Dear folks,

As many of you may know, the Department of Geography is undergoing some major transitions—not only related to COVID-19 but also as we prepare to occupy portions of the building formerly known as Walters Life Sciences.

On behalf of the Department, our Head Leadership Team (Alderman, Nagle, Tran) wishes to express gratitude for the many people involved in Geography’s expansion into Walters.

First, please join us in acknowledging the organizational and fiscal work contributed by our office admin team (Pam Sharpe, Molly Green, and Connie Mroz) in ordering and receiving furniture as well as coordinating the planned assignment of space in Walters and working around a number of construction delays, some of which continue as we speak.

Over the past week in particular, we have seen an incredible collective effort made in moving and setting up furniture to Walters and cleaning and preparing rooms for use in fall 2020. We wish to acknowledge the team of faculty, staff, and student volunteers who played a critical role:

Kurt Butefish

Michael Camponovo

Kelsey Ellis

Jake Dein

Hyun Kim

Philip Li

Solange Munoz

Last but certainly not least, there has been a member of our staff who has taken a leading hand in the Walters conversion and spending long hours to ready those spaces—all while also preparing our computer labs for a COVID-19 configuration.  Please join us in giving a hearty thank you to Nathan McKinney.  He has really had this program’s back during a challenging time.  Thank you, Nathan.

Best wishes,

Derek, Liem, and Nicholas

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Derek H. Alderman, PhD

He / Him / His

Professor of Geography & Interim Head

Department of Geography, University of Tennessee

Betty Lynn Hendrickson Professor of Social Science

Voice: (865) 974-0406, Email: [log in to unmask]

Founder & Co-Coordinator, Tourism RESET

Past President, American Association of Geographers (2017-18)