Name
Jim L.
Affiliation with the University
Alumni
Story Relation
Twin Cities Campus
Dear Minnesota,
I received my B.A. from the University of Minnesota CLA in 1985 in Geography/Anthropology. Shortly after graduating, I was able to secure a job as a cartographer at an aerial survey company. While it lasted only 10 months before a big layoff left me jobless, I soon got another job in digital mapping in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Fast forward to this summer (2023), where I just retired after 37+ years in Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a career I have loved for the duration. I owe all of it to the Geography and Anthropology department staff at the U of M.
In a related funny side story, in 1985, I chose not to walk for graduation and got my degree mailed to me instead. I've always kind of regretted not taking part in the pomp and circumstance especially after all the hard work I put in. So, when my daughter graduated from the U of M in political science in 2018, she let me borrow her robe and folio for a photo re-creation. It provided a little closure some 33 years later.
I received my B.A. from the University of Minnesota CLA in 1985 in Geography/Anthropology. Shortly after graduating, I was able to secure a job as a cartographer at an aerial survey company. While it lasted only 10 months before a big layoff left me jobless, I soon got another job in digital mapping in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Fast forward to this summer (2023), where I just retired after 37+ years in Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a career I have loved for the duration. I owe all of it to the Geography and Anthropology department staff at the U of M.
In a related funny side story, in 1985, I chose not to walk for graduation and got my degree mailed to me instead. I've always kind of regretted not taking part in the pomp and circumstance especially after all the hard work I put in. So, when my daughter graduated from the U of M in political science in 2018, she let me borrow her robe and folio for a photo re-creation. It provided a little closure some 33 years later.