In its 75-year history, the Geography and Anthropology Department has experienced much growth and change. Along with using modern technologies for activities such as the serial killer investigation, the department remains focused on its initial values of balancing physical and human geography.
Craig Colten, geography department chairman, said the department was founded in 1928 when the University brought in geographers Richard Russell and Fred Kniffen to establish a substantial geography program.
Colten said one of the main thrusts of the department always has been a program balanced between physical courses and human geography courses.
Colten said the department saw further growth in the 1950s when faculty member Robert West branched out to add studies in Latin America to the cultural geography curriculum.
Along with cultural geography, Colten said the department also has branched out in cartography and mapping sciences.
Colten said though cartography focuses primarily on mapmaking, the mapping sciences also focus on the theories behind making the maps.
“That’s become a major strength for us,” Colten said.
Colten said despite all the advancements, the program is still rooted in its initial values.
“We’d like to think we are rooted in our old strengths,” Colten said. “We still focus on cultural geography and historical geography as well, and we have a really nice, balanced program.”
In addition to providing balanced classroom instruction, Colten said members of the department also have worked in the community in such efforts as searching for the south Louisiana serial killer.
Colten said members of the forensic anthropology department, and primarily researchers with the University’s Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services lab, assisted law enforcement officials in identifying where the serial killer might live, in addition to analyzing evidence from crime scenes.
This emphasis on forensics was nothing new to the geography department. An article in Southwestern Geographer noted that in the 1980s, then-department chair Milton Newton “sought a major initiative involving ‘geo-forensics,’ or the application of geographical knowledge to legal questions.”
However, Newton did not receive much support for these new changes and left the University for other endeavors.
In addition, Colten said members of the forensic anthropology department have been working to find out how currents carry corpses along the Mississippi River in order to find out where the bodies may originally have been placed.
“It’s been a nice collaboration between forensic and mapping sciences people,” Colten said.
For the future, Colten said he would like to continue the balanced program and see students become nationally recognized.
The department has a number of symposiums and lectures on various topics planned throughout the semester in celebration of its anniversary.
In addition, the department is planning on creating a new “technology-rich” classroom in Howe-Russell that will be used for the department’s climate program, mapping sciences and interactive activities. The department also is planning to create an Alumni Seminar Room to house donated book collections.