Dr. Lesli Rawlings is a professor of geography at Wayne State College.
Before teaching at WSC, Dr. Rawlings worked as a graduate teaching assistant for the introduction and advanced GIS courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also has experience working as a real estate title specialist and a certified nursing assistant in the Omaha metropolitan area.
Dr. Rawlings is a member of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Gamma Theta Upsilon, Geographic Educators of Nebraska (GEON), National Council for Geographic Educators (NCGE) and Pi Gamma Mu. In the professional sector, she serves on the Nebraska GIS Council and Nebraska GIS/LIS Association. She has also written articles, contributed to cartographic publications, and gave several presentations regarding GIS in K-12 education.
She has been the recipient of grants and awards. In areas of service Dr. Rawlings was the recipient of The Gildersleeve, Stoddard, Stone Award for Service in Geographic Education in Nebraska 2018 and the Award of Appreciation by Geographic Educators of Nebraska in December 2014. In area of teaching, she was the recipient of the NCGE Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award 2017 and the AAG Applied Geography Specialty Group’s Applied Exercise Award in 2012.
Education
Ph.D. Geography, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2010
M.A. Geography, University of Nebraska-Omaha, 2002
B.S. Geography, University of Nebraska-Omaha, 2000
Academic Interests
Dr. Rawlings's research interests include geographic information systems (GIS) applied to study local housing markets, public education issues, population decline in rural Nebraska, and K-12 education. Her teaching interests are GIS and computer mapping, urban geography, economic geography, world regional geography and geography of Europe.
