K. De Bres’s scientific contributions

Despite the presence of two of the most highly regarded figures in American geography, the geography departments of Columbia University and Teachers College, Columbia did not expand and remain competitive with other geography departments in the first half of the twentieth century. J. Russell Smith of Columbia University and Richard Dodge of Teachers College helped the cause of geography in general in the United States through their excellent textbooks, while neglecting personal research and their own departments. This behaviour established a precedent which continued long after their retirements, causing geography to exist in a dangerous intellectual and political vacuum which eventually resulted in the closure of both departments.