Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. David Keeling, head of Western Kentucky University’s Department of Geography and Geology, will participate in one of the first expedition tours to visit Libya since sanctions were imposed by the U.S. government more than 20 years ago.

“Libya is a very intriguing destination for many American travelers,” said Dr. Keeling. “It has been officially off limits to tourists since the first Reagan Administration, even though it contains some of the Mediterranean world’s finest ancient cities and most stunning Saharan landscapes.”

Recent geopolitical changes in the region have encouraged groups like the Explorers Club and the American Geographical Society, which Dr. Keeling represents on these tours, to return to Libya and study the country’s geography and history. Dr. Keeling’s tour begins Nov. 3.

As a member of the American Geographical Society expedition tour team, Dr. Keeling has lectured on several expedition trips over the past decade to such diverse places as Cambodia, Tanzania, the Falkland Islands, the Chilean Fjords, Eastern Europe, the Danube and Rhine rivers, the British Isles, the waterways of Western Europe, Samoa and Bhutan.

“One of the benefits of lecturing on expedition trips such as this one to Libya is the opportunity to promote a geographic perspective on issues such as human-environment alteration of the landscape, geopolitical change and resource degradation,” he said.

According to Dr. Keeling, the 45 passengers on this expedition tour will be exposed to a variety of human-environment issues, including water-resource management problems in the Sahara, climate change impacts on the Mediterranean basin, the geopolitics of oil and Islam in North Africa, and the challenge of sustainable development for the region.

He is also a strong promoter of study abroad programs for Western Kentucky University students and has led programs to Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Australia, Mexico and the British Isles. Dr. Keeling’s expedition lectures in Tanzania last January encouraged him to develop a study abroad program for WKU students there, and a group of seven students and two faculty members will explore the geography and ecology of the Serengeti and urban Tanzania during WKU’s inaugural Winter Term in January 2006.

Dr. Keeling will give a public presentation on Tanzania at Barnes and Noble on Campbell Lane at 7 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 20), organized by the WKU Libraries.

For information about departmental study abroad programs, the American Geographical Society (www.amergeog.org) or expedition trips around the world, contact Dr. Keeling at (270) 745-4555 or email david.keeling@wku.edu.

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 David Keeling at (270) 745-4555.

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