The mission of the Geography Education Specialty Group is:

To promote research, development, and practice in the learning and teaching of geography and to examine and strengthen the role of geography in education by focusing on the development of learners, teachers, curricula, and programs.

This clearly touches on anyone that is in the classroom, working in outreach, or really interested in how people conceive of Geography. There is obviously significant overlap with in membership with NCGE, but working as part of the AAG allows the GESG to build on the presentations and discussions of the larger group of educators and geographers in attendance at the AAG annual meeting. In other words…join both!

If you are a student studying Geography Education, be sure to check out the GESG’s Gail Hobbs Student Paper Competition. It is a great way to share your work and meet Geographers with a similar focus during the sessions (you know, there really are people outside your department). Plus, talk about icing on the cake, there are cash prizes for the competition! Student membership is cheap at $1.

For the non-students, whether you are an AAG member or will be applying in the future and are interested in Geography Education, be sure to add us to your list of Specialty Groups. It is a great way to keep up-to-date with Geography educators in the AAG, and the related activities going on at the annual meeting. Regular membership is a very reasonable $5.

But really, if you are listening to us, you are probably already subscribed to the Directions Media podcast too, right? [iTunes link]

“provides the geographic information systems (GIS) community with a complete certification program. GISCI offers participants from the first early years on the job until retirement a positive method of developing value for professionals and employers in the GIS profession.”

While the GIS community itself seems to fall into varying camps regarding the issue of certification, GISCI offers an option for those of us who feel that certification should move forward. The organization has grown out of efforts and conversations at URISA and other educational organizations along with industry. GISCI’s certification process is experience based and relies on documentation of your education, GIS experience and your service to the GIS community (kind of a tenure process for GIS folks really). If you are more interested in a test-based certification you may want to look to the ASPRS.

While there is no universally recognized certification for GIS and geospatial technology professionals, I think that GISCI has made the most significant steps toward such a goal with at least 4,535 GISP members to date.

URISA promotes the effective and ethical use of spatial information and information technologies for the understanding and management of urban and regional systems.

The association supports this mission in many ways and is very active with several publications per year including their journal, newsletter and conference proceedings. URISA organizes several conferences each year such as their annual conference, the Caribbean GIS conference, GIS in Public Health and their new Leadership Academy series. While the organization itself is international in reach, it focuses on North America and has regional chapters throughout the US, Caribbean, and Canada. Perhaps the association is best known outside of its membership for its survey of the GIS profession which it conducts once every three years which has acted as a guideline for professional expectations and a metric for companies to consider when hiring. Membership isn’t too expensive and is especially reasonable for students and comes with subscriptions to URISA’s journal and newsletter.

If you are interested you can find there survey at http://www.surveymethods.com/

Are you an undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. student? Are you interested in a career using geographic information systems, information technology, geospatial technology, planning or community development? If yes, your writing and research should be recognized and shared with your peers. Submit a paper to the first annual student paper competition sponsored by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA).

Head over to the URISA website for find out more. Oh and papers are due by April 2, 2007.

http://www.conservationmaps.org/

The genearl mission of the ACSM at large is “to advance the sciences of surveying and mapping and related fields, in furtherance of the welfare of those who use and make maps; to encourage the development of educational programs in surveying, mapping and charting; and to support publications that represent the professional and technical interests of surveying and mapping. To accomplish these objectives, ACSM engages in a number of core activities.”

Beyond their focus on professionals, the ACSM and its member organizations offer support to students through reduced membership dues and annual awarded competitions. As you might expect, head over the ACSM website to find out more details