Academic Excellence and Innovation Fund awards grant for geography graduate school "pipeline"
Seward, NE (02/11/2025) — The Academic Excellence and Innovation Fund recently awarded Concordia Professor of Geography Dr. Joel Helmer a grant for $4,000 to build a graduate school "pipeline" between Concordia Nebraska and South Dakota State University for prospective graduate students in the field of geography. This pipeline would encourage students to pursue graduate-level work in geography, including SDSU's MA in Geography, MS in Geographic Information Sciences, and Geographic Information Sciences specialization.
Helmer said that the program would serve as a "bridge" for students to continue their education in geography.
"My project is building an academic 'bridge' between Concordia and South Dakota State University with the goal of sending our students to pursue graduate degrees in geography," he said. "Dr. Thomas Craig, a Concordia graduate, is a professor at SDSU and we are working collaboratively to encourage and assist students in applying for graduate school."
As part of the project, Craig will visit Concordia to speak to selected geography classes. Then, in April 2025, Helmer plans to take students to visit the South Dakota State Geography Convention, where they will tour the school, meet professors and familiarize themselves with the geography graduate programs offered.
About Concordia University, Nebraska
Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod located in Seward, Nebraska, which currently serves more than 1,700 students. Concordia offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in an excellent academic and Christ-centered community that equips men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership in the church and world. For more information, visit cune.edu.
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