Kenneth Foote, professor of geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been elected president of the National Council for Geographic Education.
Foote previously served as vice president of research and external relations for the organization from 2002 to 2005 and will serve as president through 2006. Founded in 1915, the National Council for Geographic Education works to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching and learning in the United States.
Foote's research interests include cartography, cultural geography and American landscape history, uses of technology in geography instruction and professional development for junior faculty.
He led the development of the Geographer's Craft project, one of the first Web-based textbooks for teaching college-level geography. He also spearheaded the Virtual Geography Department project. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this Web-based effort created an online geography teaching and learning community.
Much of his work in cultural geography and American landscape history is on how violent events and tragedy are marked or not marked at different sites throughout the United States. He summed up his findings in the book "Shadowed Ground: America's Landscape of Tragedy and Violence," published in 1997 and re-released in a revised and expanded edition in 2003.
A CU-Boulder faculty member since 2000, Foote has been a Fulbright Fellow and served as chair of the geography department from 2003 to 2005. Prior to joining CU-Boulder, Foote was a geography professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2005 Foote received the Gilbert Grosvenor Honors in Geography Education award from the Association of American Geographers, the nation's other major association of professional geographers.
Based in Jacksonville, Ala., the National Council for Geographic Education has nearly 2,600 members. For more information about the organization visit .