UMW puts GIS on the Map
By Stephen Hanna and Gail Brooks
Log on to MapQuest to find out how to get from here to there. Or analyze downtown Atlanta using Google Earth. You are taking advantage of a Geographic Information Systems, or GIS.
In part, GIS can be described as an integrated hardware, software, and database system capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying geographical information. The system is not complete, however, without the highly-trained specialists who design and use GIS to monitor environmental change, plan for future development, manage assets, and improve emergency preparedness.
For years, UMW faculty in the geography and the environmental science and geology departments have taught geographic information system courses to undergraduates on the Fredericksburg campus. But now the large and growing need of local governments, area businesses, and the military for professionals with GIS training has served as a catalyst for both campuses to forge a partnership to expand GIS offerings.
GIS technology can be used in everything from scientific investigations to marketing, from resource management to criminology, from urban planning to environmental impact assessment. So it’s not surprising that the multidisciplinary nature of GIS permits the development of content and applications across many fields of study, providing opportunities for faculty on both campuses to collaborate. Faculty in disciplines as disparate as historic preservation and information systems, or business administration and geology, are queuing up to engage in curricular planning for the GIS program.
Last fall, four faculty members – Stephen Hanna (Geography), Grant Woodwell (Earth and Environmental Science), Gail Brooks (Computer Information Systems), and Gary Stanton (Historic Preservation) – developed a proposal to create a new GIS certificate program and sought permission to hire a full-time GIS specialist to take the lead in developing the curriculum and to teach GIS courses on both campuses. These efforts have received the administration’s enthusiastic support. In addition to providing the initial faculty line, Deans Meta Braymer and Rosemary Barra have ensured the availability of funds necessary to launch the program.
A national search for the GIS specialist resulted in the hiring of Brian Rizzo. Rizzo brings decades of experience in developing and utilizing GIS within a wide array of business and environmental applications. His expertise will ensure that UMW’s GIS certificate program will be rigorous and distinctive. As one of the University’s first two-campus instructors, he will teach the inaugural courses within this program at the College of Graduate and Professional Studies in fall 2007.
The certificate program, and the integration of GIS within other degree programs, will support the missions of both campuses. Designing the program to serve both professionals and liberal arts students will ensure that all participants not only learn valuable technical skills, but also are able to evaluate geographic data and assess the results of GIS analyses in a broad variety of contexts. The result will be a practical program combining GIS theory with real-world scenarios that will produce graduates ready to succeed in this rapidly expanding field.
The development of a professional certificate program in GIS is one of three projects funded by new joint faculty grants. The other two projects are a post-baccalaureate certificate program in teaching children with autism and development of additional courses for the master of education in secondary mathematics.