Students, faculty and staff celebrated Geography Awareness week Nov. 17-21, which included geographical issues, both local and global and introduced students to career paths in geography, geographic information systems, urban planning, disaster management, and environmental science.

During the event, MSU-WP hosted a 17×21-square-foot map of Missouri in Hass-Darr Hall. The map, owned by the Missouri Geographic Alliance at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is regularly loaned to educators and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Rajiv Thakur, Professor of Geography, noted the map has visited MSU-WP previously in 2017 and 2019.

The event also welcomed 26 eighth grade and 17 third-grade students from Howell Valley R-I School District. Eighth-grade teacher Chad Dixon used the map to explore Civil War sites and geographic features, while third-grade teacher Kim Rogers engaged her students through scavenger hunts focused on location identification and map-reading skills.

Geography Awareness Week also included student presentations on diverse topics such as AI and its impact on the environment, food insecurity in the Ozarks, wildlife in the Ozarks, deforestation in southeast Asia, among others.

For more information about this and future geography events, contact Dr. Rajiv Thakur at RajivThakur@MissouriState.edu or 417-255-7288.