An overflow crowd gathered in the Waterman Building's Memorial Lounge on November 3rd to hear Professor Glen Elder of the Department of Geography deliver this fall's College of Arts and Sciences' Dean's Lecture, entitled "45° North, 71—West or Not? Vermont's New Borderland Personality after 9/11."

The Dean's Lecture Award honors faculty who excel as outstanding teachers and scholars. Since its inception in 1991, the presentation of the Dean's Lecture celebrates the unusually high quality of the College's faculty and is a treasured event each semester.

Professor Elder certainly is one of UVM's outstanding teacher/scholars. His research focuses on the intersections of sexual and racial identities and place, especially as they relate to the apartheid state of South Africa between 1948 and 1994. His monograph on the subject, Hostels, Sex and the Apartheid Legacy: Malevolent Geographies, was published by the Ohio University Press in 2003. He was recognized for his teaching in 2003-2004 when he received the coveted Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching. He currently serves as chair of the Geography Department.

Professor Elder's lecture introduced the audience to a topic related to one of his current research projects—the politics, culture, and language of border making in contemporary global politics. He showed how the U.S. government's post 9/11 anxiety about the U.S.-Canadian boundary has significantly altered the landscape of northern Vermont, mobility patterns within the region, and levels of surveillance throughout. He also showed how these developments fit into a broader set of globalized landscapes that have emerged in response to and because of the U.S.-led War on Terror.

Professor Derk Pereboom of the Department of Philosophy is the other recipient of the 2005-2006 Dean's Lecture Award. He will present his lecture on March 7.