Eau Claire, Wisconsin


Yunnan Province, China


Memphis, Tennessee


Rural Wisconsin


Prague, Czech Republic


Mt. Hood, Oregon


Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia


Matamata, Aotearoa New Zealand


Delft, Netherlands


Sudbury, Ontario


Lake Superior

San Antonio, Texas

Professor, Department of Geography & Anthropology
Affiliated Faculty, American Indian Studies

Office: 251 Phillips Hall
Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004

Email: zeitleej@uwec.edu
Phone: 715.836.5186
Fax: 715.836.6027

Photo: Bruno, the resident pooch of Timberline Lodge, and I during a GEOG 368 trip in 2018.

Research Interests
Place identity, placemaking, Indigenous geographies, tourism geographies, cartographic visualization, and geographic education.

Education
Ph.D., Geography, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dissertation: Geographies of Indigenous-based Team Name and Mascot Use in American Secondary Schools (Available for free download via the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Digital Commons)

M.A., Geography, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Vitality of Ethnic Culture in Rural America: A Comparative Study of Dannebrog and Wilber, Nebraska, 1871-2003

B.S., Geography, University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Minors: Geographic Information Systems, Land Use Planning
Thesis: Cultural Landscapes of Wisconsin's Walloon Belgian Enclave

Teaching Experience
Geography 111: Human Geography
Geography 200: Foundations of Geography
Geography 280: Introduction to Cartography and Geovisualization
Geography/American Indian Studies 322: Native Geographies
Geography 325: Geography of the United States & Canada
Geography 365: Tourism Geographies
Geography 366: International Immersion Experience
Geography 368: Field Seminar: The Northwoods
Geography 368: Field Seminar: Mississippi Delta
Geography 368: Field Seminar: Oregon
Geography 368: Field Seminar: Minnesota
Geography 379: Wisconsin Geographies
Geography 401: Geography Capstone
Geography 491: Race & Ethnicity
Interdisciplinary Studies 355: Central European Travel Seminar

Publications
2022. Weichelt, Ryan and Ezra Zeitler. Second Home Property Ownership and Public School Funding in Wisconsin's Northwoods. Geographic Review.112(3): 396-421. 
 
2018. Zeitler, Ezra. A Taxonomy of Secondary School Athletic Team Names and Mascots in the United States. Names: A Journal of Onomastics 66(4): 1-14. 

2013. Zeitler, Ezra. Double-Play: Using Minor League Baseball to Apply Themes and Standards in Human Geography Courses. Journal of Geography 112(1): 29-40.

MiLB-Five Themes Exercises: Location, Human-Environment, Movement, Regions, Place

2012. Weichelt, Ryan and Ezra Zeitler. Multi-scalar Cartographic Analysis of 2008 and 2010 Election Returns in Wisconsin, U.S.A. Journal of Maps 8(3): 312-319.

2010. Zeitler, Ezra. Making Places, Molding Memories: Political and Race-based Origins of Monuments, Memories, and Identities. Historical Geography 37: 21-25.

2009. Zeitler, Ezra. Creating America's "Czech Capital": Ethnic Identity and Heritage Tourism in Wilber, Nebraska. Journal of Heritage Tourism 4(1): 73-85.

Selected Cartographic Publications
2018. Specht, Josh. Red Meat Republic. Princeton University Press. Two maps.

2018. Squires, Katharine Seaton. An Antietam Veteran’s Montana Journey: The Lost Memoir of James Howard Lowell. Charleston, SC: The History Press. Five maps.

2018. Martino, Gina M. Women at War in the Borderlands of the Early American Northeast. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Four maps.

2017. Lim, Julian. Porous Borders: Multiracial Migrations and the Law in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. One map.

2016. Wishart, David J. Great Plains Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Six maps.

2016. Gough, Robert J. and James W. Oberly. Building Excellence: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1916-2016. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company Publishers. Twelve maps.

2016. Brooks, James. Mesa of Sorrows: A History of the Awat’ovi Massacre. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Press. Two maps.

2016. Jagodinsky, Katrina. Legal Codes and Talking Trees: Indigenous Women's Sovereignty in the Sonoran and Pugent Sound Borderlands, 1854-1946. New Haven: Yale University Press. Six maps.

2015. Hogue, Michel. Metis and the Medicine Line: Creating a Border and Dividing a People. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Three maps.

2015. Adam Arenson and Andrew R. Graybill (eds.). Civil War Wests: Testing the Limits of the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press. Nine maps.

2013. Andrew Graybill. The Red and the White: A Family Saga of the American West. New York: Liveright. Three maps.

2012. Tom Lynch, Cheryll Glotflelty, and Karly Armbruster (eds.). The Bioregional Imagination: Literature, Ecology, and Place. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Twenty-four maps.

2011. Rachel St. John. Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Three maps.

2011. Margaret Jacobs. White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Two maps.

Edited Publications
2010. Zeitler, Ezra. Making Places, Molding Memories. A special issue of Historical Geography.

Honors
2017. National Council for Geographic Education Higher Education Distinguished Teaching Award

2017. UW-Eau Claire Student Support Services Program Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students

2017. UW-Eau Claire Excellence in Mentoring in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award Nominee

2015. UW-Eau Claire GRADitude Award for positively influencing the educational experience of graduating students.

2014. UW-Eau Claire Student Support Services Program Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students

2013. UW-Eau Claire Office of Multicultural Affairs and Black Student Alliance Certificate of Appreciation of Outstanding Achievement in Creating Inclusion in the Classroom

2013. UW-Eau Claire Student Support Services Program Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students

2013. UW-Eau Claire GRADitude Award for positively influencing the educational experience of graduating students.

2011. First Place, Cartographic Analysis and Viewer's Choice Award. "Human Development Index Scores & Right-to-Work Status in the United States." National Council for Geographic Education Map Gallery Contest.

2010. UW-Eau Claire Office of Nontraditional Student Learners Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Teaching, Mentoring, and Encouragement.

Faculty/Student Research Collaboration Projects

2020. Lauren Becker. Moving Forward: Factors in the Retirement of Indigenous Mascots within Four Wisconsin K-12 School Districts. Research presented virtually at the 2020 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities. Research presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Denver, CO cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic.

2020. Josie Myers. Representing a State: Shifting Themes in Minnesota's Official State Highway Map. Resesarch presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Denver, CO cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic.

2019. Josie Myers and Haley Churchill. Thematic Paradigms of Tourism Imagery in Minnesota's Official Highway Maps, 1936-2019. Research presented at the annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society. Tacoma, Washington. View presentation here.

2019. Haley Churchill and Josie Myers. Thematic Paradigms of Tourism Imagery in Minnesota's Official Highway Maps, 1936-2018. Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, D.C. and at the UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2018. Andrew Moen and Zach Fischer. Out-of-State Property Ownership in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in April 2017. New Orleans, LA.

2017. Zach Fischer. Second Home Ownership in Wisconsin's Northwoods: Cartographic Revelations from Wisconsin's Statewide Parcel Dataset. Research presented at the annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society. Montréal, QC.

2016. Hannah Wirth. Second Home Ownership in Wisconsin's Northwoods: A Focus on Non-Resident Primary Addresses. Research presented at the 2016 Meeting of the West & East Lakes Divisions of the Association of American Geographers, Marquette, Michigan.

2016. Nick Berg. Private Land Ownership in Vilas County, Wisconsin. Research presented at the 2016 Meeting of the West & East Lakes Divisions of the Association of American Geographers, Marquette, Michigan.

2014. Joseph Quintana. Impacts of Corporate Water Parks on Residents' Sense of Place in Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton, Wisconsin. Research presented at the 2014 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Tampa, Florida.

2013. Kory N.G. Dercks, Minor League Baseball Stadiums and Urban Redevelopment in Mid-Sized American Cities. Research presented at the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Joseph Quintana, Kory N.G. Dercks, and Zachary Womeldorf, Wisconsin Professional Sports Fandoms: A Spatial Survey. Research presented at the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Der Lee (with Kelly Wonder), Relationships between Hmong and Neighboring Ethnic Groups in Yunnan Province, China. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the UWEC Celebration of Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Crystal Luag Ntxhi Vang (with Kelly Wonder),The Modernization of Paj Ntaub in China. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Cindy Mai Yang (with Kelly Wonder), Funeral Practices of the Chinese Hmong. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. See Yang (with Kelly Wonder), The Effects of Education on Gender Roles in Hmong Daily Life in China. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Chee Yang (with Kelly Wonder), War and Peace of the Hmong and Chinese. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Becky Vang (with Kelly Wonder), The Migration and Mobility of the Hmong-Miao in China. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Nou Vue (with Kelly Wonder), Oral Tradition in the Hmong Communities of Yunnan Province, China. Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2013. Choua Xiong (with Kelly Wonder), Analysis of a Hmong Mythical Figure: Chi You (Txiv Yawg). Research presented at the 2013 ASIANetwork Conference and the 2013 UWEC Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activities.

2011. Alyson Diller, Spatial Patterns of Lottery Sales in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Research presented at the 2011 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle, Washington.

2010. Amy Sue Brickheimer, Clinging to Ethnic Identity: The 'Polka-Identity' of Polish-Americans in Central Wisconsin. Research presented at the Fifth Biennial Conference on Race, Ethnicity, and Place in Binghamton, New York. Winner of the American Geographical Society Student Poster Competition.

2009-2010. Darin Mertig, Geographic Bias in the National Football League Draft, 1970-2009. Research presented at the 2010 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Washington, D.C.

2009. Evan Byers, Geography of Minnesota High School Hockey. Research presented at the 2009 Meeting of the West Lakes Region of the Association of American Geographers, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN.