RGSG Members –
Elections are coming in a little more than a week. Below, please find the bios of the candidates on this year’s ballot. Thank you to all that were willing to run and serve.
On or about next Friday, April 27th, all RGSG members who were in good standing on April 1, 2018 will receive an email link to vote for the 2018-2019 officers.
If you have any questions, please contact me. Thanks,
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Dawn M. Drake
Missouri Western State University
ddrake4@missouriwestern.edu
Secretary/Treasurer
Dawn Drake
Dr. Dawn M. Drake is an associate professor of geography in the Department of History & Geography at Missouri Western State University in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Her research interests include competitive advantage in the farm machinery industry and change for agriculture in high pressure development areas. She published a book on the farm machinery industry in 2013 as a part of Business Expert Press’s Industry Studies Collection and is currently working on another book project related to global food shortages. Dr. Drake is the current Secretary/Treasurer of the Rural Geography Specialty Group, serving in that capacity since 2011. Prior to that, she served as Student Representative for four years.
DIRECTORS
Director – At Large
Allison Brown
Allison Brown has over twenty years of experience providing business development services to international development projects. Her expertise is in strengthening market channels to support niche marketing, direct marketing, and export of high value and ultra-high value products including drug crops. Ms. Brown’s technical background combines horticulture, social science, business management, and geography. She has a long history of work on local food systems, farmer-to-consumer direct marketing, gardening for nutrition, and risk reduction. She has extensive experience in project scoping, design, and evaluation using a variety of methodological techniques. Ms. Brown regularly publishes scholarly papers on regional and local food systems, particularly farmers markets and small volume produce auctions. She also writes on the use of economic interventions in Counter Narcotics programming. She has been a member of AAG for over 15 years.
Director – East Lakes Region
No candidates
Director – Pacific Coast Division
Lisa Harrington
Dr. Lisa Harrington is a Professor at Kansas State University, where she has taught since 1994. Prior positions were at Western Washington University, New Mexico State, Central Michigan, and Eastern Illinois. She has served RGSG and its predecessor, CARLU (the Contemporary Agriculture and Rural Land Use SG) in a variety of capacities, including Board of Directors member, Chair, and Newsletter Editor. She also served on the AAG Council for 5 years, has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Applied Geography Conferences, and has served on several NSF review panels. Her primary interests in rural geography are related to natural resources management, land use, and sustainability. Harrington is beginning three years of ‘phased retirement’ in August 2018, with her primary KSU duties being an online course on Natural Resources. With this change, she is moving to the Pacific Northwest, where she has had a home and pursued research for over 20 years. She is a member of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers.
Director – Southwest Region
No candidates
Director – West Lakes Region
Innisfree McKinnon
Dr. Innisfree McKinnon is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout where she does community engaged research in the local region along with continuing research in rural development and farmland preservation in Oregon. She is interested in engaging students at all levels in research and networking with other rural geographers around the West Lakes region and the nation. Dr. McKinnon is committed to making rural geography a sub-discipline that welcomes geographers from underrepresented groups and those from outside of the U.S.
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
Andrew Husa
Andrew Husa is a first year PhD student in Human and Historical Geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under the direction of Dr. David Wishart. Along with being a proud student of UNL’s geography program, he is also a graduate fellow at the Center of Great Plains Studies. He also completed his Master’s at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, writing a thesis entitled A Historical Geography of Six and Eight-Man Football in Nebraska. Andrew’s current research is on successful small towns across Nebraska, including their demographic, economic, historical, and social characteristics. His interests include small town geography and rural identity, and attachment to rural landscape. This love of the landscape has followed him since he was young, growing up on a farm outside of Liberty, Nebraska, a village of 76 people.
At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Andrew has served one year as the Geography Student Organization and Gamma Theta Upsilon’s Vice President and Treasurer. He also led efforts for the department’s participation in The Big Event, the university’s annual community service event, and served on the Student Planning Committee of the Campus-wide Workshops for Graduate Teaching Assistants. Beyond the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Andrew has served as a Regional Student Social Outreach Coordinator for Gamma Theta Upsilon, where he gained experience working with the group’s social media pages. Andrew is excited to be considered for the position of Rural Geography Specialty Group Student Representative.
Rural Geography Specialty Group 