Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Dr. James R. Norwine selected to deliver 2008 Faculty Lecture

KINGSVILLE - April 25, 2007

Contact: Jason Marton
jason.marton@tamuk.edu or 361-593-4143

Dr. James R. Norwine, Regents professor of geography, has been selected to give the 2008 Faculty Lecture at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

The topic of Norwine’s lecture will be, “Dueling Weltanschauungen? A Critical/Conservative Reading of Fugitive Values: What Being-In-The-World-Is-Truly-Like for Contemporary Undergraduates.”

The lecture looks at the overall perspective from which undergraduates see and interpret the world – an American interpretation of the German term “Weltanschauung.”

Data for the lecture will come from research work Norwine has been a part of since 1991, in which he and other scholars have surveyed thousands of college students from within the United States and internationally. The research surveys their opinions on subjects such as the environment and religion to learn more about how they view themselves, others and their surroundings.

The lecture will take place during the spring 2008 semester.

Norwine has been with Texas A&M-Kingsville since 1972. During that time, he also has been a visiting professor at Kansas Wesleyan University, Texas A&M University and, most recently, Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. for a 2006-2007 academic school year sabbatical. Prior to A&M-Kingsville, Norwine was an assistant professor at Northeastern Illinois University and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin and Stephen F. Austin State College.

Additional professional experiences include serving as a faculty visitor at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.; a summer fellow at the Pew Charitable Trust in Calvin College; a senior visitor at Johnson Space Center; and a senior scientist at Texas Instruments-Ecological Services.

Norwine holds a Ph.D. and M.S. from Indiana State University and a B.S. from Southeastern Missouri State University.
           
Selected honors and awards include being the first faculty member named a Regents Professor in A&M-Kingsville’s history in 1997, the highest academic recognition throughout the Texas A&M University System. He was a recipient of the National College Teaching Prize, from the National Council for Geographic Education. Norwine has served as a Fulbright Scholar three times, teaching higher education in Jordan, Yugoslavia and India. He has received the university honors of the Olan Kruse Science Faculty Award and the Alumni Research Award.

He has been an invited speaker for the Stormont Conference at Victoria College; the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute 25th Anniversary Symposium; and the Association of American Geographers/American Council of Learned Societies “Geography and the Humanities” Symposium, to be held at the University of Virginia in June. 

Norwine has been writer and editor of numerous books and articles. His latest book, South Texas Climate 2100: Problems and Prospects, Impacts and Implications, co-edited with Dr. Kuruvilla John, associate dean of the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering and associate professor of environmental engineering, will be published this summer.           


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