Published on December 14, 2021 by Sean Flynt  
SEDAAG 2021
Jonathan Fleming and Caleb Dale with Dale's award-winning research poster

Samford University geography students and faculty made a strong showing for their program at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG,) hosted by the University of North Alabama in November.

Professor Jennifer Rahn is vice president of SEDAAG, professor Jonathan Fleming serves on the group’s Honors Committee, and professor Jordan Cissell is the state of Alabama’s representative for the group.

Geography and Sociology Department chair Jennifer Speights-Binet chaired a session on “Memory and Death” at the meeting, and geographic information systems (GIS) student Caleb Dale earned first place in the meeting’s undergraduate research poster category. Dale’s project–"The effects of precipitation and land usage on E. coli levels of the Coosa River Basin using Remote Sensing” –was supervised by Fleming and Biological and Environmental Sciences Department chair Anthony Overton, underscoring the interdisciplinary applications of GIS and geography in general.

Speights-Binet emphasized the 100% participation of the geography faculty and the high-profile honor for Dale. “For such a small department,” she said, “it is remarkable how much we serve this organization and the discipline of geography more broadly.”

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.