Boehm named to distinguished teaching chair at SWT

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Richard G. Boehm has been named the first holder of the Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Chair in Geographic Education at Southwest Texas State University.

Boehm is a professor in SWT’s Department of Geography and Planning, director of the department’s Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education and co-coordinator of the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education.

As holder of the Jones Distinguished Chair, Boehm will provide national leadership in geographic education through research, teaching and professional service.

SWT’s undergraduate program in geography and planning has twice been ranked as the best of its kind in the nation in independent studies. The university also offers master’s degrees in the field and is now offering doctoral degrees in geographic education and environmental geography.

Boehm first joined the SWT faculty in 1962. From 1971 until 1977, he served on the faculty at the University of Missouri and also served as Geography Department chair there. He returned to SWT in September 1977.

In 1990 he became one of the first four geography teachers to earn a Distinguished Geography Educator Award from the National Geographic Society.

Boehm’s selection concludes a national search by a panel of leading geographers.

The Jesse Jones Chair in Geographic Education was established in February 1997 with a $1 million gift from the Houston Endowment. That endowment was established by Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones. Jesse Jones, a financier and builder, served in national administrations during World Wars I and II. He led the National Reconstruction Corp. that rebuilt the banking industry after the Great Depression.