Eastern alum Bill McNulty is currently the map director for National Geographic Magazine and will visit Eastern Friday to tell students about the art of map making.

After graduating Eastern in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in geology, McNulty also worked for The New York Times and The Washington Post.

McNulty will be presenting “Making Map Supplements” at 2 p.m. Friday in the Phipps Lecture Hall of the Physical Sciences Building.

“I graduated from Eastern as a geologist, and the things I learned really helped me see things visually, because it is a very visual field,” McNulty said.

After graduating from Eastern, McNulty went to work at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) where he studied old earthquakes.

When he left USGS, he went to work for The Washington Post graphic department.

“When I went to work in the daily news cycle, it was a big change; I kind of loved it,” McNulty said. “I fell in love with the visual side of it, and I fell in love with the type of science I did.”

After The Washington Post, McNulty went on to work for The New York Times.

“I did a bunch of work up there. I worked on the election, the census and 9/11,” McNulty said. “I was seen as an innovator. I brought new techniques and sensibilities to the graphic department.”

After McNulty left The New York Times, he started working for National Geographic Magazine.

“From there I got recruited here to become the director of maps because National Geographic was noticing me and the type of work I was doing,” McNulty said. “There was a want here to do better, more forward-thinking mapping.”

Michael Cornebise, the department chair for geology/geography, said McNulty has a hand in all the maps shown in the magazine.

“Whenever National Geographic Magazine comes out, he directs the map supplements in them,” Cornebise said.

Cornebise said the maps in National Geographic Magazine are interesting.

“They have these map supplements that they put in that you can take out, and they are designing new ones,” Cornebise said.

Corebise said McNulty will be sharing some of his experiences during his presentation on Friday.

“He is going to really be looking at these techniques to produce maps at National Geographic,” Cornebise said. “The other part of the talk he is going to be telling students how they can acquire these skills and prepare themselves for a job in cartography.”

McNulty said as a student he participated in many things that would give him experiences in the field.

“Our group was constantly trying to go out into the field and go caving, seeing things in the query and actually see it for real because that was really important,” McNulty said. “Our professors emphasized it.”

McNulty said it was his field experience that helped with knowledge and jobs.

“When I entered into the USGS, I had a big chip on my shoulder because I was one of the few people there that wasn’t from an Ivy League school,” McNulty said. “I found that not only was I as good as the other guys, but I knew a lot more; and I have a lot more experience in the field on the ground, which was a huge leg up.”

McNulty said he wants to show students what the field of cartography and geology is like today.

“I want to do a simple look at what we do,” McNulty said. “It is a good way to show what we do here and what it means and how it’s going to change and where we are going in the future.”

Cornebise said he thinks students will learn what they need to do to get a job in the future.

“Because he is at National Geographic, they have internship programs that a lot of our students are interested in,” Cornebise said. “This will help them understand if they want an internship or a job, what they need to do to start preparing for that.”

McNulty said he thinks he can help show students what they need to prepare for the future.

“I think it relates to what I learned at Eastern and what I think is important for people to learn,” McNulty said. “I’ve been doing this for awhile and created positions and hired people, and I want to be able to tell people the type of skill sets and things I look for.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.