A Half Century of Hazards Dissertation Research in Geography *

Abstract

Geographic study of hazards has gained considerable prominence in the fifty years since Gilbert White's Human Adjustment to Floods dissertation was published. Over 130 hazards dissertations have been written in the US. and Canada, and hazards articles have gained greater acceptance in major journals. Although White and several of his students served as advisors for nearly a fifth of these dissertations, most hazards dissertations represent efforts by students whose advisors have neither written nor advised a previous hazards dissertation. The majority of hazards dissertation writers obtain employment in positions where they are unable to advise future hazards dissertation writers, thus the production of the next generation of hazards geographers may be in peril.