The Chauncy D. Harris Lecture

Chauncy Harris was born in Logan, Utah, the son of Franklin D. Harris, who was at the time a professor of Agronomy at Utah State Agricultural College, and later served as the president of Brigham Young University from 1921-1945 (for whom the Harris Fine Arts Center was named).

Harris graduated from BYU in 1933 at age 19 as University valedictorian with a degree in Geography (then part of the Geology department). As the first Rhodes Scholar from BYU (it has since had only eight others), he earned Master's degrees from Oxford and the London School of Economics and a PhD from the University of Chicago.

During World War II, he served as a geographic analyst in the Office of Strategic Services (the precursor of the CIA), where he developed a lifelong fascination with the Soviet Union. At the same time, he began his lifelong career as a professor of Geography at the University of Chicago. His many areas of expertise included the Soviet Union, Urban Geography, and Economic Geography. Although he published several landmark developments in these fields, his most enduring legacy is likely the Multiple Nuclei Model of the spatial pattern of urban development.

During his career, he served as president of the Association of American Geographers, an officer in the American Geographical Society and the International Geographical Union, and as vice president at Chicago. He retired in 1984, and passed away in 2003.

Before his death, the Harris family generously endowed a fund in our department to host a distinguished geography scholar each November during Geography Awareness Week, to give a lecture of interest to our students and faculty. We have greatly benefited from this gift and the insights of our guests.


Watch a 1971 interview of Dr. Harris or a 1988 interview