Geography in the Workplace: A Personal Assessment with a Look to the Future

Abstract

Abstract This paper offers a perspective of geography in the workplace. Who is doing what kind of geography can help us understand the impacts of our discipline in the workplace. We can and must do better in providing research-oriented, problem solvers to the workplace. To achieve this, we need to address collegiate-level geographic education, our goals and aspirations, the discipline's roles and responsibilities, educational reforms, and potential linkages between academic geography and the public and private sectors. If we understand geographers' roles in the workplace today, and can agree on the needs for tomorrow, we can debate goals, actions, and outcomes. While no one knows the entire workplace, its opportunities, and demands, I provide a general model of geographers in the workplace, including “who is” and “who is likely to be applying geography in the future.” This leads to how our degree recipients should be educated and suggests issues, challenges, and strategies. Key Words: Applied geographycareersprivate sector