Who are the Geographic Educators of Nebraska?GEON was formally established as a local non-profit in 2018 to carry on the mission of the state geography alliance that was dissolved in the same year. We are a self-sustaining, empowering organization whose members promote geographic education for all Nebraskans. Through the active participation of students, parents, teachers, government agencies, corporations and community members, GEON is dedicated to helping the citizens of Nebraska make sound decisions based on geographical knowledge using all the tools of the social sciences.
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Lonnie Moore - Chair
Lonnie Moore has thirty-nine years of teaching experience in elementary, high school, and college classrooms. For the past 17 years, he has taught AP Human Geography, AP World History, AP U.S. History, and World Regional Geography in Omaha high schools. He is the recipient of the 1991 Nebraska State Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year and was named the 2014 Paul Beck Outstanding Social Studies Educator by the same association. In 1993, he received the National Council for Geographic Education’s Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award. In 2008, Lonnie was named a first recipient of the Gildersleeve, Stoddard, and Stone Award by the Geographic Educators of Nebraska for Service to Geographic Education. He has directed summer institutes for Geographic Educators of Nebraska. Lonnie served as lead writer for Nebraska’s State Standards for History and Geography and served as a member of the teacher collaborative council for the C3 Frameworks. He holds a B.S. in Social Studies Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and an MA in Geography from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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Christina Dando - Vice Chair
Christina Dando is Professor of Geography and Chair of the Geography/Geology Department at the University of Nebraska Omaha. After receiving her B.A. in Geography and English from the University of North Dakota she went on to work for a number of organizations, including the National Geographic Society, Association of American Geographers. During her time with these organizations she helped draft 1st Congressional Resolution for Geography Awareness Week and the Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP). From there, she moved on to receive an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dando’s research interests include the impacts of media and technology on human perception and interaction with the environment, particularly the Great Plains. She is also interested in gender and geography, how landscape and environment have long been gendered as well as how gender impacts human experience and interaction with the environment. Dando is the author of Women and Cartography in the Progressive Era (Routledge 2018). Dando is the recipient of the 2013 Gildersleeve, Stoddard, Stone Award from the Geographic Educators of Nebraska for contributions to geographic education in the state of Nebraska. She received the 2015 Distinguished Teacher – Higher Education Award from the National Council for Geographic Education. She is a member of the American Association of Geographers, the National Council for Geographic Education, and of the Society of Woman Geographers.
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Maria Walinski-Peterson - Secretary
Maria has been involved in geography education for over 20 years as a faculty member at Omaha South High Magnet school and as an Adjunct instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Throughout her teaching career she has had experience teaching students from the university level, all the way down to 7th graders. A transplant from Philadelphia, she received her bachelors in Sociology from Grinnell College and an M.A. in Teaching from Drake University. She is currently working on completing a M.A. in Geography at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Outside of the classroom Maria has been active in geography as a AP reader, which she has been attending for 6 years. She is a recipient of many teaching awards including the Gildersleeve, Stoddard, Stone award from the Geographic Educators of Nebraska, the Alice Buffet Outstanding Teacher Award, the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Nebraska State Council of Social Studies, and the Distinguished Educator Award from the National Council of Geographic Education. Beyond her work in geography Maria is active with the Thompson Learning Community working with Buffett Scholars at UNO.
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