The memory of Dr. Steve Lavin, a former University of Nebraska-Lincoln geography professor, was honored Friday.
Dozens gathered in 163 Hardin Hall for Dr. Michael Peterson's presentation “Geography and Cartography in an Era of American Exceptionalism” as part of the annual Steve Lavin Memorial Seminar. Peterson is a professor in the Department of Geography/Geology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Peterson is a specialist in cartography, as Lavin was.
“Steve and I had very similar research interests,” Peterson said at the beginning of his talk. Both set out to research the information maps convey and how to make it better.
Lavin ended up at UNL and spent three decades in the geography department, several as the chair. He died of cancer in 2011. Peterson ended up at UNO and has traveled the world in his role as professor. Those travels have shaped his lectures in the classroom and out.
“How do you teach (cartography and geography) if the students think they come from the best country?” Peterson asked the crowd. American Exceptionalism is just that: the idea that the United States' history and mission make it unique and therefore is superior to other countries.
Part of that is reflected in his classroom. Peterson described the changes his course textbook has taken since he started at UNO in 1982. His original class used a book, “Fundamentals in Geography,” and there was nothing in it of world geography.
Over the next two decades, Peterson saw world geography return to the book and classrooms, only to see that shrink increasingly in the years since 9/11. That isolation is both happenstance and self-imposed, Peterson said, but the result is a disservice to students.
Students should be exposed to the best knowledge that other countries offer; mistakes made elsewhere also have the potential to teach here.
“Go someplace where you are the minority,” Peterson urged. “See the world differently.”
Peterson's lecture was part of a two-day annual event that honors Lavin. This year's event included a Peace Corps OpenStreet Mapathon, “Mapping in the Cloud” workshop and 2016 Gamma Theta Upsilon reception and induction ceremony.
Twelve students were inducted into the Alpha Phi Chapter of the international geography honor society. They were:
Jacob E. Baker;
Taylor R. Cook;
Andrew R. Fornoff;
Mackenna Rose Maddox;
Zachary T. Olson;
Jesse Reynolds;
Elizabeth A. Rice;
Rob Toth;
Matthew Weidner;
Roy Tianran Yao;
Margaret Davenport; and
Jacob Lambert.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/7jhz