Mark Stephen Monmonier (born February 2, 1943) is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. He specializes in geography, geographic information systems, toponymy, and the history of cartography.
Early life Monmonier was born in Baltimore, Maryland to parents John Carroll Monmonier and Martha Monmonier. His father worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his mother worked as an elementary school teacher, teaching 5th grade. His father's career enabled their family to travel via rail through the use of his employee pass, and Monmonier was exposed to several transit maps and developed an early interest in rail transportation. He attended Calvert Hall College High School, and spent time at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, where he attended lectures and was exposed to the Maryland Geological Survey reports, which contributed to an interest in geology and networks.
Education and field Monmonier first attended Johns Hopkins University to pursue a bachelor's in engineering, focusing on geophysical mechanics, under a Maryland State Engineering Scholarship. He switched majors due to changing interests, going on to earn two BAs in 1964 from Johns Hopkins University, one in geology and another in mathematics, under the Fredrick E. Blaser Scholarship. He started graduate school at the University of Maryland, where he worked with professors Azriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz. Monmonier left the University of Maryland, due to frustration with the department's regional geography class, to join the graduate program at Pennsylvania State University, which had offered him a three-year fellowship. He earned an M.S. in geography in 1967, and Ph.D. in 1969, both from Pennsylvania State University. His dissertation was titled On the Use of Digitized Map Sampling and Measurement: An Example in Crop Ecology, and focused on overlay analysis, building on his work with Azriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz.
Career and academic organizations
Student jobs and organizations
As an undergraduate, Monmonier was a member of two honorary fraternities, Pi Tau Sigma and Tau Beta Pi. He worked as a GS-2 file clerk over the summers for the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, Maryland and worked part-time in the Johns Hopkins University library reshelving books. As a graduate student at the University of Maryland, Monmonier was denied a position as a teaching assistant due to a speech impediment, and worked as a graduate assistant at the school's Computer Science Center. At Pennsylvania State University, he was funded for three years as a National Defense Education Act fellow while working. Once the NDEA fellowship ended, he was funded at Pennsylvania State University as a teaching assistant, where he ran lab sections for Physical Geography, and worked with Peirce F. Lewis. When Lewis went on sabbatical, Monmonier covered his Physiography of the United States course as the primary instructor.
University of Rhode Island After getting his Ph.D., Monmonier began his academic career as assistant professor of Geography at the University of Rhode Island in 1969, where he was hired to teach cartography and quantitative methods. An interdepartmental dispute that may have resulted in Monmonier being forced to be the department chair caused him to seek employment elsewhere.
State University of New York at Albany After a year at the University of Rhode Island, Monmonier started at State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) in 1970 as an assistant professor of geography. Due to bureaucratic issues and frustration with pay cuts and parking, he left SUNY in 1973.
Syracuse University
After learning from geographer Justin Friberg that Syracuse University was having difficulty hiring a cartography professor, and frustrated with SUNY, Monmonier accepted a position as associate professor of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1973. He was promoted to full professor in 1978, and Distinguished Professor in 1998. He continued work at Syracuse University until his retirement in May 2021. He is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.
Other organizations Monmonier served in numerous roles in the American Association of Geographers, and on panels advising the National Research Council and the Environmental Protection Agency. He worked as a consultant on several projects, including as a GS-13 Research Geographer for the United States Geological Survey, as a consultant on legal cases, and as part of a committee to help the National Geographic Society select a new map projection for world maps. He was the vice president of the American Cartographic Association between 1982 and 1983, and president between 1983 and 1984.
Research and publications
Monmonier's research has had multiple focuses. His early research was focused on methods of using computers to manage geographic data, and the application of these methods to problems in geomorphology, health, and agriculture. His work also focused on topics such as the history of geography and cartography, and the social implications of maps. He published several books aimed at the general population on the topics of cartography and geography, as well as several more traditional textbooks. Monmonier's emphasis on publishing books is noted by geographer Russell S. Kirby as standing out from contemporary academics. He also wrote extensively on the use of maps for surveillance and as analytical and persuasive tools in politics, journalism, environmental science, and public administration.
Books
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