J S Rogers / Associate Professor of Geography / UT Martin

Jefferson S. Rogers is an Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Geology, Geography, and Physics at UT Martin. He also serves as the Chair of the department.

As a cultural geographer, Dr. Rogers is responsible for many of the department's human and regional geography courses including:

GEOG 202 : Introduction to Cultural Geography
GEOG 380 : Geography of North America
GEOG 365 : Tennessee's Geologic and Cultural Landscapes
GEOG 461 : Economic Geography
GEOG 462 : Political Geography

He also teaches sections of the department's two introductory world-regional courses (GEOG 151, GEOG 152) and the computer-based Cartography course (GEOG 471). He has also participated as a co-lecturer and faculty discussion leader in HONR 111 and HONR 112. He is a regular guest lectures series in courses such as FREN 250, HIST 200, and IDST 250 on Canada and Quebec over the past several years as well.

In Spring 2001, Dr. Rogers was named as a recipient of The University of Tennessee Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award.

Dr. Rogers service to the university includes current or recently-completed appointments to the Honors Council, the Executive Steering Committee of the Center for Global Studies, and the Publications Committee. He has also served on the Faculty Senate, the Undergraduate Council, the Principles and Philosophies of Accreditation Subcommittee of SACS, the Research Committee, and the General Education Curriculum Committee. In August 2002, he was promoted to Associate Professor, was granted tenure, and became Interim Chair of the Department of Geology, Geography, and Physics. He was appointed as the permanent Chair in January 2007.

Dr. Rogers' scholarly and applied interests include:

The history and geography of the US lodging industry
The evolution of roadside commercial landscapes
Economic development and promotional efforts in nonmetropolitan places
Thematic mapping

He is a co-author of The Motel in America (with John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle; Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). He has also produced a number of maps that have been published in scholarly journals, scores, and promotional materials. He has acted as a consultant for various promotional and planning projects in several West Tennessee communities. He is also a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission's review board. Dr. Rogers has co-presented (with Robert Mark Simpson) a number of Geographic Information System (GIS) presentations and workshops in cooperation with UT Martin's WestStar program.

Recent research includes an examination of commemorative landscapes, the problems of mass tourism at Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, weekend travel and spending patterns of UT Martin students, commercial postcard images of Reelfoot Lake, and the geographical patterns of market segmentation in the lodging industry.

Dr. Rogers is a native of Kansas, but he grew up in New Mexico where he graduated from Las Cruces High School. He returned to the Sunflower State where he received Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Geography from The University of Kansas. His graduate studies were at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received Masters and Doctoral degrees in Geography. His doctoral dissertation, The Transformation of Place: Boom, Bust, and Adjustment in Rifle, Colorado, introduced a modified structurationist model that was applied to various economic revitalization efforts in an energy-impacted community in west-central Colorado.

For more detailed information about Dr. Rogers' courses and the Geography program at UT Martin, please utilize the links to various web pages indicated within the blue and orange columns to the left.

25 September 2008 15:28