William HuxholdThe University of Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) is proud to present its 2012 Education Award to William Huxhold of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (UWM). Professor Huxhold is one of those rare professors who has been able to bring extensive practical experience into the classroom. As a GIS professional during the 1970s and 1980s, he was a pioneer in the development of municipal applications of GIS. He began teaching courses in the Urban Planning department at UWM in 1988, soon joining the faculty full-time and developing one of the first GIS programs housed in an Urban Planning department. Beginning with his landmark textbook, An Introduction to Urban Geographic Information Systems (1991), he has authored numerous books focusing on the practical management and use of geographic information, especially for local government. His leading role in the development of Urban GIS education has helped thousands of GIS and planning students gain employment in city and county governments across the United States.

During his career, Bill has served the geospatial community, including terms as president of both the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and UCGIS, and on the board of the GIS Certification Institute, which he helped to establish. Closer to home, he has worked tirelessly to foster GIS education in the Milwaukee public schools, to spread the use of GIS across the UWM campus, and to coordinate professional and university GIS activities across the state of Wisconsin.

Bill is an example to the entire UCGIS community of making education his first priority, and we are pleased to honor him for his lifelong service.