep some of his enlarged staff, only by providing room space for two instructors until the promised University housing was ready. At first, the Department was primarily a service department for education and business students, but graduate students increasd and by 1951-1952, 20 were in residence. Many of these early graduate students went on to hold important posts in government and education.

Missing from this account of our past is a roll call of our many successful students - especially the most recent cohorts - who have gone on to make themselves notable geographers, notable researchers, leaders in their fields, exceptional teachers, colleagues and friends of Indiana Geography. No matter, they know who they are, and their faculty advisers know too. They are our proudest accomplishment.

In addition, attention should be called to the list of distingushed geographers who were on our staff as regular members or as visiting professors. These include Dir Dudley Stamp, Carl O. Sauer, Robert S. Platt, Estyn Evans, A. Austing Miller, Benjamin Garnier, Ronald Peel, Y. Fu Tuan, Hilgard O'Reilly Steinberg, Robert N. Taaffe, and others, all of whom contributed to the intellectual heritage of our faculty and our graduate and undergraduate students.