Increasingly, scholars engage policy makers around fundamental, complex questions on environmenta... more Increasingly, scholars engage policy makers around fundamental, complex questions on environmental change in interdisciplinary settings. Researchers attempting to develop robust contributions to knowledge that can support policymaker understandings in this context face significant inferential challenges in dealing with the spatial dimension of their phenomenon of interest. In this paper, we extend an understanding of well-defined methodological challenges familiar to applied spatial scientists by explicitly articulating the Decision-Making/Accountability, Spatial Incongruence Problem, or DASIP. Three case studies illustrate how spatial incongruences matter to researchers who work on complex, interdisciplinary problems, while seeking to understand decision-making or policy-related phenomenon: urban heat-island mitigation research in Arizona, water transfer conflicts in Kansas, and hydraulic-fracturing debates in Texas. With such examples, we aim to evoke a deeper understanding of this problem in applied research and also inspire thinking about how scholars might innovate solutions.
Strategic international partnership building in higher education is an endeavor that is not only ... more Strategic international partnership building in higher education is an endeavor that is not only of interest to universities in the developed world. Of the more than 18,000 formal degree-granting institutions of higher education around the globe, an estimated 55% are situated in “emerging” economies, located in nations that are neither defined as being among the richest regions nor among the least developed countries. Any serious effort seeking to understand strategic partnership building in a global higher education landscape must reckon with the reality that more than half of universities globally are found in contexts that are characterized by significant changes in socioeconomic dynamics and rapid transformations of science and technology needs, frequently accompanied by relatively limited resources for research and education. Traditional models of partnership engagement are being revised to reflect these challenges and opportunities. We propose one new model based upon experiences between US and Panamanian universities developed over the past decade.
ABSTRACT Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic dis... more ABSTRACT Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, yet their experiences related to diversity differ widely. This article explores how several geography departments that vary by region, setting, and institutional type have experienced and promoted diversity. We also explore geography at different types of institutions, particularly minority-serving institutions and land-grant colleges and universities. We conclude that plans for improving the recruitment and retention of diverse students and faculty should make explicit the connection between structural factors, such as institutional contexts, and the agency of geography departments as key actors.
Hermann, David and Shufro, Nick (Editors) (Solís, Patricia contributor). 2006. Mobilizing Resourc... more Hermann, David and Shufro, Nick (Editors) (Solís, Patricia contributor). 2006. Mobilizing Resources: A Primer of Practical Ideas on How to Improve the Effectiveness of Public-Private Partnership Financial and Other Resource Requests. And Movilizando Recursos: Un Manual de Ideas Prácticas sober Cómo Mejorar la Efectivad de las Solicitudes de Finaciamiento y de otros Recursos de las Alianzas Público-Privadas. Published by the White Water to Blue Water Partnership, Secretariat United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Caribbean Environment Programme. ISBN: 978-0-89291-001-4.
Hawthorne, Timothy, Patricia Solís, Brittney Terry, Marie Price, and Christopher L. Atchison. (Ac... more Hawthorne, Timothy, Patricia Solís, Brittney Terry, Marie Price, and Christopher L. Atchison. (Accepted 2014, in press.) Critical Reflection Mapping as a Hybrid Methodology for Examining Socio-Spatial Perceptions of New Research Sites. Manuscript accepted by Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Solís, Patricia, Marie Price, and Maria Adames. (Accepted 2014, in press). Building Collaborative... more Solís, Patricia, Marie Price, and Maria Adames. (Accepted 2014, in press). Building Collaborative Research Opportunities into Study Abroad Programs: A Case Study from Panama. Manuscript accepted by Journal of Geography in Higher Education.
Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, ... more Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, yet their experiences related to diversity differ widely. This article explores how several geography departments that vary by region, setting, and institutional type have experienced and promoted diversity. We also explore geography at different types of institutions, particularly minority-serving institutions and land-grant colleges and universities. We conclude that plans for improving the recruitment and retention of diverse students and faculty should make explicit the connection between structural factors, such as institutional contexts, and the agency of geography departments as key actors.
Solís, Patricia, Joy Adams, Leslie Duram, Susan Hume, Al Kuslikis, Victoria Lawson, Inés M. Miyares, David Padgett, Alex Ramirez. 2014. Diverse Experiences in Diversity at the Geography Department Scale. The Professional Geographer 66(2):205-220. DOI:10.1080/00330124.2012.735940. ISSN: 0033-0124.
Patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender participation in higher education are diverse and vary spa... more Patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender participation in higher education are diverse and vary spatially, yet they fail to fully reflect the changing demographic landscape of the United States. This article explores two key questions: 1) How does diversity within geography compare to diversity within U.S. higher education more broadly? and 2) How does the participation of underrepresented minorities and women in geography programs differ across regions and settings? We conclude that departmental strategies and goals for enhancing diversity should be sensitive to institutional and geographic contexts that shape individual programs' unique opportunities and constraints.
When students consider higher education, they often ask, "Where should I go to college?" Meanwhil... more When students consider higher education, they often ask, "Where should I go to college?" Meanwhile departments ask, "Where do we find a more diverse faculty/student body?" These questions hint at how the nature of participation in higher education is fundamentally spatial and geographic. Where universities are, from where and how far their underrepresented students or faculty come, and the complex dynamics of their geographic context matter considerably. With this FOCUS issue, we ask what it might look like to recast this overused framework by drawing upon geographic perspectives and experiences to engage with the U.S. system of higher education. This includes asking how to understand the ways "diversity" is sometimes characterized, measured, and assessed within this system, in both quantitative and qualitative terms and ultimately in terms that can help inform practices at the department level.
International Research in Geographical …, Jan 1, 2011
Basic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seems to be characterized by lecture m... more Basic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seems to be characterized by lecture methods of instruction, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and a disconnection with local community problems. During 2008, a “My Community, Our Earth”(MyCOE) workshop was organized in the MENA region and involved teachers of geography, math and science. It aimed to promote and support the use of geographic methods and technologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), regarding sustainable development topics as a way to improve primary and secondary teaching and learning through an interdisciplinary approach and connection to local issues. These subjects were integrated to a perspective based on spatial thinking, spatial analysis, active learning and problem solving on a variety of regional and local issues. This article explores the impact that the MyCOE workshop may have on participants’ learning. Preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires were administered, and the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data shows that the respondents’ expertise was reinforced and that they learned to use geographic technologies. In addition, the MyCOE workshop resulted in the development of a more concrete vision among participants of what basic math and science education could be in Arab nations, by using geographic learning as a framework for integrated education.
Compilation of event footage including President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama
"Unos 30 jóvenes pa... more Compilation of event footage including President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama "Unos 30 jóvenes panameños finalizan talleres tecnológicos Youth TechCamps publicado por el Gobierno de la República de Panamá"
The MyCOE / SERVIR Capstone Event celebrated a global program carried out over the past two years... more The MyCOE / SERVIR Capstone Event celebrated a global program carried out over the past two years, with representative student-led projects highlighting how youth around the world are using remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and geospatial data to address climate change issues in their regions. Fourteen outstanding MyCOE / SERVIR Fellows were selected to showcase their work to demonstrate the power of spatial data and geographic thinking. They were nominated by instructors and staff of the MyCOE Program and SERVIR Hubs and chosen by USAID and NASA from among the 120 participants of the 2012-2014 MyCOE / SERVIR Program. These Capstone Fellows hail from ten countries and bring together four staggered regional rounds of 10-month fellowship terms in East Africa, Himalayas, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. In early April of 2014, Fellows met with USAID and NASA staff, scientists, and others in Washington, DC through symposia and exhibits convened at agency headquarters. They were received by both NASA Administrator Dr. Charles Bolden, and addressed by USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. They then travel to Tampa, Florida to present their work at a featured illustrated paper session during the Association of American Geographer's Annual Meeting, which drew more than six thousand attendees from over seventy countries.
The development of activities for MyCOE participation in Rio+20 has been envisioned and implement... more The development of activities for MyCOE participation in Rio+20 has been envisioned and implemented in a way that continues its successful approach and expands it for a second decade of the partnership to address key sustainable development priorities. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) took place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark the twenty-year anniversary of the first summit held in Rio in 1992 and ten years since the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, where MyCOE was launched as one of the first Type II Public-Private Partnerships to address sustainable development issues, including biodiversity, climate change, poverty eradication, fresh water supply and urbanization. Continuously operated without interruption since its inception, thus becoming one of the very few “sustained partnerships” over this ten year period, this international program is administered by the Association of American Geographers (Secretariat) and has received support from the U.S. Department of State, Esri Inc., U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, NASA, United Nations Environment Programme, International Geographical Union and many others.
The AAG ALIGNED Project has developed a spatial decision support tool to aid geography and geosci... more The AAG ALIGNED Project has developed a spatial decision support tool to aid geography and geoscience departments to access the latest information and advice on how to enhance diversity, promote inclusion, and broaden participation in their academic programs.
Increasingly, scholars engage policy makers around fundamental, complex questions on environmenta... more Increasingly, scholars engage policy makers around fundamental, complex questions on environmental change in interdisciplinary settings. Researchers attempting to develop robust contributions to knowledge that can support policymaker understandings in this context face significant inferential challenges in dealing with the spatial dimension of their phenomenon of interest. In this paper, we extend an understanding of well-defined methodological challenges familiar to applied spatial scientists by explicitly articulating the Decision-Making/Accountability, Spatial Incongruence Problem, or DASIP. Three case studies illustrate how spatial incongruences matter to researchers who work on complex, interdisciplinary problems, while seeking to understand decision-making or policy-related phenomenon: urban heat-island mitigation research in Arizona, water transfer conflicts in Kansas, and hydraulic-fracturing debates in Texas. With such examples, we aim to evoke a deeper understanding of this problem in applied research and also inspire thinking about how scholars might innovate solutions.
Strategic international partnership building in higher education is an endeavor that is not only ... more Strategic international partnership building in higher education is an endeavor that is not only of interest to universities in the developed world. Of the more than 18,000 formal degree-granting institutions of higher education around the globe, an estimated 55% are situated in “emerging” economies, located in nations that are neither defined as being among the richest regions nor among the least developed countries. Any serious effort seeking to understand strategic partnership building in a global higher education landscape must reckon with the reality that more than half of universities globally are found in contexts that are characterized by significant changes in socioeconomic dynamics and rapid transformations of science and technology needs, frequently accompanied by relatively limited resources for research and education. Traditional models of partnership engagement are being revised to reflect these challenges and opportunities. We propose one new model based upon experiences between US and Panamanian universities developed over the past decade.
ABSTRACT Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic dis... more ABSTRACT Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, yet their experiences related to diversity differ widely. This article explores how several geography departments that vary by region, setting, and institutional type have experienced and promoted diversity. We also explore geography at different types of institutions, particularly minority-serving institutions and land-grant colleges and universities. We conclude that plans for improving the recruitment and retention of diverse students and faculty should make explicit the connection between structural factors, such as institutional contexts, and the agency of geography departments as key actors.
Hermann, David and Shufro, Nick (Editors) (Solís, Patricia contributor). 2006. Mobilizing Resourc... more Hermann, David and Shufro, Nick (Editors) (Solís, Patricia contributor). 2006. Mobilizing Resources: A Primer of Practical Ideas on How to Improve the Effectiveness of Public-Private Partnership Financial and Other Resource Requests. And Movilizando Recursos: Un Manual de Ideas Prácticas sober Cómo Mejorar la Efectivad de las Solicitudes de Finaciamiento y de otros Recursos de las Alianzas Público-Privadas. Published by the White Water to Blue Water Partnership, Secretariat United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Caribbean Environment Programme. ISBN: 978-0-89291-001-4.
Hawthorne, Timothy, Patricia Solís, Brittney Terry, Marie Price, and Christopher L. Atchison. (Ac... more Hawthorne, Timothy, Patricia Solís, Brittney Terry, Marie Price, and Christopher L. Atchison. (Accepted 2014, in press.) Critical Reflection Mapping as a Hybrid Methodology for Examining Socio-Spatial Perceptions of New Research Sites. Manuscript accepted by Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Solís, Patricia, Marie Price, and Maria Adames. (Accepted 2014, in press). Building Collaborative... more Solís, Patricia, Marie Price, and Maria Adames. (Accepted 2014, in press). Building Collaborative Research Opportunities into Study Abroad Programs: A Case Study from Panama. Manuscript accepted by Journal of Geography in Higher Education.
Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, ... more Departments are critical intervention points for enhancing diversity in any academic discipline, yet their experiences related to diversity differ widely. This article explores how several geography departments that vary by region, setting, and institutional type have experienced and promoted diversity. We also explore geography at different types of institutions, particularly minority-serving institutions and land-grant colleges and universities. We conclude that plans for improving the recruitment and retention of diverse students and faculty should make explicit the connection between structural factors, such as institutional contexts, and the agency of geography departments as key actors.
Solís, Patricia, Joy Adams, Leslie Duram, Susan Hume, Al Kuslikis, Victoria Lawson, Inés M. Miyares, David Padgett, Alex Ramirez. 2014. Diverse Experiences in Diversity at the Geography Department Scale. The Professional Geographer 66(2):205-220. DOI:10.1080/00330124.2012.735940. ISSN: 0033-0124.
Patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender participation in higher education are diverse and vary spa... more Patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender participation in higher education are diverse and vary spatially, yet they fail to fully reflect the changing demographic landscape of the United States. This article explores two key questions: 1) How does diversity within geography compare to diversity within U.S. higher education more broadly? and 2) How does the participation of underrepresented minorities and women in geography programs differ across regions and settings? We conclude that departmental strategies and goals for enhancing diversity should be sensitive to institutional and geographic contexts that shape individual programs' unique opportunities and constraints.
When students consider higher education, they often ask, "Where should I go to college?" Meanwhil... more When students consider higher education, they often ask, "Where should I go to college?" Meanwhile departments ask, "Where do we find a more diverse faculty/student body?" These questions hint at how the nature of participation in higher education is fundamentally spatial and geographic. Where universities are, from where and how far their underrepresented students or faculty come, and the complex dynamics of their geographic context matter considerably. With this FOCUS issue, we ask what it might look like to recast this overused framework by drawing upon geographic perspectives and experiences to engage with the U.S. system of higher education. This includes asking how to understand the ways "diversity" is sometimes characterized, measured, and assessed within this system, in both quantitative and qualitative terms and ultimately in terms that can help inform practices at the department level.
International Research in Geographical …, Jan 1, 2011
Basic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seems to be characterized by lecture m... more Basic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seems to be characterized by lecture methods of instruction, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and a disconnection with local community problems. During 2008, a “My Community, Our Earth”(MyCOE) workshop was organized in the MENA region and involved teachers of geography, math and science. It aimed to promote and support the use of geographic methods and technologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), regarding sustainable development topics as a way to improve primary and secondary teaching and learning through an interdisciplinary approach and connection to local issues. These subjects were integrated to a perspective based on spatial thinking, spatial analysis, active learning and problem solving on a variety of regional and local issues. This article explores the impact that the MyCOE workshop may have on participants’ learning. Preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires were administered, and the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data shows that the respondents’ expertise was reinforced and that they learned to use geographic technologies. In addition, the MyCOE workshop resulted in the development of a more concrete vision among participants of what basic math and science education could be in Arab nations, by using geographic learning as a framework for integrated education.
Compilation of event footage including President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama
"Unos 30 jóvenes pa... more Compilation of event footage including President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama "Unos 30 jóvenes panameños finalizan talleres tecnológicos Youth TechCamps publicado por el Gobierno de la República de Panamá"
The MyCOE / SERVIR Capstone Event celebrated a global program carried out over the past two years... more The MyCOE / SERVIR Capstone Event celebrated a global program carried out over the past two years, with representative student-led projects highlighting how youth around the world are using remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and geospatial data to address climate change issues in their regions. Fourteen outstanding MyCOE / SERVIR Fellows were selected to showcase their work to demonstrate the power of spatial data and geographic thinking. They were nominated by instructors and staff of the MyCOE Program and SERVIR Hubs and chosen by USAID and NASA from among the 120 participants of the 2012-2014 MyCOE / SERVIR Program. These Capstone Fellows hail from ten countries and bring together four staggered regional rounds of 10-month fellowship terms in East Africa, Himalayas, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. In early April of 2014, Fellows met with USAID and NASA staff, scientists, and others in Washington, DC through symposia and exhibits convened at agency headquarters. They were received by both NASA Administrator Dr. Charles Bolden, and addressed by USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. They then travel to Tampa, Florida to present their work at a featured illustrated paper session during the Association of American Geographer's Annual Meeting, which drew more than six thousand attendees from over seventy countries.
The development of activities for MyCOE participation in Rio+20 has been envisioned and implement... more The development of activities for MyCOE participation in Rio+20 has been envisioned and implemented in a way that continues its successful approach and expands it for a second decade of the partnership to address key sustainable development priorities. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) took place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark the twenty-year anniversary of the first summit held in Rio in 1992 and ten years since the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, where MyCOE was launched as one of the first Type II Public-Private Partnerships to address sustainable development issues, including biodiversity, climate change, poverty eradication, fresh water supply and urbanization. Continuously operated without interruption since its inception, thus becoming one of the very few “sustained partnerships” over this ten year period, this international program is administered by the Association of American Geographers (Secretariat) and has received support from the U.S. Department of State, Esri Inc., U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, NASA, United Nations Environment Programme, International Geographical Union and many others.
The AAG ALIGNED Project has developed a spatial decision support tool to aid geography and geosci... more The AAG ALIGNED Project has developed a spatial decision support tool to aid geography and geoscience departments to access the latest information and advice on how to enhance diversity, promote inclusion, and broaden participation in their academic programs.
A twelve-minute video has been created about the June 2010 PASI event in Panama City. The short ... more A twelve-minute video has been created about the June 2010 PASI event in Panama City. The short documentary gives an overview of the process of collaborating among international and interdisciplinary scholars around the themes of Climate Change and Hazards and points out some of the key themes and lessons learned from the experience. The Association of American Geographers (AAG), together with the PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH) of the Organization of American States (OAS), the US Geological Survey (USGS), the National Communication Association (NCA), and the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP), co-organized this two-week long event in collaboration with and hosted on the campus of the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá. Funded by the US NSF PASI Program.
Beyond the academic duties of teaching, research, publishing, and service, expectations that facu... more Beyond the academic duties of teaching, research, publishing, and service, expectations that faculty should generate external funding are increasing— and are increasingly important. Tenure and promotion evaluations of faculty may or may not explicitly review dollars won, but are clearly influenced by successful grant-getting as a measure of contribution to one’s field, especially for peer-reviewed proposals. Even if a grant is not awarded, the process of writing research grant proposals can help you solidify your research ideas and make them tangible, realistic, and programmatic. This chapter aims to give you some advice for how to successfully prepare yourself as a researcher who is successful at generating external funding.
Why should geographers collaborate beyond national borders? In this chapter, we take stock of the... more Why should geographers collaborate beyond national borders? In this chapter, we take stock of the status of geographic collaboration in the Americas and, through the use of case studies and the results of AAG research, illustrate how these practices enhance research and education in the discipline. We begin by situating our discussion in the research literature on international collaboration in higher education and what is known to further its reach and impact in academic disciplines. Drawing on the results of an NSF-funded study known as AAMIGA (Advancing Academe: A Multi-dimensional Investigation of Geography in the Americas) as well as international education projects by the AAG, we then document a broad range of international collaborations practiced by geographers in the Americas, noting how AAG programs and other mechanisms support each form of collaboration. The chapter concludes by identifying a series of challenges and opportunities that we argue must be considered in order for geographic collaboration in the Americas to reach its full potential and by presenting a set of recommendations stemming from AAG research for building on existing networks and resources to support and sustain work by geographers working together across the Americas.
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Papers by Patricia Solís
Solís, Patricia, Joy Adams, Leslie Duram, Susan Hume, Al Kuslikis, Victoria Lawson, Inés M. Miyares, David Padgett, Alex Ramirez. 2014. Diverse Experiences in Diversity at the Geography Department Scale. The Professional Geographer 66(2):205-220. DOI:10.1080/00330124.2012.735940. ISSN: 0033-0124.
Talks by Patricia Solís
"Unos 30 jóvenes panameños finalizan talleres tecnológicos Youth TechCamps publicado por el Gobierno de la República de Panamá"
Solís, Patricia, Joy Adams, Leslie Duram, Susan Hume, Al Kuslikis, Victoria Lawson, Inés M. Miyares, David Padgett, Alex Ramirez. 2014. Diverse Experiences in Diversity at the Geography Department Scale. The Professional Geographer 66(2):205-220. DOI:10.1080/00330124.2012.735940. ISSN: 0033-0124.
"Unos 30 jóvenes panameños finalizan talleres tecnológicos Youth TechCamps publicado por el Gobierno de la República de Panamá"
The Association of American Geographers (AAG), together with the PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH) of the Organization of American States (OAS), the US Geological Survey (USGS), the National Communication Association (NCA), and the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP), co-organized this two-week long event in collaboration with and hosted on the campus of the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá. Funded by the US NSF PASI Program.