Illinois History Teacher, Volume 1

CONTRIBUTORS' BIOGRAPHIES

Robert Ashley has been a ninth-grade geography teacher at Red Bud High School for twenty-six years. He is part-time instructor of two regional geography classes (North America and World) at Red Bud Campus of Belleville Area College and Chair of the just completed Illinois' Rivers Project, "Geography of a River." That month-long curriculum employed the Guidelines for Geographers Education's five geography themes to study a river.

Norma Lou Blake holds a B.A. and M.A. in history from Western Illinois University. She has taught in the Macomb Unit #185 Jr. and Sr. High School for twenty years. She presently teaches geography and history in eighth grade and high school.

Al Larson is professor of geography at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His topical specialties are cultural and historical geography, and his regional interests include the United States and Canada, Europe, and Latin America. Larson's three academic degrees in geography have all included history minors. His geographic education experiences have included training geography teachers, consulting with school districts, and working as a content lecturer with the Illinois Geographic Alliance.

Douglas R. Miller holds a B.S. in earth science geography from Northern Michigan University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Colorado. He is an assistant professor of geography at Western Illinois University where he teaches environmental systems, cartography, environmental assessment, map and compass, and regional geography. His research interests are river systems and cartography.

Norman Moline, professor of geography at Augustana College in Rock Island has special teaching interests in the historical geography of the United States. His doctoral dissertation, Mobility and the Small Town, 1900-1930, is an analysis of the impact of the arrival of the automobiles and good roads. He currently is interested in the local impacts of transportation routes and population movements on urban planning.

James Schebler teaches U.S. History at Washington Jr. High School in Rock Island. He has a special interest in using the local community as a teaching resource. He also teaches a social science methods class at Augustana College in Rock Island.

Michael D. Sublett is a Phi Beta Kappa with his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago. He has been on the faculty at Illinois State University since 1970 and has taught the "Geography of Illinois" since 1971. Political boundary locations, an ongoing research/teaching interest, is the subject of a monograph on the evolution of county boundaries in Illinois. He is currently researching civil-political townships in Illinois.

Jill Freund Thomas, editor of the Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society, has been staff cartographer and geography lecturer at Illinois State University since 1985. She is involved in geography as a community service, conducts teacher workshops on cartography for grades K-12, and visits local schools to give presentations on maps to elementary school children. She is also the Director of Cartographic Service Laboratory, where she manages student workers on drafting products for public and university use.

Frederick H. Walk is a Geographic Teacher Consultant for the National Geographic Society and the Illinois Geographic Alliance. He has been teaching geography and social studies at Normal Community High School since 1972. Mr. Walk has been very active in developing inquiry-based social studies curriculum materials and conducting teacher workshops for all instructional levels. He has a special interest in developing and utilizing aerial photographs for spatial analysis of boundaries and various locations.

William D. Walters, Jr. is professor of geography at Illinois State University where he has taught for twenty-five years. His research interests center on historical geography, especially on the question of how towns came to be located where they were. He is also interested in the study of past cultural landscapes.

Fred Willman is a seventh grade social studies teacher at Kennedy Junior High School in Naperville Unit #203. He is a teaching consultant for the National Geographic Society and a speaker on geographic education. Willman has authored two geography books, co-authored two others, and has written several articles for educational publications. He has won the American Express National Geography Contest as well as the George Cram Award for geographic education. He is currently the editor of a book on the geography of Illinois that is being created for the Illinois Geographical Society. A lifelong Illinois resident and veteran teacher of geography, he has a strong involvement and curiosity about the Prairie State.