National Geography Organization Has Served Educators for Nearly 100 Years

Redlands, California―February 24, 2011 ― Dr. Joseph Kerski, education manager for Esri, is the new president of the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), a nonprofit organization chartered in 1915 to serve geography teachers at all levels of education.

NCGE works to promote and support geography education through the

• Facilitation of professional development among teachers of geography
• Encouragement and support of research on geography education
• Development, publication, and promotion of geography learning materials
• Recognition of exceptional supporters and teachers of geography
• Collaboration with other organizations that have similar goals

Commenting on why geography is important to twenty-first-century education Kerski says, "Geography enables students to understand their world locally to globally, make wise decisions about the planet and its resources, and become critical thinkers. Geography grapples with the key issues of our time―energy, water, biodiversity, climate, natural hazards, population, and much more.

"Esri has worked closely with the NCGE on curriculum, publications, and other projects for many years and values its relationship with the innovative educators who comprise the NCGE membership."

Kerski joined NCGE in 1995, when he was a graduate school student. He has served the organization as a member of both the External Relations Board and Remote Sensing Task Force. From 2008 to 2010, Kerski was the NCGE vice president of external relations.

For more information about Esri's education initiatives, visit the GIS for Education website at esri.com/education.

About NCGE

NCGE is a nonprofit organization chartered in 1915 to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching and learning. NCGE supports geography teaching at all levels―from kindergarten through university. Members include both US and international teachers, professors, students, businesses, and others, who support geographic education. For more information, see www.ncge.org.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.



Contact:

Jim Baumann
Esri
Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-1807
E-mail: Email Contact