Dear RIGEA members,

I have great news: today I heard word from the National Geographic Education Foundation and that they have accepted Rhode Island College’s application to continue as the host institution for Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance (RIGEA) and they have named me the Interim Alliance Coordinator.  Assuming things go well, the interim tag will be removed after the standard one year time period.  As most of you know, after Maria Lawrence stepped down as the RIGEA coordinator, the Alliance was is a state of flux.  The folks at National Geographic (who generously fund us) needed to assess the situation and I apologize that I’ve been silent in the meantime, but I had to wait until everything was official.  We’ll need to get a steering committee established so we can reconstitute a board, and I’ll be asking for your interest is assisting RIGEA in the coming weeks.  But first, we need introductions. 

Who am I?  Good question: I am a relative new-comer to the Ocean State.  I am just finishing up my third year at Rhode Island College after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University and Brigham Young University, but grew up in Southern California.  I have taught 9^th grade geography, I have been a children’s librarian and I have worked with the AP Human Geography community the past 8 years.  I was originally brought to Rhode Island on a joint appointment where I worked with practicum students and student teachers, but have recently agreed to fully be a part of the geography program in part of work with RIGEA.  

The future is bright for geography education in Rhode Island and I feel pleased to be a part of that future.  I know that many great things have been done in the past to build a sense of community among the Rhode Island educators cross many disciplines that see geography and geo-literacy as a crucial part of their classrooms.  I look forward to more fully joining that community since that communal aspect is what gives an Alliance power to bring about change and provide mutual support.  I envision working towards building upon the sense of community to strengthen it, deepen the connections and expand the reach of those that can be influenced by our work. 

I created a Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance Facebook page (as a way to receive notices if social media is something you prefer to email) that will hopefully foster collaboration, interaction and networking.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rhode-Island-Geography-Education-Alliance/294423290627317 

I hope that this resources will promote geo-literacy within Rhode Island and provide platforms for collaboration and cooperation.  With that is mind I’d like to share with you my collection of geography education archived on my sites as my offering to you.  This is both a resource, but also a both a digital introduction to who I am and what I think about geography.  These two sites are ones that I hope will serve the geography education community and I greatly look forward to collaborating with you in the future. 

http://scoop.it/t/geography-education

geographyeducation.org

Seth Dixon, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Rhode Island College

(401)456-8378

Twitter: @APHumanGeog

Website: http://geographyeducation.org