Preface

This is a festschrift including nine scientific papers and six abstracts of papers written by Dr. Gerard Rushton or his former graduate students and colleagues to celebrate his retirement from teaching at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA. The festschrift begins with Rushton’s own review of his research advances in Behavioral Geography, Economic Geography and Health Geography that coincide with three recurring phases of his academic career during 45 years of teaching at the University of Iowa. Following this, each paper by a former student or colleague reviews the special personal and academic contributions of Rushton to him or her in one of those research areas. Each paper then proceeds to review the author’s (or authors’) contributions to scientific theory and empirical analysis that he or she (or they) has(ve) subsequently advanced or evolved from Rushton’s original contributions. These papers are scientific contributions of interest to an academic readership, as opposed to personal or anecdotal recollections.