The Earle J. Fennell Award

Prof. Judy M. Olson of Michigan State University awarded the prestigious Earle J. Fennell Award for her outstanding contribution to advancing cartographic research and GIScience in the U.S.

Dr. Olson completed her undergraduate degree in Geography at Wisconsin State University—Stevens Point (1966), and her graduate degrees, the M.S. (1968) and Ph.D. (1970), at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She started her academic career as Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia (1970-1974), followed by her position as Associate Professor at Boston University (1974-1982), and as Professor, Michigan State University from1983 through the present. In addition to these positions, Dr. Olson was a visiting scholar at various universities and a consultant at NASA and the U.S. Census Bureau, and to private industry.

Dr. Olson has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the Professional Geographer (1972-1977), the Annals of the Association of American Geographers (1982-84 and 1991-93), and the Editorial Advisory Board of Cartographic Perspectives (1998-2000).  In addition to her academic contributions, Dr. Olson has served on university and community service committees. Dr. Olson has organized conference programs and professional workshops for the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the Association of the American Geographers (AAG) and served as a member of many ACSM, ICA, and AAG committees.

Dr. Olson has a long and impressive record of service to the ACSM. She was elected to the Board of Directors, Cartography Division (1974-76); the Board of Directors of the ACSM, (1976-79). Dr. Olson assumed the position of Vice-Chairperson, Cartography Division from 1980-81.  Dr. Olson succeeded to the office of President, American Cartographic Association (1981-82) and then to Immediate Past President (1982-83). In 1981-82 Dr. Olson was a member of the ACSM Board of Direction, the Executive Committee, & COMPASS (ACSM/ASP Affiliation Committee), as President of the American Cartographic Association (ACA). In 1985 Dr. Olson was appointed Coordinator, Video Committee, American Cartographic Association and served until 1989. Dr. Olson was a map design competition judge three times

Dr. Olson’s service to the ICA has been equally extensive. As a member of the U.S. National Committee of the ICA (USNC-ICA) from 1978-82, Dr. Olson was the U.S. Deputy Delegate to International Cartographic Conference, Tokyo, in 1980. Dr. Olson later assumed the Chair of the USNC-ICA from 1985 through 1988. As Chair of the USNC-ICA, Dr. Olson was the Chief Delegate to International Cartographic Conference, Morelia, Mexico (1987). Dr. Olson served as the Vice President, ICA, serving from 1992 until 1999. Dr. Olson was appointed to the position of Chair of the ICA Commission on Map and Spatial Data Use from 1987 through 1991 and served as Corresponding Member from 1992-95. From 1999 through 2003, Dr. Olson was again Chair, USNC-ICA.

Dr. Olson was elected or appointed to the following positions for the Association of American Geographers: Chair of the Honors Committee, 1982-83; Vice Chair, Chair, Immediate Past Chair, Cartography Specialty Group, 1989-92; National Councilor (elected by membership), 1990-93. As AAG Secretary, Dr. Olson was a Member of the Executive Committee and Chair, Committee on Committees, 1991-93. From 1994-97 Dr. Olson was the Vice President, President, and Immediate Past President, of the AAG.  Also, from 1992 through 1994 Dr. Olson was a member of the Steering Committee, University Consortium for Geographic Information and Analysis (UCGIA); organized as the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) in December 1994.

On behalf of the Board of Cartography and Geographic Information Society, Dr. Olson was nominated for the award by Dr. Dalia Varanka, CaGIS delegate to the ACSM Congress.