--- title: Derek Alderman | TIME description: Derek Alderman is a scholar with expertise in cultural geography and U.S. place naming studies, Chancellor’s Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, former president of the American Association of Geographers, and a former member of the U.S. Federal Advisory Committee for Place Name Reconciliation. canonical: https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Derek Alderman ## Derek Alderman [Derek Alderman](https://derekalderman.com/) is a scholar with expertise in cultural geography and U.S. place naming studies, Chancellor’s Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, former president of the American Association of Geographers, and a former member of the U.S. Federal Advisory Committee for Place Name Reconciliation. ## Derek Alderman *  Aug 28, 2026 ### [The Trouble With Trump’s Attempt to Rename Lake Ontario](https://time.com/article/2026/08/28/the-trouble-with-trump-s-attempt-to-rename-lake-ontario/) Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is symbolic political theater aimed at diverting our attention away... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: {"\_\_typename":"Seo","meta\_title":"","meta\_description":"","og\_title":"","og\_description":"","og\_imageConnection":{"\_\_typename":"SysAssetConnection","edges":\[\]},"twitter\_card":"summary\_large\_image"} ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/","name":"Derek Alderman"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/"},"name":"Derek Alderman","jobTitle":"","description":"Derek Alderman is a scholar with expertise in cultural geography and U.S. place naming studies, Chancellor’s Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee, former president of the American Association of Geographers, and a former member of the U.S. Federal Advisory Committee for Place Name Reconciliation.","url":"https://time.com/author/derek-alderman/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```