Mitch Carter

As many geographers will tell you, we live in a country where very few of us grow up with the intent to study spaces and places. In fact, if you would have asked me as a kid to make a list of what I wanted to be when I grew up, “geographer” would likely have been positioned toward the bottom of that list, if anywhere at all. In fact, not until my sophomore year in college did I come to discover my true passion after completing my second geography course at Auburn University, a course on cultural geography. Only then did I begin to see geography in a new light as a discipline far beyond that one class in fourth grade where we learned state capitals and postal abbreviations. In fact, the most common response I receive when telling friends and relatives about my area-of-interest is, "So what's the capital of [insert state/province/territory/country here]?" As much as I would like to be able, I cannot recite the capitals of the world.

 

Geography is not solely a discipline of what is where. Critical geography attempts to answer the question of why. As an advocate of geography, I am constantly trying to expand my awareness of the surrounding environment in attempt to think critically and apply geographic knowledge to my every-day life. Our surrounding landscapes have been shaped by countless cultural events throughout time to produce what we see today. To this day, I have always been interested in traveling to new places to experience a sense of locality and place that has been shaped over centuries if not millennia. And of course, practical modern geography must include cartography which has evolved into spatial analysis and statistics involved with geographic information systems (GIS). I have always said cultural geography guided my transition to becoming a geographer, while utilizing GIS has allowed me to sustain a career so far. 

 

My decision to create an online portfolio is based on my intention to supplement the information that can be displayed via a traditional paper resume. At the top of this page, you will see headings that focus on my experiences as a geographer so far. You can click the In the Field tab which highlights my cartographic and GIS work as a practicing geographer. For those wishing to view my academic work, click the In the Classroom tab which features various projects and research work as student at Auburn University. And for a quick traditional look at my experience, you can click here to view a copy of my curriculum vitae.

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Cheers,

-Mitch