Don Lyons taking chair position at University College Cork, Ireland

Our favorite (or, truth be told, only) Irish colleague, Dr. Don Lyons, is leaving UNT Geography effective with the spring, 2012 semester to take on the position of professor and chair of geography at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. Don has been a faculty member with UNT Geography for over 20 years, following a graduate education that took him to South Carolina, Illinois, and Colorado. In assuming the UCC position, Don is returning to his undergraduate alma mater as well as his home country.

Don will be long remembered in North Texas for a quick sense of humor, highly opinionated teaching, and a broad research record spanning urban-economic geography. Don's most prolific research contributions have been to the literatures of corporate geography and industrial ecology, but he will admit that one of his most-noted articles focused on the adult entertainment industry of Dallas. Don's teaching portfolio at North Texas included such varied elements as his very popular economic geography course and his British Isles Field School. Generations of UNT Geography students will be telling field school adventures featuring Don for years to come.

Perhaps the best thing we can wish Don as he leaves are the words of a traditional Irish blessing: "May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you're going too far." Don, however far your travels may take you, please know that you'll always be a part of who we are at UNT Geography. Congratulations on your new beginning.