Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. David Keeling, head of the Department of Geography and Geology at Western Kentucky University, will participate in an around-the-world expedition over the upcoming holiday period.

Dr. Keeling serves on the Board of Councilors of the American Geographical Society, North America's oldest geographic society founded in 1851, and has lectured for the AGS on expeditions to such locations as the Chilean Fjords, the Cape Verde Islands, Morocco, Central Europe and the Falkland Islands.

The AGS expeditions are designed to focus attention on some of the planet's most pressing problems, from global climate change and sea-level rise to sustainability in Africa and nationalist struggles in southeast Asia.

The around-the-world program will examine environmental challenges in Peru, social struggles in Easter Island and Samoa, pollution and deforestation around Australia's Great Barrier Reef, nationalist challenges in Cambodia and Bhutan, ecotourism in Agra, India and Tanzania, and the problem of small island economies on Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean.

One of benefits for Western Kentucky University, Dr. Keeling said, is that the university's growing reputation is further enhanced through his participation in these expeditions. Students also benefit from the knowledge gained from these experiences and subsequently shared in the classroom and through research projects and study abroad programs.

For information about the AGS and its eco-expeditions, visit www.amergeog.org.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Dr. David Keeling at (270) 745-4555.