For Immediate Release—Monday, Nov. 6, 2006
Contact:
Mary E. McCrank
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
SUNY Geneseo Geography Professor Garners National
Attention for Decades-old Research
GENESEO, N.Y.—When Ren Vasiliev, professor and chair
of the geography department at the State University of New York at Geneseo,
recently received a call from National Public Radio's Robert Krulwich, she
assumed the science reporter wanted to talk with her about current research on
placenames.
But decades-old research?
That's right.
Vasiliev, an expert on placenames, was being sought after
for her work as an expert on toponymy—the study of the derivation of
place and geographic names. While placenames research focuses on the names of
cities, towns and villages, toponymic research more broadly includes all
geographic names, including places named after living people, mountains,
rivers, streams and lakes.
Krulwich discovered Vasiliev through her toponymic research
of "Moscow" across the United States. The reporter spotted Vasiliev's credited
work in a book authored by Syracuse University's Mark Monmonier, who served as
Vasiliev's faculty advisor when she was a doctoral student.
Vasiliev's interest in the name Moscow came about from the
question of why old world names are common in the U.S. In the late 1980s,
Moscow was especially interesting, as it outlasted the Cold War. The village of
Leicester, four miles from the Geneseo campus, used to be named Moscow. But the
villagers changed it in 1912 so as not to be associated with the Russian
Revolution. (Today, there are 16 places in America named Moscow. Between 1800
and 2000, there were 50 different places in the U.S. that went by that name at
various times.)
"I wanted to know why there were any populated places in the
U.S. named Moscow," Vasiliev says. "It turns out they're not all named for the
city in Russia. They were named for other reasons, like Napoleon being thrown
out of the city of Moscow."
Other towns, such as Moscow, Kansas, accidentally received
the name. That town was meant to be named after a member of Coronado's expedition
troop named Moscoso. But when the townsfolk applied for a U.S. Post Office, the
Post Office mistook the application to read Moscow, and the name stuck, she
said.
When Krulwich expressed interest in Vasiliev's research,
Monmonier passed along Vasiliev's contact information. Krulwich was so taken
with Vasiliev's research on the Moscows, he interviewed her for two NPR
segments. "Congratulations, Here's Your Mountain" aired on the Oct. 21 Weekend
Edition, and "An American Story: Give Me
Back My 'H'!" aired on the Oct. 23 Morning Edition. (The mountain and "H" stories can be found,
respectively, at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6355678
and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6243297.)
The mountain story was about how the federal government
provides some unusual benefits, including naming mountains after employees. For
example, Roger Payne, who had just retired as executive secretary of the U.S.
Board on Geographic Names after 33 years of service, had a mountain in
Antarctica named after him. Mount Payne rises to just under 11,000 feet.
The segment focusing on the letter "H" was about how that
letter began disappearing from the names of many cities, towns and villages
back in 1890. In 1891, the story noted, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Newburgh, N.Y.;
Williamsburgh in Brooklyn; Vicksburgh, Ten.; and burghs all over America had
their final, silent "H" removed from all federal maps and agencies. For the
past century, though, towns have been demanding their "H" back.
Vasiliev commented at length on both segments.
Vasiliev, of Bloomfield, N.Y., joined the Geneseo faculty in
1993. In 1999, she received a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in
Teaching. She is author of "From Abbotts to Zurich: New York State Placenames,"
which was published in 2004 by Syracuse University Press.
Vasiliev received her bachelor's degree from SUNY Oswego,
her master's degree from the University of Buffalo and her Ph.D. from Syracuse
University. She is a member of the Council of Geographic Names Authorities
(COGNA) and the New York State Committee of Geographic Names.
Although Vasiliev enjoyed researching mapping time as a
doctoral student, she expanded her interests. Today, she teaches cartography,
quantitative research methods and the geography of the United States.
Vasiliev's research has taken her along the entire stretch
of U.S. Route 6—from Cape Cod, Mass., to Long Beach, Calif.—and to
all 48 contiguous states in America. Vasiliev—who notes that she has slept
in the 48 states, as opposed to just
driving through them—teaches her students about how America is
interconnected in more ways than one. From the Great Lakes and Great Plains, to
rocks and plants, to corn and wheat being grown in Wisconsin and Nebraska,
Vasiliev explains the interconnectedness.
"They don't know how things connect to each other, and
that's what I do," she says, adding she always brings back postcards to share
with her classes. (Her postcard collection numbers at 1,000 and is growing.)
No matter what new research catches Vasiliev's eye, the
study of why places are named what they are has always remained of interest to
her.
"The placenames thread has always been there," she says.
Vasiliev, who grew up in Nyack, N.Y., says the desire to be
on the move runs in her family.
"It's this restlessness that we have," she says. "No matter
what's going on in the world—war, depression, personal
issues—whenever we hear that train whistle, we want to go places."
When classes are not in session, Vasiliev is hard-pressed to
sit still. This summer, Vasiliev logged 4,000 miles as she spent two weeks
traveling through Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina
and Virginia.
Her appearance on national radio brought calls from
colleagues across the nation, and even an invitation to visit a university in
North Carolina.
Who knows where the summer of 2007 and the open road will
take her?
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