Journal of Latin American Geography

Gary Elbow, Professor of Geography at Texas Tech University, is the meritorious recipient of the 2003 Preston James Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award. I believe what most distinguishes Dr. Elbow as a Latin Americanist is the number of areas in which he has made a notable contribution. He has served the CLAG organization in a number of ways, he has published widely in a number of geographical journals and in interdisciplinary publications. He has worked for the U. S. government in Latin America, he has taught in Latin America, and he has been thoroughly involved in geography education, especially as it pertains to Latin America. Few of us have participated so broadly in furthering knowledge of Latin America and in helping to educate Latin Americans.

Let me begin with his efforts for our organization, because I believe he would be in anyone's "top ten" list of key figures who have helped CLAG survive and prosper. Outside of being Executive Secretary, and we've only had three of those, he has done about as much as one can do. He has given papers at our meetings, published Proceedings and as coeditor of the 1980 Benchmark Proceedings volume. Additionally he edited one of CLAG's special publications (No. 3) on Future Directions in Latin Americanist Geography: Research Agendas for the Nineties and Beyond in 1992. He has also been a leader in our conference, having served a total of nine years on the Board of Directors, been elected vice-chair for the 1976-78 term, and chair for the 1978-80 term. His work for the good of CLAG spans better than a quarter century. And in a related vein, he labored as chair of the AAG's Latin American Specialty group from 1979-1982.

Gary Elbow's professorial life began when he established himself in Lubbock in 1970. He already had some publications in his pocket from the mid-1960s that resulted from his masters work in Colombia while a student at the University of Oregon. After a stint with the USIA in Guatemala in the late 1960s he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh where his dissertation, completed in 1972, examined spatial organization in three towns in highland Guatemala. Thereafter his Latin American research focused on Central America, the Caribbean and Ecuador. His published efforts have appeared in a [End Page 132] variety of journals, including the Professional Geographer, the Journal of Cultural Geography, and, as noted, CLAG's own Proceedings. He has also contributed chapters to various books, most notably the chapters on Central America in the last edition of West and Augelli's Middle America volume. His interests in Latin America have been relatively wide-ranging, from urban concerns in Guatemala to political boundary issues involving Ecuador and Peru to economic integration in the Caribbean to something as esoteric as the "Depiction of Climate in the Works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez." He participated early on in the new wave of gender-related work in Latin America with a 1982 article that examined "Participation by Women in Guatemalan Cooperatives." He has also exhibited a continual concern with the education side of the professoriat, and has several published efforts in educational journals.

At Texas Tech he has served as the Director of the Latin American Area Studies Program as well as Director of the Center for Applied International Development Stuidies. His teaching forays in Latin America have taken him most notably to CEPEIGE in Ecuador where he has taught the intensive summer course to graduate level students from various corners of the hemisphere in 1988, 1990 and 1992. He also offered courses in Quito at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and this past summer he served as a visiting professor at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán in Tegucigalpa.

Professor Elbow has prepared numerous instructional materials on Latin America for the pre-college level and has been active in the National Council for Geographic Education. His contributions include published teaching materials in their Journal of Geography, many of them relating to Latin America.

In sum, I believe Gary Elbow has covered a lot of ground as a Latin Americanist, contributed in far-ranging ways to the educational mission most of us pursue, and most especially as a recipient of a CLAG Preston James Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award, few could be more deserving, for those of us who were around in the 70s and 80s know that no one labored harder than Gary for the success of our organization. I am most pleased to present him this award this evening.