University Professor Emeritus
Credentials
1989 FDhc (Honorary Doctorate), University of Umeå (Sweden)
1965‑1966 PhD, Geography; minor in Agricultural Economics, University of Florida
1962‑1964 MA, Geography; minor in Agricultural Economics, University of Florida
1958‑1962 Honours BA, Geography, McMaster University
Research Keywords
Caribbean landscapes, rural land use and planning, programme implementation,
ecosystem resilience, computer-aided teaching.
Contact Information
Research Interests
I have two primary foci of current research:
(1) a long-term analysis of landscape change in the Caribbean islands (natural and cultural landscapes), utilizing information that I have assembled over the past 60 years of field and library research. I use field observations and notes, about 250,000 personal
photographs, hundreds of hours of video, numerous personal interviews, and other information gathered as a visitor in several Caribbean universities, research organizations and NGOs. The work will culminate in a book that should be published in 2024.
(2) development and testing of a framework for analysing programme implementation, a field that I began as a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Institute for Development Studies in 1986-87, where I worked in collaboration with Prof. Donald Warwick. The research builds on my personal research in the Caribbean, Indonesia, East and Southern Africa, India, Sweden and Canada; and also involves the research of several of the 94 graduate students whose work I supervised at York University. Their research
experience has been fundamental in developing the framework and associated methods. I am passionately interested in the gap between environmental planning and the actual implementation of projects/programmes/plans; and am concerned that, as responsible practitioners, we find better ways to ensure that effective plans result in appropriate action.
Research Output
Recognition & Awards
- 1996 Visiting Professor, University of Umeå, Sweden
- 1993 Visiting Research Associate, Institute of Ecology and Systematics, Cuban Academy of Sciences
- 1986-1987 Visiting Scholar, Institute for International Development, Harvard University
- 1979 Visiting Professor, University of Toronto
- 1979 Distinguished Alumnus Lecturer, McMaster University
- 1974 Visiting Lecturer, Economico‑Mathematical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow and Leningrad)
- 1987 Named University Professor, York University
- 1989 FDhc (Honorary Doctorate), University of Umeå (Sweden)
- 2005 President’s University-Wide Teaching Award, York University