The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is a scientific and educational society founded in 1904 whose 10,000+ members share interests in the theory, methods, and practice of geography and geographic education. The AAG supports and recognizes its members through its grants and awards programs, and it publishes a newsletter, journals, and books and holds annual meetings and regional events. This year’s Annual Meeting took place April 14-18 in Washington, DC, during which a special 2-hour “Tribute Session” was held as “A Celebration of Reg Golledge’s Life and Work.”
According to the session description, long-time colleagues and friends of Reg Golledge expressed their thoughts on what his life has meant to geography and to themselves personally. It included a reception open to all, and statements were read on behalf of Bob Stimson and Helen Couclelis who were unable to attend the conference. Janice Monk (U. of Arizona) organized the session and gave a talk, Les King (McMaster U.) was the Chair, and other speakers included Ron Abler (IGU), Luc Anselin (Arizona State U.), Sarah Battersy (U. South Carolina), Scott Bell (U. of Saskatchewan), Stanley Brunn (U. of Kentucky), Niem Tu Huynh (Texas State U., San Marcos), Mei-Po Kwan (Ohio State U.), Janice Monk (U. of Arizona), Gunnar Olsson, (U. of Uppsala), Doug Richardson (AAG), Dar Roberts (UCSB), and Michael Webber, (U. of Melbourne).
Alumna Sarah Battersby (PhD, 2006) sent the following account of the event and of her own talk:
In terms of a summary, there were a few common themes across all of the tributes: 1) beer (all but one speaker had a beer story relating to Reg); 2) rugby, football, squash, etc. (all of which Reg played in his youth and passionately followed in his later years); 3) having vision without sight (with occasional comments about the selectiveness of Reg’s blindness, especially when there was beer (see #1 on the list) or pretty women in the room); and 4) that Reg was an amazing friend, mentor, and academic, and that we all miss him. All in all, it was a great tribute, though there wasn’t any beer at the reception afterwards!
I first met Reg in 1999 when I started graduate school at UCSB. In my first conversation with him, he told me that he had agreed to advise me, but that he wouldn’t be offended if I decided to change advisors if my interests changed over time. I don’t know why I would have ever made a change – working with Reg was an amazing experience.
Reg dragged me to conferences around the world, introducing me to everyone he knew. At some point at every meeting we would meet in the hotel lobby, and we would just sit there waiting for people to come around and talk. Having this opportunity to meet and talk to the people in the top of their field was invaluable to me as a student.
When it came time to apply for jobs, I learned that Reg knew everything about everyone everywhere. Reg’s depth and breadth of knowledge about all things relating to geography, his assessment of current research trends, and his insight into who was pushing the frontiers of the discipline was a precious commodity. I was privileged to have been able to partake of his wisdom (and to hear detailed stories about everyone in the departments that I was applying to – if you ever sat down to have a beer with Reg, be afraid…).
Most stories about Reg involve beer. I feel like it is fitting that I end with my two favorite beer stories.
I learned quickly that Reg’s blindness was somewhat selective. When we would go to department barbecues, at some point Reg would always ask me to go check out the beer selection in the cooler. I would report back with the options – and he would invariably say, “bring me the Fosters.” Of course, there wasn’t any Fosters to be found in the cooler, and I would tell him so. Since Reg was never wrong, he would inform me that I was incorrect, and that I should just stick my arm in the cooler, fish around, and he’d let me know when I had the Fosters in hand. Eventually, I always found the Fosters.
The second story is about spending time at AAG with Reg. The hotel for the 2005 Denver AAG had a great bar – they had a happy hour special with $2 beers, or something along those lines. For whatever reason, Reg decided that this would be a good time for me to see if I could keep up with him in my beer drinking. Since I am a bit (or a lot) smaller in build than Reg, this was probably a bad idea. Eventually I just had to tell Reg that I couldn’t drink any more – I think that this was the only time that he let me quit at anything.
For allowing me to quit that one time, and for pushing me to succeed the rest of the time, I owe Reg an immense debt of gratitude. I am honored to have been able to work with him – and, most days, I still wish that I could call him up to talk about beer – and research.
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