Geography professor president-elect of NCGE and recipient of grant from National Geographic

Dr. Jerry Mitchell, the director of USC’s Center of Excellence for Geographic Education, will lead the National Council for Geographic Education next year. The NCGE is a nonprofit membership organization that works to strengthen the quality and effectiveness of geography teaching and learning.

Previously serving as editor of the organization’s Journal of Geography from 2010 till 2019, Dr. Mitchell ran on a platform of improving pre-service (K-12) education in geography and will serve as president-elect this year before taking over the presidency in 2020.

Dr. Mitchell was also named a National Geographic Fellow, having received a National Geographic grant to develop modules for AP classes in high schools. AP human geography courses are usually taught in the 9th grade, followed by AP world history in 10th. The modules, Mitchell notes, will be offered at the end of the geography course and will serve as a bridge to the world history course, emphasizing the common content and themes the two disciplines share. AC Flora, Dutch Fork and River Bluff high schools will serve as test sites for the development of the modules.