A Reflection on the Ph.D. Program in Spatially Integrated Social Science at the University of Toledo

2013 ◽  
pp. 1385-1391
Author(s):  
Bhuiyan Monwar Alam ◽  
Jeanette Eckert ◽  
Peter S. Lindquist

The use of spatial analysis tools is on the rise in many academic fields and practical applications. These tools enhance the ability to examine data from spatial perspectives. Though the study of place and space has traditionally been the domain of the field of geography, growing numbers of researchers are turning to these tools in the social sciences and beyond. The University of Toledo has established a unique Ph.D. granting program to encompass the theories, tools, and applications of spatially integrated social science. In the first couple of years of its inception the program has attracted students from different places and diverse backgrounds. It is expected that the program will continue to thrive in attracting diverse students, securing external grants, and positively impacting on the economy of Northwest Ohio. This paper is a personal reflection of the views of the authors on the Ph.D. program in Spatially Integrated Social Science at the University of Toledo two years after its inception in fall 2009. The views, by no means, are of the University of Toledo, its SISS program, or any of the participating departments and faculty members.

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhuiyan Monwar Alam ◽  
Jeanette Eckert ◽  
Peter S. Lindquist

The use of spatial analysis tools is on the rise in many academic fields and practical applications. These tools enhance the ability to examine data from spatial perspectives. Though the study of place and space has traditionally been the domain of the field of geography, growing numbers of researchers are turning to these tools in the social sciences and beyond. The University of Toledo has established a unique Ph.D. granting program to encompass the theories, tools, and applications of spatially integrated social science. In the first couple of years of its inception the program has attracted students from different places and diverse backgrounds. It is expected that the program will continue to thrive in attracting diverse students, securing external grants, and positively impacting on the economy of Northwest Ohio. This paper is a personal reflection of the views of the authors on the Ph.D. program in Spatially Integrated Social Science at the University of Toledo two years after its inception in fall 2009. The views, by no means, are of the University of Toledo, its SISS program, or any of the participating departments and faculty members.


2020 ◽  
pp. 58-78
Author(s):  
Beth M. Sheppard

During a bibliometric analysis of the scholarship of ninety-five social science faculty members at the University of West Georgia (UWG), observations were made concerning potential differences between how scholarly communication is practiced by the disciplines of the social sciences and biblical studies. The fields appear to diverge on the role of book reviews, prevalence of co-authored materials, use of ORCIDs, and adoption of DOIs. In addition to highlighting these points, the data set used for the project is described. Finally, a few theological reflections are offered.


Author(s):  
Howard L. Richards

In a dehumanized world in which meanings derived from dominant liberal world views are tacitly assumed to exist objectively and to impose themselves on discourses and on minds quite independently of who expresses them, this paper endorses what Immanuel Wallerstein calls 'unthinking social science' and then rethinking social science in the light of modernity's 'other'. We understand social science to include not just the academic fields discussed by Wallerstein like economics and political science, but also applied fields that tend to be inscribed within a liberal world view such as management, law, accounting, business, and education. Historically and logically, central planning and mixed economies in some ways deepen democracy, but nevertheless essentially preserve the logic of modernity (characterized by Max Weber as Zweckrationalität ), and this paper argues that they are unequal to the task . We must, to use some phrases from Tom Berry, work to achieve a culture shift at a deeper level, at the constitutive level. A green, frugal, and less socially unequal future (which is the only possible future) is only possible if we can find ways to violate with impunity the systemic imperatives imposed by modernity's regimes of accumulation, be they capitalist, socialist, or mixed. We need to go further back in history beyond the point where commerce replaced kinship, to find the premises of a viable future. This implies that non-Western and indigenous knowledge systems are entitled to respect. 'Standard science as it stands today has many useful practical applications, but it does not have a metaphysical monopoly on the right way to talk about what is ' (Bhaskar, 1986).


Author(s):  
Marc J. Stern

Social science theory for environmental sustainability: A practical guide makes social science theory accessible and usable to anyone interested in working toward environmental sustainability at any scale. Environmental problems are, first and foremost, people problems. Without better understandings of the people involved, solutions are often hard to come by. This book answers calls for demonstrating the value of theories from the social sciences for solving these types of problems and provides strategies to facilitate their use. It contains concise summaries of over thirty social science theories and demonstrates how to use them in diverse contexts associated with environmental conflict, conservation, natural resource management, and other environmental sustainability challenges. The practical applications of the theories include persuasive communication, conflict resolution, collaboration, negotiation, enhancing organizational effectiveness, working across cultures, generating collective impact, and building more resilient governance of social-ecological systems. Examples throughout the book and detailed vignettes illustrate how to combine multiple social science theories to develop effective strategies for environmental problem solving. The final chapter draws out key principles for enhancing these efforts. The book will serve as a key reference for environmental professionals, business people, students, scientists, public officials, government employees, aid workers, or any concerned citizen who wants to be better equipped to navigate the social complexities of environmental challenges and make a meaningful impact on any environmental issue.


1968 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-106
Author(s):  
John Lonsdale

This year it was the turn of Dar es Salaam to act as host to the social scientists, now numbering nearly 200, from the three constituent colleges of the University of East Africa, together with visitors from the Universities of Malawi and Zambia, from Tanzanian government ministries, and places as widely separated as Kinshasa and Leeds. As at last year's conference (reported by Martin Lowenkopf in The Journal of Modern African Studies, IV, 4, 1966), the discussions were trans-disciplinary, even if the tight timetable of parallel disciplinary panels prevented delegates from taking full advantage of this. This reporter was unable to range far beyond the history meeting-room.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Ahmed Malkawi ◽  
Kamil Al-Otoum

The study aimed to identify the status of applying the principles of accountability in the public and private universities in Jordan. This was done by comparing between Yarmouk University and Jerash University from the perspective of the employees. The study sample consisted of 250 faculty members and one administrator at Yarmouk University and Jerash University. The questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The study reached several conclusions, most notably of which include the presence of statistically significant differences in the reality of applying the accountability principles at universities in general, and in the administrative, and academic fields. This, however, is dependent on the variable of the university in favor of Jerash University. The study concluded on a number of recommendations most important of which is the necessity of activating the accountability mechanisms and tools in three areas: administrative, and academic areas of public universities in a higher degree. It also includes a commitment with unified criteria of accountability to ensure the maintenance of an acceptable level of justice and transparency.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loleen Berdahl

Although student involvement in research and inquiry can advance undergraduate learning, there are limited opportunities for undergraduate students to be directly involved in social science research.  Social science faculty typically work outside of laboratory settings, with the limited research assistance work being completed by graduate students.  The challenge, therefore, is to find ways to involve undergraduate social science students in research projects that relate to their field of study and that allow them to develop career-relevant skills. The Taking the Pulse of Saskatchewan project presents a unique model for undergraduate student involvement in social science research.  The project involved over 30 faculty members from across the University of Saskatchewan’s Division of Social Sciences and over 40 undergraduate students.  Students were directly involved in data collection, data analysis, report writing and media communications. Through their involvement, students developed and applied research, inquiry and communications skills.  Drawing on academic literature regarding undergraduate involvement in research, this paper will present an overview of the Taking the Pulse project, and reflect on the lessons of the project.


Author(s):  
Constance Backhouse

Harry Arthurs' Law & Learning report, conceived by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and carried to fruition in 1983 by a ten-person Consultative Group and a twenty-three person Advisory Panel, was a formative document in the history of Canadian legal education. My recollection of the release of the report is probably intensified because of the circumstances in which I experienced it the following year - a seminar room filled with cranky faculty members at the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario, as stony terrain as any venue one might have imagined for the reception of such a report. I was then a relatively junior untenured professor, hoping to build a scholarly record in the field of feminist legal history, who had unwittingly found myself in a law school in which most faculty were devoted to building its reputation as a professionally conservative, black letter law institution. Into such a milieu strode my former professor and mentor, Harry Arthurs, whose habit of describing Osgoode Hall Law School as the “best law school in the Commonwealth” had not particularly endeared him to the Western professoriate previously. I felt like a deer in the headlights, and my sense was that Harry Arthurs himself was very ill at ease in a room that exuded defensiveness and hostility, as well as both latent and overt anger.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document