Rate My Professor John Frazier

John Frazier is the SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Geography at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he has built a nearly four-decade career as a leader in racial and ethnic geography within the Social Science faculty. His research specializations encompass core issues in contemporary racial and ethnic geography, including conditions faced by African Americans, minority populations near toxic sites due to racism or poverty, the Great Migration and its urban patterns, and the formation, expansion, and reinforcing forces of Black ghettos. Frazier also examines immigrant experiences, cultural landscapes shaped by ethnicity and immigration, and urban-economic revitalization. He teaches courses such as “Multicultural Geographies of the United States,” which explores historical movements and settlement structures of Latinx, Black, and Asian American populations over the past century. As a pioneer in applied geography and human geography, he has dedicated his work to advancing anti-racist knowledge and praxis, mentoring students, and supporting geographers of color through professional networks and pedagogy.

Frazier founded the Race, Ethnicity, and Place (REP) Conference in 2002, directing it until 2016 and rotating it across diverse U.S. locations, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with funding from the National Science Foundation for minority graduate students. He has led the American Association of Geographers’ Ethnic Geography Specialty Group and co-directs the Johnson City Revitalization Project, a story-mapping initiative documenting demographic, economic, and social changes in Johnson City, New York, driven by Binghamton University’s Health Sciences Campus development. As part-time Director of the GIS Core Facility, he integrates geospatial technology into research and teaching. His key publications, widely used as resources for researchers and instructors, include co-editing three editions of Race, Ethnicity and Place in a Changing America, The African Diaspora in the U.S. and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century, and Multicultural Geographies of the United States, as well as co-authoring Race and Place: Equity Issues in Urban America. Frazier’s honors include the 2021 AAG Harold M. Rose Award for Anti-Racism Research and Practice, 2018 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring, 2018 American Geographical Society Fellowship, 2016 AAG EGSG Scholar Award, 2015 AAG Ronald Abler Distinguished Service Award, 2009 AAG Enhancing Diversity Award, 1996 James Anderson Medal for Applied Geography, and the AAG Ethnic Geography Career Award.