In the 1960s, Geography at UCSB had neither Department status nor autonomy. It was staffed by young men just starting their careers and visiting lecturers from other nations. Students were attracted to the program because they were passionate about environmental issues and because Geography faculty and staff were so welcoming and friendly. Despite a bloom in numbers and offerings, the program nearly completely collapsed. UCSB administrators had to decide whether Geography would have a presence at UCSB or not and, if so, what that would look like. The Dean of the College of Letters and Science, who was a Chemistry professor and officially the Geography Chair, decided that geographic studies based on science and technology, in line with the aerial photography and remote sensing that Jack Estes was teaching, would be desirable. In 1974, the Dean hired David Simonett, from Australia, as the first Chair of the newly formed Department.

Simonett's strategy was to hire senior professors, who were connected by the common use of measurement and analysis, in the fields of vegetation, marine, and water resources, and in human behavioral and urban economic studies, then to in-fill each field with junior people. A wiry, intensely energetic man, Simonett had the vision, firepower, and pro-active supportiveness to get top talent and to nurture the fledgling community into an exciting department.

Subsequent Chairs carried through Simonett's original vision and fleshed out the team of faculty. By 1978, the Department offered a Master's program; by 1980, a Doctorate. Various struggles had to be surmounted through the years: for example, obtaining adequate and fair funding from the Administration; increasing building space and staff; weathering the impact of retirement, illness, and death; surviving state-wide budget cuts (faculty and staff took mandatory pays cuts in 93-94); and, when seeking new talent, getting past the thorn of ultra-high housing costs.

Today, the Department has challenges arising from its very success. The Geography community has become so diverse and complex that no one person can play the role Simonett did - driving, connecting, catalyzing, advocating - even if he or she wanted to. Instead, each member needs to support and encourage the others. Recognizing this, the faculty begin their 2001 Vision Statement, "We will build an extraordinary community…."

Fresh vision is essential for continued success. UCSB's Geography Department has chosen to further its computational and modeling emphasis by focusing on cutting-edge developments in geographic information science and interdisciplinary approaches to spatial-temporal dynamics. This focus, along with commitment to community, will hopefully continue to foster a dynamic and fertile Department where people create new knowledge about planet earth and its inhabitants.