The Geography Archive is a place where geography departmental history and historic documents, prior to the July 1, 2023, merger with earth sciences, are preserved. Its sole purpose is to serve as an historical record of past departmental individuals and activities. 

Katheryne Whittemore

Geography was established as a department at the State Normal School (now SUNY Buffalo State) in the 1920s and between 1925 and 1962, Dr. Katheryne Thomas Whittemore (pictured, National Council of Geographic Education Distinguished Service Award) was an active proponent of geographic education at the college.

In response to faculty interests, community support, and Buffalo State’s growing awareness of its urban mission, a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning was introduced (1975) and community professionals were added to the faculty on a part-time basis. During an institution-wide reorganization of faculties and departments (1976), Geography became part of a Department of Geography and Sociology, but the department was subsequently separated from Sociology in 1982. The configuration of the Department of Geography and Planning was established in 1983.

In the late 1990s, the department consisted of seven full-time, tenured/tenure track faculty and several (typically, six) part-time faculty. Expertise and coursework offered in the department were heavily oriented towards Human/Cultural Geography and Urban Planning. New faculty replaced retired faculty starting in the early 2000s, with expertise and coursework becoming more oriented towards physical geography and urban planning.  

On July 1, 2023, during an institution-wide reorganization of departments, the previously independent departments of Earth Sciences and Geography formed the newly named Geosciences Department. With the reorganization, Urban Planning moved to the Political Science, Public Administration, and Planning Department.

Geography Department Faculty History (PDF)

Snow Pipes

Howell Maps

2022 Award Winners

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Hanna Burns

WNY American Planning Association: Savanna Bevacqua

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Ava LaBella

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Kevin Calnan

2021 Award Winners

Chair's Descretionary Award: Ryan Jasiniski

David Bullough Memorial Award for Academic Excellence: Victoria Sample

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Anthony Capizzi and Jennifer Hanson

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in Geography: Kevin M. Harper

WNY American Planning Association: Nicholas Ruth

Intern of the Year- Planning - Savana Bevacqua

2020 Award Winners

Chair's Discretionary Award: Tyler Dannhauser

David Bullough Memorial Award for Academic Excellence: Lauren Roetzer

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Regan Flemming

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Hailey Whitney

WNY American Planning Association: Alexis Duwe

Intern of the Year- Geography - Jennifer Hanson

Intern of the Year- Planning - Alexis Duwe

2019 Award Winners

Chair's Discretionary Award: Gregory Bream

David Bullough Memorial Award for Academic Excellence: Lucas Colon

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Dominic Gentile

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Austin Smith

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Rachel Sokoloff

WNY American Planning Association: Nicholas Quilty-Koval

2018 Award Winners

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Emily Burch

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Zachary Neudeck

2017 Award Winners

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Stephen Hawco

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Natasha Davrados

WNY American Planning Association: Andrea Folgerhait

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Molly Taylor

David Bullough Memorial Award for Academic Excellence: Timothy German

Chair's Discretionary Award: David Aldridge

2016 Award Winners

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Megan Klein

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Keith House

WNY American Planning Association: Sarah Gatti

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Seth Atkinson

David Bullough Memorial Award for Academic Excellence: Elliot Love

Chair's Discretionary Award: Scott Thompson

Updaft Award: Justin Blicharski and Seth Atkinson

Snowspotter recognition: Kayla Szykowny

2015 Award Winners

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Spencer Podsiadlo

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Tim Hurysz

WNY American Planning Association: Mike Bly

Katheryne Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Paula Jones and Alexandra Santora

2014 Award Winners

David Bullough Memorial Award: Thomas Lampo

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: William Matalonis 

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Mark Hitchcock

WNY American Planning Association: John Long

Updraft Award for Excellence in Meteorology and Climatology: Christine Spencer

Snowspotter recognition: Justin Blicharski

2013 Award Winners

Congratulations to our 2013 student award winners!

David Bullough Memorial Award: Fred Bloom

Chair’s Discretionary Awards: Luke Work and Sarah Caputi

National Council for Geographic Education—outstanding student in geography: Amanda Pratt

National Council for Geographic Education— outstanding student in planning: Jeffrey Penzes

WNY American Planning Association: Santiago Navarro

Katheryne T. Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography & Planning major: Mike Borrelli

Updraft Award for Excellence in Meteorology and Climatology: Samantha Thomas

2012 Award Winners

Students that received awards at our May 2012 awards luncheon:

Katheryne T. Whittemore Award for Outstanding Geography and Planning major: Crystal Surdyk

WNY American Planning Association Award: Jason Kulaszewski

National Council for Geographic Education Award in Geography: Cortney Sugg

National Council for Geographic Education Award in Planning: Alexander Anhwere-James

David Bullough Memorial Award: Bill Dobson

Chair's Discretionary Award: Jordan Berry and Kyra Clark