Jim Norwine

Becoming a Fellow of Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Veritas Institute is a deeply gratifying, and humbling, honor.

Jim Norwine is Regents Professor of Geography in the Department of Physics/Geosciences of Texas A&M University-Kingsville. In 1997, Jim Norwine was named Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s first Regents Professor, the highest academic honor in the Texas A&M University System. During his 37-year career with TAMUK he has produced nine books, including Worldview Flux (Lexington Books, 2000), The Changing Climate of South Texas (South Texas Environmental Institute 2007), Water for Texas (Texas A&M University Press 2005), The Changing Climate of Texas (Geobooks 1998) and The New Third World (Westview Press 1998). He has published numerous refereed articles; been a three-time Fulbright Scholar (India, Yugoslavia and Iraq) and the recipient of a variety of other teaching and research honors; served as a visiting scholar at such institutions as the University of Arizona, Brandeis University, Boston College, and Calvin College; and, spent multiple summers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) as an invited faculty fellow. His scholarly specialties are climate and geosophy, the study of geographies of the mind. For the past 20 years Norwine has led a multi-disciplinary study of the changing personal values and worldviews of university undergraduates around the world, resulting in publications in journals such as The International Journal of Social Science (Paris) and Religion and Education. He took his Ph.D. (geography) from Indiana State University in 1971. He and his wife of 45 years, Lottie, a retired hIgh school geography and shop teacher, are Lutherans, although they are already “honorary” future members of the First Methodist Church in Oologah. Following his retirement from TAMUK at the end of 2011, they will reside on Oologah Lake. Jim and Lottie have three grown children and four grandsons. Originally from St. Louis, they remain die-hard Cardinal fans.