National Geographic’s Grosvenor at SWT for dinner, lecture

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Geographic Society, will participate in the dedication of the Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education at Southwest Texas State University on May 7 and deliver the inaugural talk in the Grosvenor Lecture Series on campus May 8.

Grosvenor, a national leader in efforts to return geographic education to a prominent place in American classrooms, will be the special guest at a dinner Thursday, May 7, at 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the LBJ Student Center.

Hundreds of geographers from across the nation are expected at the event that will include the dedication of the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education. Also expected as guests are Lady Bird Johnson, elected officials and graduates of SWT’s Department of Geography and Planning, which has been recognized twice as the best undergraduate geography program in the nation by the American Association of Geographers. The National Geographic Society will make a multimedia presentation during the evening. Ticket information is available at (512) 245-2396.

On Friday, May 8, Grosvenor will deliver the inaugural lecture in the Grosvenor Lecture Series at 7 p.m. in Evans Auditorium. His talk will focus on the necessity for quality geography in American schools and will include National Geographic Society multimedia presentations on multiculturalism and environmental responsibility. The free lecture is open to the public.

The National Geographic Society sponsors the National Geography Bee, Geography Awareness Week and State Alliances for Geographic Education, which have trained 11,000 teachers in top-quality summer institutes. The Texas Alliance for Geographic Education, headquartered at SWT, has more than 5,200 teacher members and more than 1,000 teachers have attended summer workshops. World geography is now required of all students in Texas high schools, and there is a geography component in every social studies course in grades K-12.