Geography's institutional position in US colleges and universities has strengthened over the past 15 years. Student numbers have increased, many existing geography programmes have expanded, and new programmes have been launched. This article documents these developments and situates them historically. Attention is then directed to reasons behind the discipline's recent growth: heightened public interest in geographical issues, expanding awareness of geography in other disciplines, the geotechnology revolution, the growing job market for geographers, and improvement in geography education in some primary and secondary schools. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures and 5 notes.)