Contact:

Bradley Cullen, (505) 277-3643 Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821

February 11, 2002

INTERDISCIPLINARY LECTURE SERIES ORGANIZED BY UNM’S DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY SET TO BEGIN

An interdisciplinary lecture series titled “Visions for the American West,” and organized by the Department of Geography at UNM presents its first lecture featuring author Charles E. Little speaking on “The Tragedy of Land and the Quest for Visions of the Good Place” on Friday, March 1 in Dane Smith Hall, room 123 beginning at 7 p.m. The hour-long lecture will include a question and answer period following the talk. Admission is free and the public is invited.

Little’s lecture introduces the series and will feature an “anti-slide show” on how the Western landscape has been trashed, and provide an overview of how American civic and political leaders (from Thomas Jefferson onward) have tried to promulgate a vision for the land as the essential cultural element of the American experiment.

“Even though people keep trying to ruin the American West, it is a remarkably resilient place filled with folk who have imaginative new ideas for ways to redeem what Wallace Stegner calls ‘the geography of hope,’ said Little. “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to kick off this series of lectures, which I am sure will be inspirational to people who are concerned about the West. Those who attend may find that they are not just a voice in the wilderness, but among many friends who are trying to make good on the promise of this region.”

Little is a writer, policy analyst on land use and natural resources, former head of the natural resources policy research at the Library of Congress, and president and editorial director of the American Land Publishing Project, Inc. of the Center for American Places. His most recent books are “Sacred Lands of Indian America,” “Discover America: The Smithsonian Book of the National Parks,” and “The Dying of the Trees.”

The series, which will feature seven hour-long lectures over the course of the spring and fall semesters providing up-to-date, authoritative reports on the status and issues of the American West, is organized by Bradley Cullen, acting chair of the UNM Department of Geography, with Little and Hal Jackson, adjunct faculty members in the department. The lectures planned in the series are co-sponsored by the Department of Economics, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, Associate Provost’s office, Ortiz Center, Landscape Architecture Program, Water Resources Program and the Office of the Vice Provost, Research.

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The University of New Mexico
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