Shepherd University’s Historic Preservation Program will present a symposium on the West Virginia GeoExplorer Project on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies. The event is made possible by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council, with additional support from Shepherd University’s School of Business and Social Sciences and the West Virginia Association of Geospatial Professionals. The event is free and open to the public.

The West Virginia GeoExplorer Project is an innovative, geographically-based web resource for exploring the history, culture and architecture of Jefferson County. Anne Knowles, associate professor of geography at Middlebury College, will serve as keynote speaker. Knowles is the author of numerous books and articles on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including several based on her work with the Philadelphia GeoHistory Project. She has also received numerous fellowships and grants for applying GIS to historical studies, which include a National Science Foundation Collaborative Research Grant for Holocaust and Historical GIS, as well as funding for a two-week interdisciplinary workshop through the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States National Holocaust Museum on the Geographies of the Holocaust.

Other speakers will include Shepherd professors Keith Alexander, coordinator of the historic preservation program and principal investigator for the project; Ann Legreid, dean of the College of Business and Social Science; and Julia Sandy-Bailey, assistant professor of history. The speakers will be joined by William Theriault, Tori Myers and Christine Toms.

For more information about the West Virginia GeoExplorer Project, visit www.wvgeohistory.org.