Keynote speakers
Dr. David A. Padgett
Dr. David A. Padgett is an Associate Professor of Geography, and Director of the Geographic Information Sciences (GISc) Laboratory at Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville, Tennessee. He is currently in the process of building a Geography/ Environmental Justice curriculum with a strong emphasis upon service learning.
He has previously developed and taught geography and geographic information systems (GIS)-related courses at Austin Peay State University (Tennessee) and Oberlin College (Ohio). He has conducted GIS workshops at several colleges and universities including Howard University, Virginia State University, and the Charles R. Drew University of Science and Medicine. Since establishing the GISc Lab in the summer of 2000, Padgett has supervised several undergraduate research assistants on a variety of service learning projects the topics of which include: community-based global positioning systems (GPS) mapping to improve public transit accessibility, GIS-supported urban forest conservation, and GIS-based impact assessment of an interstate highway upon a predominantly African American community. The GISc Lab has developed working relationships with a variety of grassroots groups, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. Many of the students Padgett has taught over the past 12 years have graduated and are now gainfully employed in GIS-related occupations. Padgett’s most recent publication, “Top Cities for African Americans,” is in the July 2004 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.