The Department of Geography is open normal business hours in Smith Hall, with limited staff availability. To make an advising appointment or access virtual drop-in advising, please visit Geography Advising.
Alumni
Recent news featuring our alumni is listed below. We also have profiles of several alumni. We'd love to hear what our former students are up to! Fill out the alumni update form to send us your news.
On January 2, 2025, Dr. Brian Berry passed away at the age of 90. Renowned for his influential work in urban and regional research, he was also a past AAG president (1978-79).Berry was born in Sedgely, Staffordshire, United Kingdom on February 16, 1934. He graduated from University College, London, with a B.Sc. in Economics with first class honors in 1955. He was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Washington, where he completed an M.A. in 1956, and a Ph.D. in 1958, studying under noted…
Hello Geography Undergrads!Got questions about career options, applying your geography degree to internship applications, or how to manage your goals? The Geography Alum Ambassador Committee is excited to share an "Ask an Alum" column! The UW Geography alum community is large and diverse and our committee hopes to strengthen the connections between current undergrads and our alums. Please follow along the prompting questions in the survey to ensure your question gets an answer.How It…
Born and raised in Seattle, AZ spent his childhood dreaming big. He wanted to play baseball, learn the cello, and like many kids, spend hours playing video games. But home wasn’t always a stable place. His parents weren’t able to take care of him. “Unfortunately, my mom was addicted to drugs and became absent because of it,” AZ said. “It was me, my dad, and my grandma, bouncing around from house to house, sometimes living in just one room because my dad was trying to live like…
Like current students, geography alums often find themselves trying to explain to friends and family just what exactly is this subject they have spent so much time studying? One common response is a quote from Professor Michael Brown's social science research design class, a core requirement for all students in the geography major: "the why of the where." Describing the discipline to those outside it, especially employers, can feel fraught as students and alums navigate their…
Since graduating from UW with a B.A. in Geography and History in 2005, Mike Mamic has followed a relatively straightforward path in the GIS career field. First, he began as a GIS Intern with the City of Puyallup. After that, Mike worked as a GIS Technician for Wahkiakum County, Washington, for two years before moving to Bend, Oregon. From 2008 to 2018, Mike served as the Chief GIS Cadastral Cartographer for Jefferson County, Oregon. Now, for the past six years, Mike has been working as a…
The Department of Geography is pleased to recognize Ph.D. graduate Iain Hay's 2024 Laureat d’honneur, awarded by the International Geographical Union (IGU). This international recognition for “service to the discipline at the international, national and local scales” is a tremendous honor. The award – which is arguably one of the most esteemed in international geography – will be presented in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday, August 30.
Having graduated from UW in 1989 after working with…
As a "self-described introvert," alum Eddie Bayya has navigated from the Department of Geography to a burgeoning career in the legal field. While pursuing a Paralegal Certificate at Highline College, Eddie currently works as an intern for the Law Office of Jenny Cochrane in Kirkland, WA, and a filing clerk with Cascade Guardianship Services in Everett, WA. Eddie notes that these roles allow them to "engage in geographical concepts and notions of gender as they work on different immigration and…
Like so many future geographers, UW geography alum Sue Colburn Nevler fondly recalls spinning a globe as a child, though she was looking for her father's ports of call from his work with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution global research fleet. As a sea captain, Sue's dad brought her along to help at the Bermuda Biological Station and on the flight over she read about the UW Department of Geography. "In Bermuda, it was a thrill to sail out into the Sargasso Sea, marveling at the mass of…
Professor Emeritus Richard L. Morrill passed away on Thursday, March 28, 2024. He had been ill for several years and passed away with his wife and best friend at his bedside.
Dick was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1935. He received his B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College in 1955. He moved to the University of Washington in Seattle that year to pursue a Master’s degree under Edward Ullman. Ullman was about to undertake fieldwork in Italy, however, so he moved to work with William…
Geography Professor and CSDE Affiliate Dr. Kam Wing Chan and Ph.D. Alum Dr. Xiaxia Yang (postdoc at King’s College, London) have recently published a commentary in Caixin Weekly, a major economics weekly in China. The title of their commentary is "The Secret of Chinese Cities being So Young." Their argument is based on a research paper they published last year, featured on the CSDE website earlier. A full copy of the commentary is here (PDF).
CSDE News
