Writer, photographer and internationally known Himalaya specialist David Zurick at Berea College Oct. 19

The program at 3 p.m. is free and open to the public. It is the annual Ruth Woods Lecture and is co-sponsored by the College’s International Center.

In his multi-media presentation Shangri La: Himalaya in the Geographical Imagination, Zurick will explore the place of the Himalaya in the imagination, tracing its influence from the early mystic pilgrims through the age of exploration, and into the modern era of travel and mountaineering.

Zurick, who is a professor of geography at Eastern Kentucky University and lives in Berea, has been studying and experiencing life in the Himalaya region for 25 years. He is the author of two books on the region and has contributed to several others. “Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya,” co-authored with cartographer Julsun Pacheco and published in June by the University Press of Kentucky, is the first full-color, comprehensive atlas of contemporary land and life in the highest mountains on Earth.

“Himalaya: Life on the Edge of the World” (with P.P. Karan) published in 1999, won the 2000 CHOICE AWARD for outstanding academic book.
Zurick is currently working on book focused on Tibet titled “Sacred Geography.” His other books include “Hawaii, Naturally;” and “Errant Journeys: Adventure Travel in a Modern Age,” a finalist for the Banff International Mountain Book Award in 1995.

As a photographer, Zurick has exhibited his work locally and regionally and in 2000 was awarded a Kentucky Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship for photography.

Since 1987, Zurick has been on the faculty at Eastern Kentucky University and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Kentucky since 2004. He also has taught at the University of Hawaii. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Geography from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Zurick is the recipient of numerous grants and awards. His honors include a Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of American Geographers.

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