Robert B. Kent, PhD, is Department Chair and the James H. Ring Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the California State University, Northridge, and Professor Emeritus of Geography and Planning at the University of Akron. Much of his research and publications have focused on the human geography of Latin America, especially the Andes and Central America, and on the evolving geography of Latin Americans in the United States. His areas of expertise include urban planning, regional development, cultural geography, and cartography. Dr. Kent has traveled, lived, and worked throughout Latin America, including nearly 3 years spent as an urban and regional planner in Peru for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He served as a consultant for USAID in Bolivia on numerous occasions. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan in San Juan, Argentina, and at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and also spent a year as a visiting scholar at the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón de la Plana, Spain. Dr. Kent is a recipient of the Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award from the Conference of Latin American Geographers (CLAG). He is a past chair of CLAG and is currently its treasurer and a member of its board of directors. He also has been a councilor and treasurer of the Association of American Geographers.