C Dahlman teaching

	Carl T. Dahlman, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Geography Miami University
Site guide Home/contact About me Research Publications Teaching / Advising	Teaching Philosophy Geography is an integrative field that views often disparate knowledge through the lens of spatial relationships and place-based processes. As a result, teaching geography requires that students learn disciplinary-specific concepts and methodologies at the same time that they are building a basic understanding of specific historical, economic, political, environmental, and socio-cultural contexts. This is at once geography's strength and its weakness--what makes studying different places so interesting is what makes conceptual depth most challenging. My approach to teaching geography tries to help students balance the excitment of learning about the world for all its messy complexity while still being able to develop logically organized, comparative observations about the processes that operate across contexts. In first-year undergraduate courses, I concentrate on relating complex subjects to students through daily activities and places most familiar to them. For example, in order to help students understand the connection between automobiles, pollution and dependency on foreign oil, I designed an exercise to compute their fuel consumption in barrels of oil and pounds of CO2. Using the data from the class, students can begin to grasp how personal choices become aggregate behaviors, which are compared to US averages and international trends. In this way, students are able to make connections between their own lifeworlds and those of other communities. In upper-division courses, I challenge students to engage a small number of specific cases in depth through readings, films, and individual research projects. I require that they engage a number of acadmic research articles from the contemporary literature in journals of geography and its allied fields. In doing so, I guide them in appreciating how academic literature is researched and presented, as well as how to interpret, digest, and critically analyze published research findings. I also place an emphasis on critical engagement with "geographic data," which has included projects dealing with: accuracy and bias on wikipedia.org; geographic data, mapping and atlas production (see Atlas project); and role-playing as situated policy-makers using comparative data products. My teaching style ranges from lecture, lecture-discussion, small-group break-out, and other task-specific methods. In approaching graduate teaching and advising, I prefer to approach graduate students as emerging scholars. I expect them to read extensively in and out of seminar in pursuit of their research topic. In graduate advising, I often work with students whose interests are somewhat different from my own, which provides me an opportunity to read outside my subfield while challenging students to express their work clearly and show its relevance to readers outside their areas.
	Teaching & Advising at Miami University
	GEO 101 Global Forces, Local Diversity. Application of human geography concepts to pattens and processes of economic, political, and cultural changes at global, regional and local scales. IIC, IIIB. GEO 311 Geography of Western Europe. This course introduces students to the physical and human geography of Europe, with emphasis on contemporary social, political and economic issues. The course also includes material on the environmental, historical and cultural patterns of Europe. Through lectures and readings, students will learn key geographic concepts by exploring important trends in contemporary Europe. Thematic Atlas of Europe. An student produced, inquiry-based learning project [pdf avail]. GEO 378 Political Geography. Analysis of geographic factors significant in understanding international relations and internal politico-territorial organizations; detailed studies of specific problem areas. GEO 410 Geography of the Balkans (Kosovo Summer Workshop) This course focuses on the physical and human geography of the former Yugoslavia and surrounding Balkan countries, with a special emphasis on Kosova. Students will examine the historical and contemporary issues of the region — social, political, ethnic, economic and environmental. The course will also explore how these patterns and trends have shaped the daily lives of people in the Balkans. In addition to readings, lectures, films and classroom discussions, there will be guest speakers and field assignments in Kosovo. GEO 460/560 Social Theory and Spatial Thought. Through readings and seminars, participants in this course will explore ideas that inform our understanding of the social world. The selected readings provide participants an opportunity to engage social theory as: (1) a diverse set of trans-disciplinary concepts that seek to both critique and expand our understanding of, among other things, society, culture, and identity; (2) a field that draws from and adds to our understanding of space and place; (3) a set of writings with specific histories, influences, and contexts that change over time, and; (4) ideas necessary for interpreting and creating critical, situated, and valid scholarship.
	Evaluations: Though the value of quantitative teaching evaluations is debatable, they do have some merit, namely in providing comparable indicators of instructor performance and student interest in a course. Moreover, disclosing standardized teaching evaluations is the only remedy to unsanctioned review Internet sites where a small number of reviews may distort the larger picture. I offer mine below so students may gain a little insight into my teaching. To the extent that such feedback can identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching, I continually use student evaluations, in addition to other indicators, from my courses to improve my teaching.
	Graduate Advising at Miami University Student / topic / current position Miami University Advisees 2006-2008. Grant Garstka, M.A., Geography. “The Changing Everyday Geographies Of Consumption Related Mobility In The Post-Socialist Bulgarian City.” Thesis defended 5 May 2008. 2006-2008. Sara Crangle, M.A., Geography. “Dynamic Neighobrhood Identities: Gentrification And Consumption Upon Neighborhood Identity Politics.” Thesis defended 6 May 2008. 2007-2009.Trent Williams, M.A., Geography. “Return of Displaced Persons in Kosova: Perceptions, attitudes and challenges in local communities.” Proposal defended 10 June 2008. Committees Served 2006-2007. Joe Elms, MA, Geography 2006-2007. Tatenda Mambo, MA, Geography

	Past Teaching & Advising
	Undergraduate Teaching GEOG 103 Introduction to Geography This course seeks to introduce students to the major areas of geography by investigating and explaining contemporary topics in nature and society from a geographic perspective. Through each of these topical investigations, considerable information will be presented in an attempt to convey briefly, but incisively, the nature of the subfields of geography. GEOG 225 Geography of Europe This course introduces students to the physical and human geography of Europe, with emphasis on contemporary social, political and economic issues. The course includes material on the physical environment, cultural and historical patterns, populations, economies, landscapes and politics. Through lectures and readings, students will learn key geographic concepts by exploring important trends in contemporary Europe. GEOG 515 Political and Military Geography This course focuses on the geographical dimensions of conflict and cooperation of several types and at different scales. Students will read both primary and scholarly works from historical and contemporary sources relating to topics such as: domestic political structures; nationalism; geopolitics; political-economy; globalization; social movements and civil society; and international law. Issues related to gender, identity, forced migration, genocide and humanitarianism will be examined. GEOG 520 Advanced Regional: Former Yugoslavia This course offers an in-depth examination of the former Yugoslavia and the countries and territories emerging from its break-up. The course will begin with an overview of basic material on the historical geographical processes in the Balkans leading up to the formation of Yugoslavia. Through readings, lectures, and film, students will then explore the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the post-Yugoslavia situation. The course will focus on the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia with an emphasis on international diplomatic, military and humanitarian interventions and their effects on the social, cultural, political and economic geography of the region. Grades will be assigned on the basis of prepared participation and several short papers; students taking the course for graduate credit will be required to write longer papers. There are no prerequisites for this course.
	Graduate Teaching GEOG 701 History of Geographic Thought This course provides a survey of the development of contemporary geographic philosophy and associated methodologies. Students will be introduced to the source-texts, engaged scholarship and critical interpretations of major trends in geographic thought, as well as their connections to allied disciplines. GEOG 721 Environmental Security The concept of security has long been used to describe human affairs from the psychological to the geopolitical. More recently the concept of security has been applied to human-environment interactions, which both expands beyond and changes conventional understandings of the term. Through reading and seminar discussions, this course explores the various dimensions and applications of security concepts as they relate to the environment. Readings will draw from geographic work dealing with natural resource conflicts, geopolitics, hazards and development, as well as from authors in anthropology, international relations and economics. GEOG 735 Seminar in Political Geography This course investigates political geography and related research frontiers. Through intensive reading and prepared seminar discussion, we will explore core aspects and contemporary dimensions of political geography and geopolitics, especially related to this semester’s seminar theme: nation-building, state-building and reconstruction. Besides work by geographers, readings include work by anthropologists, political scientists, and others in fields related to human geography. Evaluations while at University of South Carolina
	Graduate Advising Student / topic / current position University of South Carolina 2004-2006. Anne Galantowicz, Ph.D., Geography Topic: Student attitudinal response to teaching the Israeli-Palenstinian conflict. 2003-2006. Alan Hancock, M.A., Geography Topic: Place-branding and regional development in Columbia, SC. 2003-2006. Katherine Freer, Ph.D., Geography Topic: Socially adaptive responses to artificial scarcity in the Caribbean basin Current: Emergency management associate, IEM, inc. Atlanta, GA. 2003-2006. Kevin Raleigh, Ph.D., Geography Topic: Geography of blue-laws and alcohol laws in SC. 2003-2006. Kirsten Lackstrom, Ph.D., Geography 2004-05. James Chastain, M.A., Geography (defended June 22, 2005) Topic: Political geography of the second-round presidential election in France 2002: spatial correlates to Le Pen and the New Right. Current: Instructor, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY. 2003-04. Stephanie Login, M.A., Geography (defended December 10, 2004) Topic: Sustainable development and rural livelihoods in Swaziland Current: Assistant Interim Country Representative for the African Development Foundation, Swaziland 2002-03. Katherine Freer, M.A., Geography (defended June 20, 2003) Topic: Development needs of squatter settlements in Ecuador 2001-03. Alex Joshua McDuffie, Ph.D., Geography Topic: Russian electoral geography Current: GIS Specialist for SC National Guard Committees served 2005-2006 Maria Anastasiou, Ph.D., Political Science 2002 Mike Gutekunst, M.A., Geography 2002-03 Matt Constantino, M.A., Geography (defended June 24, 2003) 2002 Kerry Monaghan, M.A., Govt. and International Studies (defended Nov. 19, 2002)
	Outreach 2004 Workshop presentation on Middle East to Richland-Lexington District 5 teachers. (Oct) 2004 Content Lecture on The Changing European Union, GEOFEST XXVIII, USC. (Aug) 2003 Content Lecture on Debris Flow Hazards in Los Angeles, GEOFEST XXVI, USC. (Sept) 2003 Content Lectures on Iraq and Post-Conflict Bosnia, SCGA Summer Institute, USC. (June) 2003 Workshop presentation on Iraq to Richland Co. Area 2 social studies teachers. (Apr) 2003 Workshop presentation on Iraq to Richland Co. Area 1 social studies teachers. (Mar) 2003 Content Lecture on Geography of Iraq, GEOFEST XXV, University of South Carolina. (Feb) 2002 Content Lecture on Post-Conflict Bosnia, GEOFEST XXIV, USC. (Sept) 2002 Content Lecture on Kurdish Nationalism, GEOFEST XXIII, USC. (Feb) 2002 Guest Lecturer, GEOG R707X AP Human Geography institute for teachers. (Apr) 2002 On-camera expert, Turkey/Istanbul, Power of Place video series, Cambridge Studios. (Mar) 2002 Content Lecture on Kurdish Nationalism, GEOFEST XXII, Charleston, SC. (Sept) 1999 TA Orientation Group Leader, Teaching and Learning Center, University of Kentucky. (Aug)

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