Richard Deal, PhD

Dr. Richard Deal is an Assistant Professor of Geography in the Department of Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences at Pennsylvania Western University. Dr. Deal primarily teaches GIS classes, along with introductory geography classes. Dr. Deal has a general course certificate in geography from London School of Economics in London, England, a BA in geography from Clark University, in Worcester, MA, and an MS and PhD, both in geography, from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Deal's research interests are in political geography, the governance of small island states, the geography of Pacific Islands, and the geography of beer. His two more recent publications are "Historical Variation of Non-local Geographical Brewery Names in the United States” in The Geography of Beer. Policies, Perceptions and Place. (2023) and "Tumunu, the Bush Beer Bar Tradition of Atiu, Cook Islands" in The Geography of Beer. Culture and Economics. (2020). Dr. Deal is active in the American Association of Geographers and he is currently President of the Wine, Beer, and Spirits Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers and Treasurer of the European Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. He helps run the trivia competitions World Geography Bowl at the American Association of  Geographers Annual Meeting, where he writes a round of questions, and GeoTrivia at the North American Cartographic Information Society Annual Meeting.