Dr. Bascom grew up in Ethiopia and Kansas, and, return periodically to Africa to teach, research, and learn from Africans.  His wife, Betsy, is a nurse, whose calling has taken her to Cherry Street Clinic, primarily for the indigent and immigrants.  His son, Ethan, spent an incredible month of missions work in the Amazon region of Peru this summer. His daughter, Joanna, is avid writer, pole-vaulter, and sprinter.

Dr. Bascom joined the department in the fall of 2000. He is a graduate of Kansas State University (BS 1980, MA 1982). He worked a year for an economic research firm, then completed a Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Iowa (1989). His eleven-year tenure at East Carolina University included the university's Teaching Excellence award. He has been a visiting Lecturer at the Department of Geography, University of Asmara (1997-2005) and a visiting Research Fellow at the Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University (1993). His work experience includes an internship with the Africa Bureau of the US Agency for International Development. Invited entries of his are found in the Encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan Africa and the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Bascom has written on a pedagogical approach to teaching Third World geography. Agencies that have supported his research include the American Philosophical Society, the US Agency for International Development, National Science Foundation, and the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Program.

Refugees and the issues that surround their migration, protection, and assistance have been the primary focus of his research (reflected in a book and a dozen journal articles). His articles have appeared in The Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Economic Geography, The Journal of Refugee Studies, The Geographical Review, The Journal of Cultural Geography, and The African Geographical Review. Dr. Bascom is a past president of the Africa Specialty Group (Association of American Geographers) and a past editor of the African Geographical Review. In 2005, he was a Fulbright Faculty Scholar at the University of Asmara. He is currently working on the first collegiate-level geography of Eritrea. Dr. Bascom's teaching assignments include the Geography of Africa, Economic Geography, Cartography, and World Regional Geography. He has coordinated the college's McGregor Program for three summers and is the current director of the Africa and African Diaspora Studies Program here at Calvin.