Darrick R. Danta e-mail: darrick.danta@csun.edu Office: Sierra Hall, Room 130-D Office phone number: (818) 677-3522

Office Hours	Crs	Class	Course Name	Rm	Day	Time
Tue & Th 10:00-11:00am	150	14339	World Geography	SH120	TR	1100-1215
Tue & Wed 1:00-3:00pm	318OL	17754	Europe	Online	ARR	Arrange
Or by appt	318OL	17755	Europe	Online	ARR	Arrange

 

Education

My education as a geographer has been long and varied and shows no sign of stopping. I was introduced to geography while attending high school in Woomera, South Australia in the early 70s, and was immediately drawn to aspects of geomorphology, especially chemical weathering processes. While a junior in college, central place theory and other sorts of location models caught my attention, causing me to plunge head first into urban and economic geography, and later quantitative analysis. While at Ohio State I became interested in more advanced analytical methods, such as the expansion method, regional economic development theory, population geography, especially migration, medical geography, political geography, and geographic thought. Along the way I got interested in Hungary, which quickly expanded to the rest of eastern Europe and eventually to all of Europe. I have now made 18 trips to Europe, some quite extensive, and have visited all countries on the continent. I also like languages, and as such have formally studied German, Hungarian, Italian, and Macedonian with plans to tackle Greek, Romanian, Albanian, etc. when time permits. I have found that everything I have studied--be it physical or human geography, the most basic facts of a place to abstract location models, the most fundamental writings on geography or what I've learned in related disciplines-- has been of benefit at one time or another.

My educational statistics are as follows:

Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1985.

Dissertation: Identifying Agglomerative/Deglomerative Trends in the Hungarian Urban System, 1870-1980. Emilio Casetti, Adviser; Larry Brown, Earl Brown, Randy Smith, and Morton O'Kelly, Readers.
Coursework: Quantitative Methods (Professors Casetti, Stetzer, and Cox); Urban Geography (Professors Cox and Smith); Population Geography (Professors Brown, Casetti, and Demko); Regional Economic Development (Professors Casetti and Brown); and Geographic Thought (Professors Gauthier, Taaffe, and Hagerstrand).

M.A., California State University, Northridge, 1981.

Thesis: Centrography of Planes, Perimeters, and Populations. Arnold Court, Adviser; James Allen and I-Shou Wang, Readers.

B.A., California State University, Northridge, 1977.

Professional Employment

I joined the faculty in the Department of Geography, California State University, Northridge in Fall, 1985 as an Assistant Professor. I was promoted to Associate in 1988, and made Professor in 1993. I also taught introductory physical geography at CSUN in 1979-81 while an M.A. student, and at Ohio State in 1980-81 and 82-85 while a Ph.D. student. I worked as a Research Assistant for Larry Brown 1981-82, was on leave for the year 1990-91, and got a sabbatical for Fall, 1994.

While at CSUN, I have taught many different courses. I mainly teach quantitative methods, urban geography, Europe, and current trends in geography. Additionally, I have taught introductory physical, economic geography, manufacturing, spatial analysis, proseminar, and research seminars. I have also supervised 11 master's theses on everything from toxic waste sites to the deaf community on campus to LA's jewelry district.

Research

As in education, my research interests have tended to follow more of a meandering course than a straight line. My first efforts at serious research were couched in quite formal, theoretical terms. During this time period I mainly investigated developing urban systems and aspects of regional economic development. I then became interested in understanding landscapes, particularly those produced under the operation of socialism. These days my interests have been consumed by the Balkans: their history, physical geography, development tendencies, and problems. My interest in the regional geography of southeast Europe has allowed me to bring all my education to bear; it has also allowed me to dovetail my longstanding personal concerns for human rights and ethics with academic research. In terms of publishing, I have moved from writing strict academic articles to what could be termed service work: mainly books and book chapters intended for classroom use.

My full list of publications is as follows:

Monographs

Currently working on an edited volume, with Derek Hall, on potential for future expansion of the EU into Eastern Europe.

Reconstructing the Balkans: A Geography of the New Southeast Europe, co-edited with Derek Hall, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

Regional Development Processes and Policies, co-edited with William H. Berentsen and Eta Daróczi. Volume II, Regional Research Reports, Centre for Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1989.

Book Chapters and Entries

Ten entries on the geography of Hungary to appear in the Encyclopedia of Modern East Europe 1815-1989 edited by Richard Frucht and to be published by Garland Publishing, Inc., in 1999.

Responsible for editing entries on Romania for the latest edition of the Lippencot Gazeteer of the World.

"Population," Chapter 3, pp. 77-109, "Urban Geography," Chapter 6, pp. 195-227 with William H. Berentsen, and "East Central and Southeastern Europe," Chapter 12, pp. 494-553 with William H. Berentsen and George W. Hoffman in Contemporary Europe: A Geographical Analysis, William H. Berentsen, Editor, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"The Balkans: Perceptions and Realities," Chapter 1, pp. 3-13, "Contemporary Balkan Questions: The Geographic and Historic Context," Chapter 2, pp. 15-32, "Reconstructing the Balkans: The Economic Horizon," Chapter 19, pp. 227-249, and "Forward into History," Chapter 20, pp. 251-256 with Derek Hall in Reconstructing the Balkans: A Geography of the New Southeast Europe, co-edited with Derek Hall, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

"Eastern Europe," Part II of Chapter 3 in Cities of the World, Stanley D. Brunn and Jack F. Williams, editors. HarperCollins College Publishers, 1993, pp. 131-149.

"Identifying Hierarchical Development Trends in the Hungarian Urban System using the Expansion Method," Chapter 10 in Applications of the Expansion Method, J.P. Jones, III and E. Casetti, editors, London and New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. 213- 228.

"Patterns of Deglomeration in the Hungarian Urban System, 1870-1980," in Regional Development Processes and Policies, William H. Berentsen, Darrick R. Danta, and Eta Daroczi, editors. Volume II, Regional Research Reports, Centre for Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1989, pp. 239-251.

Journal Articles

"Geografia în Statele Unite ale Americii" (Geography in the United States of America; in Romanian) Terra, Revist a Societ ii de Geografie din România, Volume 25, Number 1-4, 1993, pp. 110-113.

"Ceau escu's Bucharest" The Geographical Review, Volume 83, Number 2, 1993, pp. 170-182.

"Geography in Romania," (with Ioan Ianos), Association of American Geographers Newsletter, Vol. 28, No. 3, 1993, pp. 8-9.

"A Magyarországi Városok Növekedési Jellemz inek Vizsgálata" (Investigation into the Growth Patterns of Hungarian Cities; in Hungarian), Alföldi Tanulmányok, Volume 14, 1990-1991, pp. 89-103.

"Romania: View from the Front," Focus, Vol 47, No. 2, 1991, pp. 17-20.

"Hungarian Urbanization and Socialist Ideology," Urban Geography, Volume 8, Number 5, 1987, pp. 391-404.

"Identifying Urban Turnaround in Hungary," Urban Geography, Volume 8, Number 1, 1987, pp. 1-13.

"The Dynamics of the Hungarian Urban System: Empirical Analyses using the Expansion Method," (with Emilio Casetti) Modeling and Simulation, Volume 16, Part 1, 1985, pp. 361-365.

"Modeling Urban Growth Dynamics," Modeling and Simulation, Volume 15, Part 1, 1984, pp. 345-349.

"Urban Systems Development and Regional Policy in Hungary," Modeling and Simulation, Volume 14, Part 3, 1983 pp. 727-731.

"The Impact of Government Investment on Hungarian Population Redistribution," Modeling and Simulation, Volume 13, Part 3, 1982, pp. 1027-1031.

Book Reviews and Commentaries

Reviewed Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, Paul Robert Magocsi, in Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Volume 18, Numbers 3/4, 1994, pp. 377-378.

Reviewed Trials of Transition: Economic Reform in the Former Communist Bloc, Michael Keren and Gur Ofer, editors, in Growth and Change, Volume 25, Number 4, 1994, pp. 517-519.

Reviewed Environmental Problems in Eastern Europe, F.W. Carter and D. Turnock, editors, in Growth and Change, Volume 25, Number 3, 1994, pp. 393-396.

Reviewed New Perspectives in Hungarian Geography, A. Kertesz and Z. Kovács, editors, in Environment and Planning A, Volume 26, Number 9, 1994, p. 1479.

Reviewed Sustainable Development and Urban Form, M.J. Breheny, editor, in Geographical Analysis, Volume 26, Number 1, 1994, pp. 90-92.

Reviewed Meaning and Geography: The Social Conception of the Region in Northern Greece, Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos and Karin Boklund-Lagopoulou, in The Geographical Review, Volume 84, Number 1, 1994, pp. 111-113.

Reviewed Tourism and Economic Development in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Derek R. Hall, editor, in Annals, Association of American Geographers, Vol. 82, No. 4, 1992, pp. 711-713.

Reviewed Cities and Caliphs: On the Genesis of Arab Muslim Urbanism, by Nezar Alsayyad, in Historical Geography Newsletter, Volume 21, Number 2, 1992, p. 20.

Reviewed Roman Corinth: An Alternative Model for the Classical City, by Donald Engles, in Historical Geography Newsletter, Volume 21, Number 2, 1992, pp. 19-20.

Reviewed Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820-1939, by John R. Stilgoe, in Historical Geography Newsletter, Volume 20, Number 2, 1990, pp. 26-27.

Reviewed Elementary Statistics for Geographers, by Gerald M. Barber, in Journal of Geography, Volume 88, Number 3, 1989, pp. 109-110.

Reviewed Lazarus Secretarius: The First Hungarian Mapmaker and his Work, Lajos Stegena, editor, in Historical Geography Newsletter, Volume 17, Number 2, 1987, p. 13.

Reviewed Castle and Society in Medieval Hungary (1000-1437), by Erik Fugedi, in Historical Geography Newsletter, Volume 17, Number 2, 1987, pp. 13-14.

"A Comment on 'Shape Indices,'" The Professional Geographer, Volume 39, Number 2, 1987, pp. 199-200.

Reviewed An Economic Geography of Hungary, Tivadar Bernat, editor, in Annals of Regional Science, Volume 21, Number 2, 1987, pp. 155-156.

Presentations

"Berlin: Walls to Malls," paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Flagstaff, Arizona, October 1998.

"Geographic Background to Conflicts in Southeastern Europe," paper presented at the International Conference on the Past, Future, & Applications of Human Geography, Xi'an Foreign Languages University, Xi'an, China, 23-25 June 1997.

"Macedonia in Transition," paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers, Ft. Worth, TX, April, 1997.

"Macedonia: Europe's Oldest and Newest Country," paper presented at the Omega (CSUN) Chapter of Phi Beta Delta, November, 1996.

"Geographic Background to Balkan Conflicts," paper presented at the Granada Hills Rotary Club, May, 1996.

"Understanding Balkan Conflicts," paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago, IL, March 1995.

"Germany After the Fall," paper presented at the CSUN Geography Council, March, 1995.

"Ethno-Territorial vs. Geo-Economic Factors in Balkan Conflicts," paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Institute of British Geographers, Nottingham, England, January, 1994.

Social Studies Section, "Eastern Europe," presented at the 1993 California Academic Decathlon Coaches' Workshop, August, 1993.

"The Balkans in Perspective," paper presented at the Los Angeles Geographical Society, June, 1993.

"Geographic Perspectives on the Bosnian Conflict," paper presented at the Department of Geography, California State University, Northridge, May, 1993.

"Romania in Transition," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, April, 1993.

"Romanian Urban Planning under Ceaususcu," paper presented at a Colloquium in the Department of Geography, UCLA, October, 1992.

"Whither the Balkans?," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, April, 1992.

"Hungarian Cities and People," paper presented at the Los Angeles Geographical Society, June, 1989.

"Housing in Budapest," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, March, 1989.

"Investigating Growth Dynamics of the Hungarian Urban System," paper presented at the Sigma Xi, CSUN, October, 1988.

"Planning Perspectives in Dunaujvaros," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, April, 1988.

"The Hungarian Socialist Cities," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, April, 1987.

"Budapest and the Development of Hungarian Cities: 1870-1980," paper presented at the American-Hungarian Educators Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, May, 1986.

"Hungarian Urbanization and Socialist Ideology," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May, 1986.

"Patterns of Deglomeration in the Hungarian Urban System, 1870-1980," paper presented at the Joint U.S.-Hungarian Conference on New Strategies for Regional Development Planning in the Developed World, Pecs, Hungary, September, 1985.

"Patterns of Population Concentration in New York's Urban System Since 1860," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, April, 1985.

"The Dynamics of the Hungarian Urban System: Empirical Analyses using the Expansion Method," paper presented at the 16th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Modeling and Simulation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 1985.

"Measuring Spatial Concentration," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., April, 1984.

"Modeling Urban Growth Dynamics," paper presented at the 15th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Modeling and Simulation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 1984.

"Recent Demographic Trends in Hungarian Cities," paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, April, 1983.

"Urban Systems Development and Regional Policy in Hungary," paper presented at the 14th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Modeling and Simulation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 1983.

"Catastrophe Theory in Geography: Concepts, Criticisms, Applications and Potentials," paper presented at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers Annual Meeting, Long Beach, California, June, 1982.

"The Impact of Government Investment on Hungarian Population Redistribution," paper presented at the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Modeling and Simulation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 1982.

"Migration in a Growth Context: The Role of Regional Disparities," paper presented at the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Conference of Modeling and Simulation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April, 1982.

"The Graduated Chorodot Map," paper presented at the Western Social Science Association Annual Meeting, Incline Valley, Nevada, April, 1981.

"The Equicenter: A Method for Locating the Center of an Area," paper presented at the Western Social Science Association Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, April, 1978.

Additional Professional Activity

Member of:

• American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
• American Geographical Society
• Association of American Geographers
• Association of Pacific Coast Geographers
• Institute of British Geographers
• Los Angeles Geographical Society
• National Geographic Society

Offices Held:

• Association of Pacific Coast Geographers: Yearbook editor, 1997-present.
• Editorial Board (Romania), Columbia Gazetteer of the World.
• Association of American Geographers: Executive Committee, Soviet and East European Specialty Group, 1985-86; Associate Editor, Newsletter, Soviet and East European Specialty Group, 1985-1990; Editor, 1990-1993.
• Hungarian Academy of Sciences: Editorial Board, Regional Research Reports, Centre for Regional Studies, Budapest, Hungary, 1987-1992.
• Los Angeles Geographical Society: Executive Committee, 1987-88; 1992-1994.

Involvement in the University

Over the years I have served on many Departmental Committees, including Curriculum, Student Affairs, Library, Graduate, and Personnel, and have been active in the Department's Geography Council. I have also served on the College Academic Planning Committee, and the University Alumni, Continuing Education, and Research and Grants Committee. While seeing the need to participate in faculty governance and do committee work, I have generally avoided too much involvement in University goings-on.

The Association of Pacific Coast Geographers Yearbook

I am the editor of the APCG Yearbook, a duty that I take seriously and with great pride. My goal is produce the best geographic scholarship the Association has to offer. As such, I solicit papers on geographic topics presented at the annual meetings, or that would be of interest to Yearbook readership. I am particularly interested in publishing papers that are well written, present research findings in a clear, logical manner, and that contribute to a better understanding of the geography of the region covered by the APCG.

A Final Note

In this profile, I've tried to give you a run-down of not only my professional/academic achievements, but also a sense of who I am and how I got here. Such a statement would not be complete without mention of my developing spirituality.

I was not raised within any sort of religious belief system; indeed, for most of my life I viewed churches specifically, and religion generally, to be rather harmful. Until my late 30s I would have classified myself as being somewhere between agnostic and atheist on the faith scale.

However, several events--including contact with a long estranged brother (who was in the process of dying), involvement in certain programs, experiencing various significant "coincidences," going through some rather difficult situations, and meeting some interesting individuals--have caused a change of heart. Christianity is now a big part of my life: I enjoy learning the word and engaging in an active relationship with God.

Some may find belief in God incompatible with the pursuit of science. I do not. If I want to know how a particular landform was produced, or why people in a remote Macedonian village speak Vlach, or what the development tendencies of an urban system are, I use scientific methods. If I want to understand the meaning of life or how to live better, I turn to spiritual methods. Consider this: Scriptures consist of 66 books written by 40 authors over a 1,500 year period; and they are internally consistent! Not a bad piece of scholarship.