Schwarz, David (1936-2019)
Date Updated
8-8-2019
Department
Geography/ College of Social Sciences
Academic Rank
Professor/Associate Dean
Year Retired from SJSU
2001
Facebook or Website URL
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000126114791
Educational Background
University of Kansas, 1975 Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University, 1965
Eastern Illinois University, 1963 B.A.
Teaching Experience
San Jose State University, 1971-2001
United States Air Force Academy, 1980-1982
Administrative and Professional Experience
Chair, Geography and Environmental Studies Department, SJSU
Associate Dean, College of Social Sciences, SJSU
Selected Publications
Lewis, A., D. Schwarz, W. Branson, P. Welgan, J. Jones, J. Schoonmaker, R. Ryerson and F. Henderson, Chapter 17 (Radar Education, Data Sources and Data Collection), "Principles and Applications of Imaging Radar: Manual of Remote Sensing," Third Edition, vol. 2, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 1997, pp. 779-811.
Holstrom, M. and D. Schwarz, "Errors in the Perceived Location and Character of San Jose, California," Bulletin of Pacific Coast Geographers, vol. 54, 1992, pp. 97-109.
Schwarz, D., Remote Sensing: A Brief Introduction to Sensors, Platforms and Techniques, "The Surveilant Science: Remote Sensing and the Environment," R. Holz, ed., Wiley, 1985, pp.53-64.
Schwarz, D. and R. Ellefsen, Field Site Selection, "Field Study for Remote Sensing," W. Wake and G. Hull, eds., NASA Conference Publication 2155, 1981, pp. 29-33.
Schwarz, D. and R. Raburn, National Science Foundation Grant PFR-7823097, "An Analytical Technique for Establishing Emergency Services Planning Policy: Effects of Building Characteristics on Forecasts of Seismically-Induced Route Blockages," 1980, 78 pp.
Schwarz, D., F. Henderson and M. Romanov, "Photo-Atlas of the United States," Ward-Ritchie Press, 1975, 127 pp.
Schwarz, D. and F. Caspall, "The Use of Radar in the Discrimination and Identification of Agricultural Land Use," Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium of Remote Sensing of the Environment, ERIM, Ann Arbor, MI, 1968, pp. 233-248.
Files
Personal Commentary
As summer began in 1995, I offered to help Adnan Daoud in the College of Social Sciences office for a few weeks while Dean Jim Walsh filled in as Provost until Linda Bain arrived. But when Jim chose to retire, those few weeks became six years as Associate Dean. I had not expected to like administration, but those were among my happiest years at SJSU, which was doubtless due to the very good and capable people in the college and departmental offices. My enjoyment was certainly a dramatic contrast to my least pleasant years just completed as Chair of an unhappily merged Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. That combination of programs remains logical and desirable to me, but I regret that I was unable to make it work.
My greatest service to my Geography colleagues may have come a few years earlier, when I managed to leave the department for a couple of years in an era when social science faculty lay-offs were threatened. I accepted an offer to be a visiting professor at the Air Force Academy for two years. As a former enlisted man in the army, it was most enjoyable being treated like a colonel. The threat of faculty lay-offs continued for several years after my return to SJSU, during which time several of us continued to relieve this pressure and also to fortify the number of doctorates in the Business School by teaching business statistics. I think I did quite well for one with no formal training in either business or statistics.
My service on at least a dozen University-level committees was interesting and informative, beginning with the Campus Planning Committee as a junior faculty member. There I learned of the dreams for the future campus--ever-changing but mostly not to materialize, such as the Social Science Building. Later committees proved to be equally interesting but more work, including BOGS where the GEAP that I chaired surprised many by agreeing on the initial Critical Thinking guidelines, the Board of Academic Freedom and Professional Responsibility where we learned of faculty indiscretions, and Admissions and Standards where we made recommendations regarding often plaintive pleas for re-admission by disqualified students.
In 2004, after three years of retirement during which I taught a course most semesters, the sudden departure of another Dean caused Tim Hegstrom to ask me to fill in for a year as Associate Dean. I was pleased to help but happy to retire again in 2005.
Date Completed: 2009