Professor Donald Janelle has been selected to receive the Ronald F. Abler Honors for Distinguished Service of the Association of American Geographers for 2009. AAG Honors are given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the advancement or welfare of the profession in five categories: Lifetime Career, Distinguished Scholarship, Distinguished Teaching, Distinguished Service, and Geography Education. No more than one award is made in each category, and no more than six individuals may be recommended for AAG Honors in a single year.
To quote from Don’s Distinguished Service Honors Citation: “Professor Donald G. Janelle is awarded the Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Honors in recognition of his superlative record of dedicated involvement and service to geography through a wide variety of capacities. Dr. Janelle currently holds posts as Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario and Director of the Center for Spatially Integrated social Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has served in many elected leadership roles of prominent geographic organizations, including Councilor to the AAG, Chair of the East Lakes Division AAG, Board of Directors of the International Geographical Congress, and Councilor at Large to the Canadian Regional Science Association. He served as editor of The Canadian Geographer and on the editorial boards of the Annals of the AAG, the East Lakes Geographer, The Professional Geographer, and The Canadian Journal of Regional Science.
Professor Janelle has helped to organize several major conferences and symposia, including the national AAG meeting in Detroit (1985) and the combined annual meeting of the Ontario Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers and the East Lakes Division AAG (1980). Professor Janelle has chaired, co-chaired, or participated on numerous AAG committees and initiatives, including the Centennial Coordinating Committee, Honors Committee, Ad Hoc Centennial Planning Committee, and Publications Committee. In addition, Professor Janelle has served on several other key committees, including the Publications Committee of the International Geographical Congress, the Adjudication Committee of the Canada-United States Fulbright Program, and the Executive Committee of the Canadian Association of Geographers.
At the University of Western Ontario, he served as Assistant Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and as Chair of the Geography Department. Dr. Janelle has previously received the Edward L. Ullman Award for Outstanding Career Contributions to Transportation Geography from the AAG in 2000, and Outstanding Service Awards from the East Lakes Division of the AAG in 1985 and 1989. We thank and honor him for this exemplary record of service.”
Don will accept his Honors at the AAG Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on March 27, 2009 at the AAG Annual Conference in Las Vegas. For more about Professor Janelle’s distinguished career, see his web site.
