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Departmental
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Observations of the Moment On being an academic. Reproductions of the covers of two books are shown on this page of GeoSpectrum2000. One is by John Rayner, former Chair and present Professor; the other by Henry Hunker, Professor Emeritus; most of you know both men. It’s evident by their titles -- Dynamic Climatology: Basis in Mathematics and Physics and Columbus, Ohio: A Personal Geography -- that they represent very different types of scholarship. Rayner’s book is a scientific text; Hunker’s is a more anecdotal reflection but one that draws on geographic principles of urban and regional development (see Review and Letter to the Editor at the end of this GeoSpectrum2000). Rayner received his PhD in 1965; Hunker in 1953. Neither, then, wrote these books under a “publish or perish” situation (which, by the way, is no different from a young business or sales person having to “prove” themselves prior to moving on to greater security, responsibility, etc). For those who know the academic book market, it’s obvious that neither book will have a significant impact on the financial standing of the author. Under common wisdom, then, why take the effort to write. It is because both Hunker and Rayner are, at their core, solid academics. This means understanding, knowing, but ultimately serving broader communities by informing, be it through teaching, writing, or service to the community. In this regard, Hunker and Rayner stand as symbols of the enterprise in which Geography is immersed. All of us are immensely proud -- of them as individuals and of the works they produced. On our community. In editing the Alumni Notes section of Geospectrum2000, I was struck by how many entries are from people we either have not heard from in a while or have not heard from at all. In several cases reference was made to having become re-acquainted with old friends in earlier Alumni Notes, and wanting to return the gesture. For me, after six years of talking about our community, alumni and friends, of Ohio State Geography, this is tangible evidence that the idea reaching ever more people, and they are responding accordingly. This is very satisfying. Another very statisfying aspect of Alumni Notes is the wide variety of interesting and challenging work being done, and apparently being done well. To me this means we are doing well by our students, preparing them in a broad fashio that allows taking on the world however they choose. This is indeed a credit to our program. |
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