Allenna Leonard is an American
cyberneticist
A cyberneticist or a cybernetician is a person who practices cybernetics.
Heinz von Foerster once told Stuart Umpleby that Norbert Wiener preferred the term "cybernetician" rather than "cyberneticist", perhaps because Wiener was a mathematician ...
,
consultant and director of Team Syntegrity International, specializing in the application of
Stafford Beer
Anthony Stafford Beer (25 September 1926 – 23 August 2002) was a British theorist, consultant and professor at the Manchester Business School. He is best known for his work in the fields of operational research and management cybernetics.
...
's
Viable System Model
The viable system model (VSM) is a model of the organizational structure of any autonomous system capable of producing itself. A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in the changing environment. On ...
and
Syntegration. She was president of the
International Society for the Systems Sciences
The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is a worldwide organization for systems sciences. The overall purpose of the ISSS is:
:"to promote the development of conceptual frameworks based on general system theory, as well as their ...
in 2009–2010, and led the organization of its 54th annual meeting in Waterloo, Canada.
Biography
She received a B.A. Classic liberal arts curriculum from the
St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, a M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
in Washington D.C. and a Ph.D. from the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, in administration with a concentration in
cybernetics.
[Leonard's personal web page at Staffordian Syntegration](_blank)
Accessed 31 Oct 2008.
Leonard is consultant under auspices of The Complementary Set, especially applications of the
Viable System Model
The viable system model (VSM) is a model of the organizational structure of any autonomous system capable of producing itself. A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in the changing environment. On ...
, a part-time University Teacher, Licensee T.S.I. and a representative of Cwarel Isaf Institute.
Currently she is Director of Team Syntegrity Inc. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was president of the
American Society for Cybernetics
The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) is an American non-profit scholastic organization for the advancement of cybernetics as a science , a discipline, a meta-discipline and the promotion of cybernetics as basis for an interdisciplinary di ...
from 2002 to 2004, and was elected president for 2009–2010 of the
International Society for the Systems Sciences
The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is a worldwide organization for systems sciences. The overall purpose of the ISSS is:
:"to promote the development of conceptual frameworks based on general system theory, as well as their ...
.
Board of Directors
at isss.org. Accessed 3 Nov 2008.
Allenna Leonard was Stafford Beer’s partner in life and in work from 1981 until his death in 2002. She states on her web page that she is committed to continuing to use and publicize his work, and that her special interest is using Syntegration as a forum for democratic dialogue, especially on issues of public importance.
See also
* Variety (cybernetics)
In cybernetics, the term variety denotes the total number of distinguishable elements of a set, most often the set of states, inputs, or outputs of a finite-state machine or transformation, or the binary logarithm of the same quantity. Variet ...
* Viable System Model
The viable system model (VSM) is a model of the organizational structure of any autonomous system capable of producing itself. A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in the changing environment. On ...
Publications
Allenna Leonard has published several works on cybernetics and the work of Stafford Beer
Anthony Stafford Beer (25 September 1926 – 23 August 2002) was a British theorist, consultant and professor at the Manchester Business School. He is best known for his work in the fields of operational research and management cybernetics.
...
. A selection:
*
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*
Articles and papers, a selection:
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References
External links
*
Biography
at University of Hull.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Allenna
American systems scientists
Living people
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) alumni
George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development alumni
Women systems scientists
Women cyberneticists
Presidents of the International Society for the Systems Sciences