From 1980 to 1983, he was Director of the Department of Geography Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
In 1983, he became Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado-Boulder and in 1985 switched to Associate Professor of Geography and Director of the Deasy GeoGraphics Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University, where he worked until 1992.
In Fall 2007, he was Visiting Professor, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, and since 2007 also Affiliate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University.
Awards for Alan MacEachren in 2004-2007 include the E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Penn State University.
In 2004, he was also recognized for Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to the Practice of Cartography, by the Canadian Cartographic Association.