Happy Rainy-Day Monday—and welcome to Week 2!

Are you an undergraduate geography major looking for some fun and exciting ways to get engaged in geography? I’d like to draw your attention to just a couple of the ways you can deepen your experience and education in the discipline and community. Start exploring these options now!

• Get involved in Geography Club, the department’s own student organization dedicated to all things geographical. Typically, the club takes one fieldtrip each semester and takes on a service or community project, including cleaning up our department’s “mile” on Highway H near the Columbia airport. Interested? Email Geography Club president Jefferson Daubitz at jldnpv@mail.missouri.edu.
• Think about an internship with our own Missouri Spatial Data Information Service or a local community organization! Get credit for developing your professional skills and networks in geography. Dr. Matt Foulkes runs our department’s internship program and he can assist you in identifying internship opportunities. Email him at foulkesm@missouri.edu. If you are interested specifically in interning with MSDIS, you should also reach out to Tom Vought at voughtth@missouri.edu.
• Do some research with a geography faculty member! Ordinarily, ideas for independent research projects come out of a class. So, as you are sitting there in one of your geography courses this semester and something sparks your interest, know that there are multiple opportunities to turn that question into a research experience you can get credit for--and sometimes, like in the Undergraduate Research Mentorship program, you can get financial support as well.
• Now is the perfect time to start thinking about Study Abroad—visit the Study Abroad page on the International Programs website (http://international.missouri.edu) and do a program search. Mizzou sponsors or coordinates study abroad to more than 40 countries, with programs for every major and interest.

Next week, I will have a full rundown of Department of Geography Spring 2021 events—so stay tuned. Until then, be well, do well, love well, and live well!

M-I-Z!

G-E-O!

Soren