SANTA MONICA, CA, June 13, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to name Dr. John A. Agnew a Lifetime Achiever. An accomplished listee, Dr. Agnew celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Agnew is a distinguished professor of geography at UCLA, perhaps most well known for tackling the sometimes controversial subject of geopolitics, which examines the role of natural features in international politics. He posits that complex interactions between nations can be better understood by examining classic philosophical distinctions and historical boundaries. Dr. Agnew is a prolific author on the subject, having published numerous papers and books, and is also the current editor-in-chief of Territory, Politics and Governance.
Dr. Agnew was born in Millom, a town in the U.K. on the Cumbrian coast of England very near the Isle of Man and on the opposite coast from Northern Ireland. He earned a bachelor's degree with honors in geography and politics from the University of Exeter and was certified to teach by the University of Liverpool. In 1971, he moved to the U.S. to earn a master's degree and a Ph.D. in geography from Ohio State University, which he put to use teaching at Syracuse University. It was at this time that he published such works as "Place and Politics," which established some of the key concepts that reinvigorated the subject of political geography.
Dr. Agnew stayed in New York until 1996, upon which he transferred to UCLA, where he currently teaches courses on the political geography of Italy and the Mediterranean world. Dr. Agnew's research frequently involves this region, though in later years he has turned his attention to the U.S. involvement with the Middle East and Asia. His notable work includes "Globalization and Sovereignty" in 2009 and "Hegemony: The New Shape of Global Power" in 2005, both of which won the Choice Outstanding Academic Title award in their respective years. Dr. Agnew also served as international professor of political geography at Queens University in Belfast, U.K., and as a visiting professor with multiple universities across the world. In addition, he served as chair of the global studies program and the department of geography at UCLA, and has been an Italian professor there since 2011.
One of the ideas Dr. Agnew is most known for is the classical distinction between "place" and "space." In both "Place and Politcs" and "Space and Place," he distinguishes a "place" as having location, shape, and personal attachments that create a sense of identity and rank, whereas a "space" is simply an area that can be occupied by objects. This is particularly applicable in his 2012 paper, "Is U.S. Security Policy Pivoting from the Atlantic to Asia-Pacific?" where he suggests that China bears the continuing identity and rank of victimization and humiliation stretching back over a hundred years. He writes, "The surprise that China, long viewed as backward... should have become such an important global actor... makes it a ready candidate for wild speculation uninformed by local knowledge." He further claims this identity of place influences the international relations of the entire region despite many other actors within the Asian Pacific "space." Dr. Agnew also acknowledges that such concepts can be mercurial, and, in "Of Canons and Fanons," describes geography as facing a dilemma with "the tendency to lurch from one intellectual fashion to another without much attention to what came before."
Dr. Agnew's insights have been celebrated with an award from the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship toward his work on the European origins of the modern state. He was named Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar from 2012 to 2013, and received the 2007 UCLA Award in Distinguished Teaching. He became the president of the Association of American Geographers from 2008 to 2009 after receiving the Distinguished Scholarship Award from them in 2006. His service at Syracuse University did not go unremarked either; he won the 1996 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Scholarship as well as the 1995 Wasserstrom Award for Graduate Teaching. Dr. Agnew is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Geographical Society, as well as a member of the British School at Rome, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Regional Studies Association, the American Political Science Association, and the Council of European Studies.
Dr. Agnew was selected for inclusion in numerous volumes of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in the West, and Who's Who in the World, as well as the 1993-1994 volume of Who's Who in the East. He enjoys travel, reading, rugby, and soccer.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Agnew has been featured on the Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievers website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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