Samford University
Department of Geography

JENNIFER SPEIGHTS-BINET
Assistant Professor

Research interests: cultural geography, landscapes of memory, North American urbanism, and geographic education.

Researching American landscapes can be grueling work. My daughter, Sara, and I are investigating landscapes of tourism and leisure at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Degrees

• Ph.D. 2004. Louisiana State University
• M.S. 1998. University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• B.A. 1994. Samford University

Classes

• GEOG 101 Global Geography: Places, Landscapes, and Regions
• GEOG 216 Mapping a Changing World
• GEOG/SOCI/HIST 370 Suburban Nation: Gates, Golf Courses, and Ghettos
• GEOG/HIST 391 Exploring North American Landscapes: From Wilderness to Walt Disney World

Disciplinary Service

• Co-editor, Southwestern Geographer (regional journal for the Southwestern Association of American Geographers)
• Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers Honors Committee, 2008-2009
• Board Member, Environmental Institute of Houston

Recent Publications

• Speights-Binet, Jennifer and Doug Gamble. Teaching in the Field. In Teaching College Geography: A Practical Guide for Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty, (K. Foote and M. Solem, eds.) Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Published in conjunction with Association of American Geographers Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) program.
• Review of New Urbanism and American Planning: The Conflict of Cultures, by Emily Talen (New York and London: Routledge, 2005). In Urban Geography, 2008, Volume 29 (1), 87-88.

Recent Presentations

• Monument, Myth, and Memory: The Huey Long Legacy and the Construction of the Louisiana State Capitol. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Meeting, March 2009.
• Growing Geographers in Texas Soil: An Ethnographic Study of Teaching and Learning Geography in the Field. Co-presented with Jeff Lash. Presented at the Southeastern Association of American Geographers, November 2008.
• The Dead Ends: The use of critical geography in preparing school leaders for urban educational reform. Co-presented with Susan McCormack and Christa Boske. Presented at the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration Annual Conference, July 2008.
• "Sidewalks in the Kingdom": Faith-Based Urbanism and Morality Discourses in Three New Urban Case Studies (Session Chair and Co-organizer). Presented at the Association of American Geographers, April 2008.

Contact Information

Maps to Samford Geography