Joe Ferguson

James Joseph Ferguson (1962 - 2001)

Joe Ferguson was the director of the National Geographic Society Education and Outreach Program. Ferguson and Ann Judge were accompanying three teacher-student pairs as part of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, CA. The flight they were on—American Airlines Flight 77—was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Ferguson was 39.

The names of the eight members of this National Geographic expedition:

• Asia Cottom
• Sarah Clark
• Bernard Brown
• Hilda Taylor
• Rodney Dickens
• James Debeuneure
• Ann Judge
• Joe Ferguson

Ferguson and the expedition were on their way to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary near Santa Barbara, CA. The Sustainable Sea Expedition explored Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary for two weeks in 1999. All students on the expeditions were sixth-grade students, 11 years of age.

Read more about the national marine sanctuary's efforts following the September 11th attacks.

Ferguson, a native of Mississippi, completed a master's degree in Geography at Ohio University and joined National Geographic in 1987 as one of the first full-time employees of the Geography Education Outreach Program. Strongly committed to improving geography education in America's classrooms, he won the affection of teachers who participated in a wide range of professional development activities sponsored by the society. His long-time service in the program made him widely acknowledged as the "institutional memory" of the department, according to his National Geographic colleagues.

Dedicating the R/V Joe Ferguson

In February 2002, Gray's Reef dedicated the R/V Joe Ferguson to James Joseph Ferguson. "The staff at Gray's Reef felt it was important to name the vessel in Joe's honor in recognition of all he has done to educate students about the marine environment and America's ocean treasures," said Reed Bohne, superintendent of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary.