The 77th annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers was held on the campus of The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, from September 24 to 27, 2014. Paper sessions were held in the Tucson Marriott University Park Hotel, a block away from the University of Arizona’s Main Gate and just north of the new streetcar line that leads from campus to downtown Tucson. The Opening Night Reception was held in the Hall of Champions, the President’s Reception and Mexican Fiesta Dinner and Night at the Museum took place in the Arizona Historical Society’s Museum, and the Awards Banquet was in The University of Arizona’s Student Memorial Center. Though the Autumnal Equinox occurred a day before the conference, visitors were bathed in 98° (F) heat upon arrival.

One hundred and ninety-five people registered for the meeting. Attendees came from most of the states in the APCG region and included substantial contingents from The University of Arizona; Arizona State University; Portland State University; the University of Nevada, Reno; San Diego State University; Idaho State University; and several of the institutions in the California State system. Geographers from outside the region attended as well, coming from as far away as Korea and Germany. The Association of American Geographers’ President Mona Domosh (Dartmouth University) was also in attendance.

The meeting opened with a reception held at The University of Arizona’s Hall of Champions, an Athletics museum attached to McKale Memorial Center (basketball arena), which highlights the University’s heritage and traditions. Attendees were welcomed by APCG Vice President Chris Lukinbeal and The University of Arizona administrators Vincent Del Casino (Professor of Geography and Vice Provost for Digital Learning & Student Engagement and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management), John Paul Jones III (Professor of Geography and Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences), and Connie Woodhouse (Professor of Geography and Interim Director of the School of Geography and Development). Afterward, a presentation by Joseph Wilder, Director of the Southwest Center, entitled, “Promises of Aching Beauty,” highlighted the architectural uniqueness of the Sonoran region.

Thursday, September 25th, featured eight field trips, including: Biosphere 2, Sky Islands, Water Tales, Architectural Tour of Tucson, Tucson’s El Presidio Historic District, Chicano Murals, Tohono O’odham Nation, and The University of Arizona’s Tree Ring and Mirror labs. On Thursday night, “A Night at the Museum” and Mexican Fiesta was held at the Arizona Historical Society, where attendees had full access to the museum. During this event, Steve Yool, Professor of Geography, entertained the crowd with, “The Wide World of Music Challenge.” In this game, members of the audience competed against one another to be the first person to correctly guess the country of origin of a song played by Dr. Yool on the accordion.

Friday and Saturday, September 26-27th, featured nineteen paper sessions, two panel sessions, and one poster session held in conjunction with the President’s reception, for a total of eighty-nine papers and eleven posters. APCG President Sriram Khe's plenary session, “Quo Vadis,” took place Friday afternoon and focused on envisioning the future of the APCG. Following the plenary, attendees were invited to the Arizona Historical Society’s Museum for the catered President’s Reception and President’s poster session. Over 150 people came to the event, after which participants were encouraged to enjoy the evening in Tucson.

With sessions beginning at 9:30 on the morning of Saturday, September 27th, attendees were well rested and relaxed for an exciting day of scholarly engagement. Along with regular paper sessions, two special events were presented on Saturday. The first was a plenary hosted by Katie Meehan, Deborah Thien, and the APCG Women’s Network, entitled, “Screaming Queens: LGBT Studies and The Future of Feminist Geography: A Conversation with Susan Stryker.” Here, attendees viewed Stryker’s recent film, Screaming Queens, before discussants queried the filmmaker on questions of transgender and queer studies raised by the film, as well as the role these issues play in geographic thought. The second, “Author Meets Critics, Debt to Society: Accounting for Life in Capitalism, by Miranda Joseph,” was organized by Mark Kear of Simon Fraser University and was made up of graduate students from The University of Arizona’s School of Geography and Development and Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.

On Saturday evening, APCG Vice President Chris Lukinbeal (University of Arizona) hosted the annual Awards Banquet in the University of Arizona’s Student Memorial Center, where one-hundred-and-ten people were in attendance. Following dinner the evening’s host began by honoring those who have passed, including Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts, Helen Proctor, Forest (Woody) Pitts, Gene Martin, Phil Wagner, Steven R. Kale, Thomas White Harvey, Early Kersten, Vince Shaudys, Everett G. Smith, and Donald Lynch. The awards ceremony followed, with Fernando Bosco (San Diego State University) presenting the Latino/a Student Travel Scholarship awards, Renee Pualani Louis (University of Kansas) and Ken Madsen (The Ohio State University) presenting the Indigenous Student Travel Scholarship awards, Paul Starrs (University of Nevada, Reno) presenting the Larry Ford Fieldwork Scholarship in Cultural Geography award, Stephen Cunha (Humboldt State University) presenting the Margaret Trussell Scholarship awards, Vicki Drake (Santa Monica College) presenting the Women’s Network Travel Scholarship awards, Greg Bohr (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) presenting the APCG travel grants and paper and post awards, and James Allen (California State University Northridge) presenting the APCG Distinguished Service Award. James Keese (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) and Michael Schmandt (Sacramento State University) were both awarded the APCG Distinguished Service Award. Special thanks were given to Bill and Marilyn Bowen who, while unable to attend, graciously sponsored student presenters to attend the annual banquet.

A special thanks was also given to those that helped organize the 77th annual APCG conference including: Chris Lukinbeal, Christina Kennedy, David Plane, Greg Baron-Gafford, Laura Sharp, Mark Kear, Tawny Lochner, Fatimah Dili, Carly Nichols, Shelby Smith, Emma Lawlor, Michele Coe, Georgia Davis, Bob Richardson, Jan Monk, Jordan Wildin, Kali Kennedy, Ben Olimpio, Domenic Martinelli, Alegria Gray, Beza Gebru, Michael Jardini, Jessica Montanaro, Janine Clark, Galen Gukendauf, as well as field trip leaders and van drivers. The awards portion of the banquet ended with the Resolutions Committee Annual Report lead by Bill Crowely (Sonoma State University) with support from Nancy Wilkinson (San Francisco State University), and Paul Starrs (University of Nevada, Reno). The APCG Presidential Address concluded the awards banquet with Sriram Khe (Western Oregon University) presenting on “Geography and Public Scholarship.”

The faculty and students in the University of Arizona's School of Geography and Development would like to thank everyone who attended the 77th annual meeting in Tucson. We were delighted to have the opportunity to continue the tradition of supporting intellectually engaging, socially enjoyable APCG meetings. We look forward to the 2015 meeting in Palm Springs.

Respectfully submitted,
Chris Lukinbeal

To see photos from the event, please visit the School of Geography and Development Facebook page.