The American Association of Geographers (AAG) recently announced that Ivan J. Ramírez, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences, will join its first-ever cohort in the new Elevate the Discipline program, which will train and showcase geographers around this year’s theme of Climate and Society. Fifteen geographers were selected through a competitive process. The program will train them over the next several months in leadership, media skills, and policy strategies, and thereafter will connect and elevate their work in public discourse. The program launched in July with frequent virtual meetings culminating in a week-long intensive training onsite at AAG headquarters in Washington, DC. Thereafter, AAG will work with the participants and their institutions to continue to promote their public scholarship.

“Geography is essential to understanding and solving the world’s most pressing issues,” said Gary Langham, AAG Executive Director. “We created Elevate the Discipline to help geographers raise the profile of their work, showing how instrumental our discipline is to addressing climate change and critical social issues.”