International Geographical Union
2008 Election Candidate Information
Contents
Page
Candidates for President
Slovakia--Manfred M. Fischer, Vienna Univ. of Economics & Business Administration 2
USA--Ronald F. Abler, Pennsylvania State University 4
Candidate for Secretary General and Treasurer
South Korea--Woo-ik Yu, Seoul National University 9
Candidates for Vice President
Australia--Ruth Fincher, University of Melbourne 11
Belgium--Eric Lambin, Université Catholique de Louvain 12
Canada--Mark Rosenberg, Queens University 12
China-Beijing--Qin Dahe, Academy of Sciences of China 14
China-Taipei--David Chang-yi Chang, National Taiwan University 16
Czech Republic--Ivan Bičik, Charles University of Prague 17
Denmark--Christian Matthiessen, University of Copenhagen 18
Egypt--Mahmoud, Mohamed Ashour, Ain Shans University 20
France--Gérard Salem, Université Paris-Nanterre 22
Germany--Dietrich Soyez, University of Köln 24
Israel--Aharon Kellerman, University of Haifa 25
Italy--Giuliano Bellezza, University of Viterbo 27
Japan--Yukio Himiyama, Hokkaido University of Education 29
Mexico--Irasema Alcántara Ayala, National Autonomous University of Mexico 31
Netherlands--Jef Vandenberghe, Free University of Amsterdam 32
Nigeria--Michael O. Filani, University of Ibadan 34
Russia--Vladimir Kolossov, Russian Academy of Sciences 36
Saudi Arabia--Mohammad S. Makki, King Saud University 40
South Africa--Michael Meadows, University of Cape Town 42
Tunisia--Habib Dlala, University of Tunis 43
International Geographical Union
2008 Election Candidate Information
Candidates for President
Manfred M. Fischer, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration
Nominated by Slovakia
Manfred M. Fischer. Dr. rer. nat. (geography and mathematics; Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen, Germany, 1975); habil. degree (human geography, University of Vienna, 1982), Professor of Economic Geography and GIScience, Vienna University of Economics, and Dean for Social Sciences.
Services to the IGU: Chair, Commission on Mathematical Models, 1988-1996; full member, Commission on Modelling Geographical Systems, 1996-present; organisation of packaged sessions at the Regional Conferences in Beijing (1990) and Prague (1994), the International Geographical Congresses in Washington (1992) and The Hague (1996).
Professional Experience: Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, University of Vienna, 1975-1988; Visiting Professor, Oskar Lange Academy of Economics, Wroclaw, 1978; Visiting Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1988; Professor Vienna University of Economics, 1988-present; Dean for Social Sciences, 2002-present; Director, Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1996-1999; Editor-in-Chief, Geographical Systems (1994-1998); Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Geographical Systems (1999-present); Editor, Springer Book Series Advances in Spatial Science (1994-present); past or present membership on editorial boards: Geographical Analysis, Environment and Planning A, Annals of Regional Science, Papers in Regional Science, International Regional Science Review, Sistemi Urbani, Urban Systems, Tourismus Journal, Geographica Helvetica, URISA Journal, Acta Geographica Sinica.
Other Affiliations and Honours: member, International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, 1995; corr. member, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1996; foreign member, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1999; member, Third Academic Committee, State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1999; fellow, Regional Science Association International; member of organising and programme committees of more than 50 international conferences.
Research Interests: economic geography, technological change and regional development, regional housing and labour markets, geocomputation and spatial analysis; geographic information science, transportation and GIS-T.
Publications: more than ninety articles in Geographical Analysis, Progress in Human Geography; Environment and Planning A; Journal of Regional Science; Annals of Regional Science; Papers in Regional Science; Regional Science and Urban Economics; Networks and Spatial Economics; Computers, Environment and Urban Systems; Transactions in GIS, and many other journals; 30 monographs/books including Spatial Analysis and GeoComputation (Springer, 2006), and Innovation, Networks and Knowledge Spillovers (Springer, 2006); more than one hundred book chapters and encyclopedia articles, including the contribution on Spatial Analysis in the International Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences (Elsevier, 2001).
Priorities for the IGU: The profound changes that are occurring in society are sources of great opportunity for the profession and the IGU. In recent years the basis has been laid in a stronger and more widespread appreciation of the value of geography and the insights of geographers. I see the role of the IGU Presidency as important in three ways in helping the IGU build on this momentum: in the role of a listener, as an important element in the process of ensuring that the IGU’s activities accurately reflect the needs and desires of its members; as a leader, in nurturing current initiatives of the IGU and developing opportunities for new ones; and as a builder of bridges between the IGU and other organisations and activities in which professional geographers have a stake, or where opportunities lie for increased participation by geographers. It is especially important for a small discipline like geography to have a strong interdisciplinary presence in areas such as environmental research and management, global change, public policy, demography, economics, and international studies.
As computer and information technology invade more aspects of our lives, we must be prepared to change as the world changes, and by doing so put ourselves in a stronger position to influence or to help initiate practice and policy. We must begin the process in which we are seen as leaders and innovators, not as followers and imitators in the advancement of science. The IGU can – via increased representation in the community of scholars, business and government – contribute to improving the practice of geography. Recent IGU Presidents have taken the Union well along this path towards improved imagery and improved respects by initiating programs designed to unify the discipline and enhance its image within the scientific community generally. As President I would continue that spirited march into the future.
Ronald F. Abler, Pennsylvania State University
Nominated by USA, China-Beijing, and South Korea
Ron Abler has been active in the International Geographical Union (IGU) since 1976. He was a charter member of the IGU Study Group and the IGU Commission on the Geography of Communications and Telecommunications from 1984 to 1992. Following his 1996-2000 term as Vice President, he was elected IGU Secretary General and Treasurer in 2000 and served in that capacity through 2006, when he again became an IGU Vice President.
Abler's research has explored the ways societies have used intercommunications technologies at different times and places. He has written numerous research articles and is co-author or editor of several books, including Spatial Organization: The Geographer’s View of the World (with John Adams and Peter Gould), A Comparative Atlas of America’s Great Cities: Twenty Metropolitan Regions, and Geography’s Inner Worlds: Pervasive Themes in Contemporary American Geography (with Melvin Marcus and Judy M. Olson). From 1994-2002, Abler was Scientific Administrator for the Association of American Geographers’ innovative Global Change and Local Places project; he edited the book summarizing the project’s findings: Global Change and Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Abler has acquired extensive experience in scientific leadership and administration. He is Professor Emeritus of Geography at the Pennsylvania State University, where he was on the faculty from 1967 to 1995 and was Head of the Department of Geography from 1976 to 1982. From 1984 to 1988, He was Director of the Geography and Regional Science Program at the U.S. National Science Foundation, where he expanded funding for physical geography and coordinated the establishment of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). He was Vice President, President, and Past President of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) from 1984 to 1987, and Executive Director of the AAG from 1989 through 2002.
Abler has been a member of the boards of directors of numerous academic and non-profit organizations in the United States, including the American Council of Learned Societies, GIS/LIS, Inc., the Consortium of Social Science Associations, the International Geographic Information Foundation, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation, and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Sciences. He was the elected Chair of Section E (Geology and Geography) of the multidisciplinary American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1998, and has been a member of the Program Committee for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 AAAS annual meetings. Since 2004 he has been the IGU’s liaison with the International Council for Science (ICSU) and International Social Science Council (ISSC).
Abler was made a Fellow of the AAAS in 1985. Among the other organizations that have recognized his contributions to geography are the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, which awarded him its Centenary Medal in 1990, the Association of American Geographers (Honors in 1995), the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers (the Victoria Medal in 1996), and the American Geographical Society which conferred on him its Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal in 2004.
Ron Abler est actif au sein de l’Union Géographique Internationale (IGU) depuis 1976. Il était un membre de la Charte du Groupe d’étude de l’IGU et de la Commission de l’IGU pour la Géographie des Communications et des Télécommunications de 1984 à 1992. A la suite de son mandat de 1996 à 2000 en tant que Vice-président, il a été élu Secrétaire-Général et Trésorier de l’IGU en 2000 et a servi en cette capacité jusqu’en 2006, lorsqu’il est devenu une nouvelle fois Vice-président de l’IGU.
Les recherches de M.Abler ont exploré les manières dont les sociétés ont utilisé les technologies d’intercommunication à différentes périodes et dans différents endroits. Il a écrit de nombreux articles de recherche et est co-auteur ou éditeur de plusieurs livres, y compris Spatial Organization: The Geographer’s View of the World (avec John Adams et Peter Gould), A Comparative Atlas of America’s Great Cities: Twenty Metropolitan Regions, et Geography’s Inner Worlds: Pervasive Themes in Contemporary American Geography (avec Melvin Marcus et Judy M. Olson). De 1994 a 2002, Abler était Administrateur Scientifique du projet innovant sur les Places locales et le Changement global de l’Association des Géographes Américains, il a édité le livre qui résume les résultats du projet: Global Change and Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and Reducing Greenhouse Gases (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
M. Abler a acquis une expérience significative en termes de leadership dans la science et d’administration. Il est Professeur Émérite de Géographie à la Pennsylvania State University, ou il est resté dans la faculté de 1967 à 1995 et occupait le poste de Chef de Département de Géographie de 1976 à 1982. De 1984 à 1988, il était Directeur du Programme de Géographie et Science Régionale à la Fondation Américaine des Sciences, où il a développé les fonds pour la géographie physique et a coordonné la création du Centre national de l’Information et l’Analyse Géographique (NCGIA). Il a été Vice-président, Président, et Ancien Président de l’Association des Géographes Américains (AAG) de 1984 à 1987, et Directeur exécutif de l’AAG de 1989 à 2002.
M. Abler a été un membre des conseil de direction de nombreuses organisations à but non lucratif et académiques aux Etats-Unis, y compris le Conseil Américain des Sociétés Savantes, le Consortium des Associations pour les Sciences Sociales, la Fondation Internationale de l’Information Géographique, le Centre National d’Information et d’Analyse Géographique, la Fondation des Ressources Naturelles Renouvelables, et le Consortium Universitaire des Sciences de l’Information Géographique. Il a été élu Président de la Section E (Géologie et Géographie) de l’Association Américaine pour le Progrès de la Science (AAAS) en 1998, et a été membre du Comite de Programme pour les rencontres annuelles de l’AAAS en 2006, 2007, et 2008. Depuis 2004, il a servi de liaison entre l’IGU et le Conseil International pour la Science (ICSU) et le Conseil International des Sciences Sociales (CISS).
M. Abler est devenu un Associé de l’AAAS en 1985. Parmi les autres organisations ayant reconnu ses contributions a la géographie figurent la Société Royale Ecossaise pour la Géographie, qui lui a décerné sa Médaille du Centenaire en 1990, l’Association des Géographes Américains (Distinction honorifique en 1995), la Société Royale pour la Géographie/l’Institut des Géographes Britanniques (Médaille Victoria en 1996), et la Société Américaine pour la Géographie qui l’a décoré de sa Médaille Samuel Finley Breese Morse en 2004.
Priorities for the IGU/ Priorités pour l’UGI. The challenges the IGU Executive Committee will face during its 2008-2012 term, include:
· Participation. Recent years have seen an increase in IGU Corresponding Members, but many member countries have been unable to pay their dues and therefore cannot vote on IGU matters. I fear that more countries will be non-voting Observers in the Tunis General Assembly than in Glasgow in 2004.
· Shrinking Revenue. The IGU now receives less income than it had in 2004 and 2000 because of declining dues payments. The IGU’s Commissions and Task Forces deserve more financial support than the IGU provides. Additional non-dues funds for IGU operations must be secured if the IGU is to remain effective.
· International and Interdisciplinary Scientific Leadership. The IGU plays a prominent role in international science and in such coordinating international organizations as the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC). The increasing awareness of the value of traditional geographic concerns regarding human use and abuse of the earth will raise new opportunities for geographic leadership. The IGU must respond to as many as its limited capabilities permit, and should use Adalberto Vallega’s Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development (CCHD) initiative as a means of achieving international scientific leadership.
· Continuity. There will be an almost complete turnover of the IGU Executive Committee in 2008. Over the long term, offset terms for members of the IGU Executive Committee will prevent such majority turnovers in the future. Over the short term, the death of Adalberto Vallega and the inability of current First Vice President José Palacio-Prieto and current Secretary General and Treasurer Woo-ik Yu to continue on the executive committee could impede IGU effectiveness.
· Home of Geography. The status of the Rome Home of Geography must be settled. The Home of Geography has been of value, but at an aggregate cost to IGU of more than $100,000 since it was established in 2000. Sharply decreased funding from Italian sources and the inability of the IGU to support the Home of Geography requires quick resolution.
· Priority for Priorities. To avoid dissipating the energy and time of those who serve the IGU, the IGU Executive Committee must henceforth rigorously evaluate the benefits and costs (including opportunity costs) of each IGU program aor project. We can best enhance geography’s stature in international science by doing a few things well, rather than many things only adequately; we should reserve IGU energies for projects for which it possesses a strong comparative advantage.