Meric Slover Gertler is a Canadian academic, who is the 16th and current president of

the University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

since 2013. Previously, he served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the university from 2008 to 2013. Gertler is an urban theorist and geographer.

Life and career

Gertler was born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, and grew up in several cities in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

. Gertler completed his undergraduate education at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1977. He received a

Master of City Planning Urban planning education is a practice of teaching and learning urban theory, studies, and professional practices. The interaction between public officials, professional planners and the public involves a continuous education on planning process. ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1979 and a

Doctorate of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1983. His dissertation was entitled ''Capital Dynamics and Regional Development.'' Gertler joined the University of Toronto Department of

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

and Planning as a lecturer in 1983. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1988 and full Professor in 1993, at which point he also received tenure. Gertler's work focuses on the geography of innovative activity and the economies of city-regions. His work also examines the local nature of a globalized economy, focusing on manufacturing as embedded within local cultural norms, practice, and assumptions. Gertler's work examines the role of

tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...

and interactive learning in explaining local agglomeration economies and innovation. Gertler is the author, co-author or co-editor of more than 80 scholarly publications and seven books. These have had significant impact in his field and have led him to be one of Canada's most highly cited geographers. Gertler has served as an advisor to local, regional and national governments in Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as to international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union. He was the founding co-director of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the

Munk School of Global Affairs The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre with various research and educational programs committed to the field of globalization. Located in Toronto, Ontario, it offers ...

, served as director of the Department of Geography's Program in Planning and holds the Goldring Chair in Canadian Studies. Gertler has held visiting appointments at institutions including the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

Awards and honours

Gertler has also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 2003. He received the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the

and the 2014 Distinguished Scholarship Honor from the

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Th ...

(AAG). In May 2012, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Sweden's

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Academy of Social Sciences (UK), becoming the first

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

scholar inducted and one of only two Canadian members of the Academy. He has been a Senior Fellow of the University of Toronto's

Massey College Massey College is a graduate residential college at the University of Toronto that was established, built and partially endowed in 1962 by the Massey Foundation and officially opened in 1963, though women were not admitted until 1974. It was mo ...

since 2000. A textbook co-edited by Gertler, the Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography received the Choice Magazine's "Outstanding Academic Book" award. He won the 2007 Award for Scholarly Distinction from the Canadian Association of Geographers. In December 2015, Gertler was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

with the grade of member. He was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2015. In March 2016, Gertler made the decision not to divest the University of Toronto from fossil fuels, which prompted a negative reaction from some students and faculty members.

References

External links

New U of T President Son of Holocaust Survivor

President’s Welcome

Selected publications

*Gertler, M. S. 2004. Manufacturing Culture: the Institutional Geography of Industrial Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Gertler, M. S. 2003. A cultural economic geography of production: are we learning by doing? In The Handbook of Cultural Geography, eds. K. Anderson, M. Domosh, S. Pile and N. Thrift, 131-146. London: Sage. *Gertler, M. S. and D.A. Wolfe, eds. 2002. Innovation and Social Learning: Institutional Adaptation in an Era of Technological Change. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan/Palgrave. *Rutherford, T. D. and M. S. Gertler. 2002. Labour in ‘lean’ times: geography, scale and the national trajectories of workplace change. Transactions, Institute of British Geographers NS27: 1-18. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gertler, Meric Presidents of the University of Toronto University of Toronto faculty Economic geographers Urban theorists Harvard University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences Living people Members of the Order of Canada McMaster University alumni Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Year of birth missing (living people)