Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines! Welcome to the last week of classes—and the last “what’s new” email of the year! Before I get started with that, though, please join us this Friday at 3:30PM for the first-ever virtual MU Geography End-of-Year Celebration. We will fete our grads, dole out the awards and bookings, plus have a couple in-Zoom competitions to beat the band. Full details will be coming in an invitation to you tomorrow, but for easy reference here:

Join Zoom Meeting: https://mizzou.zoom.us/j/91720316345?pwd=VjJNdSt6SitVMjFiZnY0NVY3LzZzUT09

Meeting ID: 917 2031 6345

Password: 295710

Without further ado, here’s what’s new @MizzouGeog this week!

 

• We are proud to welcome this semester’s Gamma Theta Upsilon, Beta Xi chapter initiates. A fine and distinguished group if there ever was one. Congratulations all!
  • Kyle Bals
  • Jefferson Daubitz
  • Sarah Frost
  • Rachel Hehr
  • Francesca Rodriguez-Hart
  • Krystal Saverse
  • Cydney Smith
  • Mason Trafford
  •  
• The Mapping Geography Majors map is now ready! Take a look: https://arcg.is/1Syje1. For popular locations like Columbia, St. Louis, and Kansas City, all of the responses are stacked on top of each other. If you navigate to the attribute table you will be able to see all the responses for that location. A big shout-out to Student Ambassador Abby Hunt for taking lead on this project!

 

• Join us for the grand finale of Master’s thesis defenses this week! Zoom meeting details will follow shortly. Please join and show your support!  A big thanks to Director of Graduate Studies Matt Foulkes for orchestrating the transition to Zoom meetings in addition to serving as air travel control for scheduling “incoming” theses, as well as a hearty shout-out to Mark Palmer and Grant Elliott who, in addition to Matt, serve as adviser for these students.
  • Sydney Bailey, Today at Noon. Join Zoom Meeting: https://umsystem.zoom.us/j/99747464710
  • Hesston Bridgeman, Today at 2:30PM
  • Alex Ringling, Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00PM
  • Steve Cardinal, Wednesday, May 6 at 1:00PM

 

• Last but certainly not least, our very own Tom Vought of the Missouri Spatial Data Information Service, in partnership with the Missouri Census Data Center and Missouri KIDS COUNT, created a wonderful Kids Count Story Map to highlight specific risk factors that have made the COVID-19 Pandemic an especially difficult time for Missouri's children. Prior to the pandemic, MSDIS had curated a short list of statistics to illustrate exactly how vulnerable Missouri's children are and how many will benefit from an accurate 2020 Census count. Children are often under-reported in the decennial census, which leads to insufficient funding for many important local, state, and federal assistance programs. The application still accomplishes that original goal; however, due to the sudden impact of the Coronavirus outbreak throughout Missouri, the focus was expanded to present a comprehensive picture of just how dangerous the Coronavirus pandemic is to a community that is often too young to speak on its own behalf. Check out the story map by clicking on the link above, or here!

 

In closing, on behalf of all the faculty and staff at Mizzou Geography, we wish you steadiness of mind as you finish your classes and take your finals; good health with all the energy and spirit to get you through; and strength of heart as you move into the future. If you are returning next year, we can’t wait to see you—and do stay tuned for how we will deliver the best fall class experience around—and if you are graduating, we hope that what you have learned here will travel with you well in the long journey to come.

 

Be well, do well, live well—and see you on down the road,

Soren

Professor & Chair

Department of Geography

University of Missouri

Columbia MO 65211-6170

https://geography.missouri.edu/people/larsen