Advancement of Knowledge: A Journey through Space and Time

Presumably, advancement of knowledge is a primary goal of virtually all “academic” scholars, whether from universities, government agencies, or elsewhere. Likewise, a primary function of academic organizations, such as the Southern Regional Science Association and Regional Science Association International, is to enable scholarly interaction that supports this goal of advancing knowledge. This paper focuses on two important aspects of advancement of knowledge as they relate to the regional science community and its scholarly organizations. The first, interdisciplinary interaction, has always been a key attraction to regional science, but a characteristic that has weakened in recent times. Especially given the nature of many issues studied in regional science, it is important to recommit to expanding the interdisciplinary reach of the discipline. The second, mentoring and supporting development of scholars, especially young scholars, continues to be a strength of the regional science discipline. We must make sure that this characteristic gets passed on to future generations of regional science scholars.