Awards

National Academies (1925)

American Association for the Advancement of Science

About Jesse Switzer

Jesse Elmer Switzer was born September 26, 1876 in Waynetown, Indiana. After completing his public schooling, he taught in the grade school and high school and began his college education at Central Michigan State College. In 1911, he received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. in geography was earned in 1923 at Clark University. He taught for ten years at North Dakota State Teachers College in the department of geography. He came to Indiana University in 1923 as assistant professor of geography, was promoted to associate professor in 1925, and professor in 1936. He retired as professor emeritus in 1947. Switzer spent a number of summers as instructor in geography at Yale, Peabody College, North Dakota and Ohio, and Penn State. He was a member of the American Meteorological Society and the Society of Professional Geographers. From 1943 to 1946 he was a director of the National Council of Geography Teachers and served as president of the Indiana section. He was president of the Bloomington chapters of Sigma Xi and the American Association of University Professors and was an active member of the Kiwanis International. Switzer was an active member of the Indiana Academy of Science, having served as chairman of the Membership Committee for six years from 1945-1950 and as vice president in 1951. He was elected as a fellow of the Indiana Academy of Science in 1926 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1925. Switzer passed away May 29, 1952 in Bloomington, Indiana.