Susan J. Bergeron

Contact Susan J. Bergeron

843-234-3496 sbergero@coastal.edu

Brittan Hall 343

Office Hours

Monday, 1-2 p.m.
Tuesday, 12-2 p.m.
or by appointment.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke

Biography

Susan Bergeron is the Chair and a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography. Susan earned her Ph.D. in Geography from West Virginia University, and her dissertation is entitled "Engaging the Virtual Landscape: exploring the development of a spatial experience engine for historical landscape analysis." Dr. Bergeron also holds an M.A. in Geography from West Virginia University, an M.A. in History from Syracuse University, and a B.A. in History from Duke University. Her research interests include virtual heritage, immersive simulation through video game technology and 3D landscape reconstruction, geovisualization, GIScience and the humanities, and geospatial technologies in education.

Dr. Bergeron has co-authored book chapters on the Geospatial Web and GIS and geovisualization in the humanities. Her research into the development of immersive 3D landscapes as platforms for representing humanities knowledge has focused on the development of Virtual Hampton, an immersive 3D landscape representation of Hampton Plantation, embedded with digital stories of those who lived and worked there. Along with Dr. Ron Green, a colleague in Religious Studies at CCU, Dr. Bergeron was awarded an ASIANetwork Student-Faculty Fellowship grant to travel to Japan in May 2020 on a research trip with students to begin fieldwork for her current project in virtual heritage – the Virtual Shikoku Pilgrimage. This ongoing project is involving students in the process of designing and developing an immersive 3D platform to explore the landscape of the Shikoku pilgrimages, and tell the stories of the pilgrims’ experiences, the places they visit, and the impact of the pilgrimage as part of Japan’s cultural heritage.

Education

Ph.D., Geography, West Virginia University
M.A., Geography, West Virginia University
M.A., History, Syracuse University
B.A., History, Duke University

Interesting Facts

Dr. Bergeron is a co-founder and co-host of the award-winning podcast VerySpatial: https://veryspatial.com/.

Teaching Areas

GIS, Digital Culture and Design, World Regional Geography, Virtual Pasts, 3D Geovisualization and Immersive Digital Landscapes, Video Game Worlds, Spatial Storytelling

Research Areas

Virtual heritage, GIS and 3D geovisualization, immersive virtual landscapes