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As you may have heard, the Geography Graduate Group (GGG) at the University of California, Davis needs your help. In October 2009, the Graduate Council voted to end admissions to the GGG and close the program. Many students and faculty on the UC Davis campus and throughout the global geography community recognize the value of geographic education and would like to see this decision reversed.
There are many reasons that we want to reopen admissions to the Geography Graduate Group and see the decision to close the program reversed. In the standard review of the Geography Graduate Group that all UC Davis departments periodically submit to, several misleading statments about geography as a discipline and the Geography Graduate Group as a program were made. We would like to rebut these statements by reinforcing the following facts and encourage letters to address any or all of these points:
· UC Davis Geography is a well respected program with talented students and faculty.
· Geography is a unique discipline that is a central meeting point for many related disciplines.
· There is no shortage of need for well-trained geographers, and UC Davis geographers can be found applying their skills throughout academia as well as the public and private sectors.
· The current UC Davis program serves its students and associated faculty by providing skills to graduate students not otherwise found on campus. These skills include geospatial studies, community and regional development, landscape architecture, and planning.
· There is a strong and ongoing commitment by faculty to teach and participate in the geography program. There are at least six new faculty members hired since 2006 who have been greatly involved in the GGG by teaching the core courses, creating employment opportunities, and mentoring GGG students.
· Geography students and alumni are well placed and respected in the field of geography. In addition to publishing and sending many students to regional, national and international conferences in the discipline, our students and alumni can be found teaching and working in many colleges and universities, in managerial positions at NGOs, and at state and federal agencies.
We ask that you write a letter to Dr. Jeffrey Gibeling, Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies, asking him and the Graduate Council to reopen admissions to the Geography Graduate Group for 2010-2011. Here are some general guidelines:
· Use institutional or company letterhead when possible
· Real signatures (either printed and signed letters or scanned signatures inserted into a word processor document) are highly encouraged. Typed names in lieu of signatures are discouraged.
· Address letters to “Dr. Jeffery Gibeling, UC Davis Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies, and members of the Graduate Council” (1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616), but to mail letters to the GGG for collection.
· Carrie Armstrong-Ruport, Graduate Coordinator of the UC Davis Geography Graduate Group, will collect the letters to be delivered en masse. Electronic letters may be emailed by attachment to [log in to unmask]. Please mail printed letters to this address:
Carrie Armstrong-Ruport, Program Coordinator
Geography Graduate Group
133 Hunt Hall
One Shields Ave
Davis, CA 95616
· We need to recieve letters by Friday, October 30, but letters received after this date will also be accepted.
If you feel that geography should continue to be offered at the masters and Ph.D. levels at UC Davis, please consider writing a letter appealing to reopen admissions. We also ask that you please forward this to anyone you know who might be interested (current students, alumni, potential students, general supporters of geographic education, etc). The more support for geography that we can show to the UC Davis administration, the better chance our appeal will be heard.
Thank you very much for your support. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Stacey Ellis at [log in to unmask] for more information.
Sincerely,
Students Advocating for Geographic Education (SAGE) at UC Davis