CITIDEP - Research Center on Information Technologies and Participatory Democracy
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CITIDEP NEWS - 15 December 1999
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Summary:

new members

Dear colleagues and friends,

CITIDEP Executive Committee approved recently the following new members:

Jorge Edison Ribeiro (Brasil Chapter), Jose' Guilherme Borges (Portugal Chapter), Lucie Laurian (USA and France Chapter), Rachelle Tayag (France and USA Chapter), Melvin King (USA Chapter).

Jorge Edison is the Director of the International Office at the State University of Londrina, Brasil. Professor Associado and former Head of the Dept. of Physiology Sciences, he is also the Director of a citizen participation program of this University and the Coordinator of the Central Commission on the Univ. Computer Systems (MIS). He holds a MD and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Imperial College, London. Jorge presented a paper at ICPPIT99 and is a member of the ICPPIT Task Force.

Jose' Guilherme Borges is Auxiliar Professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, in Economy and Management of Forestry Resources. Born in the USA, he is also a Portuguese national. Jose' Guilherme has followed CITIDEP activities in Portugal, given his strong concerns to link natural resource management with public participation. He recently organized an International Seminar in his area.

Lucie Laurian is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of City and Regional Planning and at the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also holds a DEA in Sociology, U. Paris V and a DESS of Expert Demographer at the Institut de Demographie de l'Universite de Paris I. Lucie presented a paper at ICPPIT99 and is a member of the ICPPIT Task Force. Recently, she presented a first draft for the CITIDEP Project on the use of Information Technologies by Grassroots groups, which will soon be reviewed by SEEDCO for potential funding.

Rachelle Tayag was until very recently a Consultant for the Education Sector at UNESCO (Paris, France). Rachelle holds a Masters in City Planning, from MIT (concentrated in International Development with emphasis in Industrialization, Technology, and Policies) and a BS in Political Science from the Suffolk University. UNESCO has proposed Rachelle to take charge of its web site on the UNESCO Observatory of Information Society. Rachelle is now leading the CITIDEP Task Force for our Web Journal, in collaboration with Valerie Aillaud and Chantal Benoit-Barne', and leading a corresponding fund raising effort.

Melvin King is Senior Lecturer Emeritus at MIT, Urban Studies and Planning Dept., and the founder and Head of the Community Fellows Program, a prestiged MIT "action-and-research" unit directed to youth and low-income communities. Mel was awarded Honorary Doctorates in Public Administration from The New England School of Law; Education From Wheelock College; Public Administration University of Massachusetts at Amherst May. He was several years Representative to the Massachusetts State Legislature, where he served on the Education, Health Care, and Natural Resources Committees, and the head of many city-wide programs. Mel presented a paper at ICPPIT99 and is a member of ICPPIT Task Force.

We want to express our warmest welcome to our new colleagues. We believe that by their quality and commitment to similar values and interests, they have much to contribute to CITIDEP.

We know that Mel prefers to be presented like any other member :), but we believe that there is nothing wrong in acknowledging the special wisdom we feel he brings with him, from his many years of experience as a university professor, teacher, community organizer, activist, political innovator, author, and spokesperson for both individual and community empowerment.

All members are encouraged to send at any time a version of their CVs for web publication, and may have assigned individual web pages if it is their wish. Otherwise, CITIDEP will only publish a brief profile ("business cards"), as usual. The list of brief "business cards", including email directory, was updated on CITIDEP internal web directory. We remind all colleagues to keep us informed on any needed rectification's or updates. Thank you.

All the best,

CITIDEP Executive Committee:

Pedro Ferraz de Abreu
Rui Ponte
Nuno Vieira
Ana Teresa Chinita
Cristina Angelo

http://www.citidep.pt/eindex.html

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