PSU Geographer Paul Simkins Passes
That may not be a big name in many lists of geographers, but Prof. Simkins was high on my list. I took his population geography course at Penn State when I was graduate student and then asked him to be on my thesis committee. He’s the one I credit with teaching me the “still applicable every day of my life” four questions of geography: “What is Where? Why? So what?” He made a bit deal about “So what” and so do I and his many other students.
He did much of his work before GIS was big and had drawers of handcolored maps. One of his favorites, or at least one of mine, if I recall correctly used a symbol with two concentric circles; the inner color identified inmigration and other outer one outmigration (or something like that). He referred to it as the “invasion of the lifesavers map.” That still makes me laugh!
Prof Simkins, so far as I’m concerned, always wore a plaid shirt and smile. A very nice combination that sat well on a very nice man.
- Obituary from the Centre Daily Times (via @psugeography)
