Anthony Amato will chair the Rural and Regional Studies Sections at the Western Social Science Association annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona April 17-23, 2006.

Geoff Cunfer discussed his new book, On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment on April 13, 2005, on the SMSU campus in IL 224.

Jan Louwagie was appointed a seat of the Minnesota Historical Society's State Board of Historical Records for 2005-2008.

CRRS mentorship student Sara Wiertzema completed a map that is on display on the campus of SMSU. An electronic copy is available for viewing.

Janet Timmerman was named Treasurer for the Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council in January, 2004 and a second tern in January of 2005.

Joseph Amato, author of On Foot: A History of Walking, appeared at the Bound to Read Bookstore in the Marshall Street Mall on Tuesday, Nov. 16th from 5:30-7:30 PM. On Foot was published by New York University Press and has been hailed as "a fascinating book, extremely knowledgable and ambitious, thought provoking in every sense."

Anthony Amato reviewed John O. Anfinson's The River We Have Wrought: A History of the Upper Mississippi in The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 35, Issue 1 (Summer 2004), pp. 152-153.

Charles Kost, Director of the GIS Center at SMSU is an appointed member of the MN Governor's Council on Geographic Information. The Council promotes the efficient and effective use of geographic information in Minnesota and makes recommendations that include policies, institutional arrangements, standards, education and stewardship. He has been re-appointed for the 2004-2005 year.

Anthony Amato chaired the session "The Rural Past: A Closer Look" in the Geography and Rural Studies Sections of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Western Social Science Association in Salt Lake City, Utah April 21-24, 2004.

Anthony Amato chaired the session "Beyond Barns and Bales: Rural America Today" in the Geography and Rural Studies Sections of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Western Social Science Association in Salt Lake City, Utah April 21-24, 2004.

Starting in the late spring of 2003, the GIS Center has been working with the Murray County Environmental Office to produce a rural parcel data set for Murray County. The work involves the conversion of CAD data sets into ArcView shapefiles. Starting in the fall of 2004 the project has expanded to create parcels for the cities of Murray County.

For a week in June, 2003 the GIS Center in conjunction with the Southwest/ West Central Service Cooperative offered a workshop for high school science teachers to introduce them to GIS software, enabling them to incorporate GIS into the high school curriculum.. The workshop included hands on experience with ArcView as well as training and field experience in water quality testing techniques with help from MN Pollution Control Agency staff.

The Prairieland Genealogical Society co-sponsored a Statewide Genealogy Workshop with the Minnesota Genealogical Society at Southwest Minnesota State University on June 21, 2003.

During the summer of 2003 the GIS Center supervised the creation of a spatial data set for the Heron Lake Watershed District. A student worker created spatial data files depicting the best management practices (bmp) in use in the watershed that encompasses portions of Murray, Nobles, Cottonwood and Jackson counties.

Janet Timmerman, information officer for Center for Rural and Regional Studies, was named a charter member and Board Member for the newly created statewide non-profit organization the Minnesota Conservation Corps.

Joseph Amato has been actively touring the region and state promoting his book Rethinking Home: A Case for Writing Local History. Besides doing readings in both the Ruminator and Bound to Be Read Bookstores, he has been featured on National Public Radio's "Connections" program out of Boston, MA, Minnesota Public Radio, and Twin Cities Public Television's "Almanac."

Joseph Amato, Anthony Amato, and Geoff Cunfer have all had work featured in articles in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, as well as numerous articles in local and regional papers including the Marshall Independent, West Central Tribune, and the Worthington Daily Globe.

Professor Amato has worked as consultant, with Jan Louwagie, on the new film "Delafield" and written several book reviews. He has made numerous public lectures to community groups in the region and across Minnesota addressing issues of rural and regional culture, demography, and history, and is a regular presence in the statewide news media.

The Center's Rural and Regional Fellows program has brought eleven top scholars studying the region to campus for 3-4 months each. Fellows have conducted research, published, presented lectures and art exhibits, taught classes, and interacted with students and faculty.

Nancy Torner, Rural and Regional Journalist at the Center, has written weekly articles and features about southwestern Minnesota. The Center makes these available for publication to 61 daily and weekly newspapers throughout the region. Torner has also overseen the distribution of news articles contributed by several publications.

Elizabeth Spieles, Environmental Educator at the Center from 1998- June 2002, presented programs at state parks, schools, church camps, and on campus; taught community courses; prepared curricula for area schools, including a campus-wide curriculum plan for Yankton Country School centered around Draining the Great Oasis; and served as regional representative for southwestern Minnesota in the Minnesota Association for Environmental Educators.

Janet Timmerman, information officer and community educator, was hired in November 2002 and has presented to several local organizations on her research and the work of the Center.

Jan Louwagie has managed the History Center, a regional historical archive on the SSU campus. She oversees volunteers from the Prairieland Genealogical Society, presents locally targeted tours to some 200 elementary and junior high students per semester who come from around southwestern Minnesota; and helps students with primary historical research in 3 or 4 SSU classes per semester. She also makes presentations to community groups and manages the Society for the Study of Local and Regional History, which holds an annual conference and boasts 123 members.

In the spring of 2002, the GIS Center organized the first meeting of the SW Minnesota GIS Users Group. The group now meets quarterly to share GIS information in order to improve productivity, data access and discuss technical issues of significance to the region. For more information visit the website: http://www.swmngis.org.

The GIS Center has provided the Farm Services Agency of Minnesota a regional location to conduct employee training sessions on the use of GIS and GPS applications.

The GIS Center offered a Marshall Summer Talent Academy class in map-making during June, 2002. The class guided a group of 4th through 7th grade students through the process of making maps using GIS software.

During the summer and fall of 2002, the GIS Center provided support to the City of Marshall engineering department staff in a sidewalk inventory project. City staff used handheld GPS equipment from the GIS Center to collect and organize sidewalk condition information. The GIS Center downloaded and processed the location coordinate information for the city.

In fall, 2002 the GIS Center supported a water testing project for the Environmental Science Class at the Red Rock Central High School in Lamberton. The GIS Center director visited the class and trained the students in the use of handheld GPS equipment. During October and November the students collected water samples at various sites in the school district, performed tests on the water samples, and recorded the data in spreadsheets. In December the class visited the GIS Center at SSU. With guidance from the director the students used GIS software to analyze the test results and produced maps of the water quality in the school district.

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