By MEAGAN BURNS
Professor Alexander Murphy, a distinguished geographer with the University of Oregon, will give the Chauncy D. Harris annual lecture.
Murphy will spend a few days on campus lecturing, teaching, advising and visiting with students and faculty in the department, said Chad Emmett, a geography professor at BYU.
The lectureship is funded by donations from Chauncy D. Harris; his wife; their daughter, Margaret, and her husband Phillip A. Strauss Jr.
Chauncy D. Harris is a former BYU graduate, and this year marks the 70th anniversary of his graduation. Harris's father was former BYU president, Franklin Harris.
'He started college young and graduated at age 19 in what was then geology and geography,' Emmett said.
A lifelong educator, Harris taught at Indiana University, the University of Nebraska and the University of Chicago, taking time off during World War II to serve in the Offices of the Geographer in the State Department and in the Office of Strategic Services.
Harris also served as President of the Association of American Geographers. His work on urban geography and the geography of the Soviet Union/ Russia is highly regarded in the academic community, Emmett said.
Professor Alexander Murphy, this year's speaker, was a student of Professor Harris's at the University of Chicago and is now serving as the president of the Association of American Geographers.
'I am incredibly honored to be the first speaker in the Harris lecture series,' Murphy said in an e-mail. 'For me, it also represents an opportunity to pay tribute to someone who was important in my own professional development, as well as the development of Geography as a discipline.'
The first lecture will be at 11 a.m. on Thurs. Nov. 20 in Room 250 of the Spencer W. Kimball Tower. This lecture titled, 'Coping with a Changing World,' will focus on the current relevance of political geography.
'I will discuss the ways in which a geographical perspective can help us understand some of the critical international issues of the day, including the situation in the Middle East and the changing geopolitical order,' Murphy said in an e-mail.
The second lecture will be given at 9 a.m. Friday Nov. 21st in Room 250 of the SWKT in which Murphy will discuss transboundry issues in Europe. This lecture is being co-sponsored with the newly created Center for the Study of Europe.