Title: Geography Professor (Retired)
Company: San Diego State University
Location: San Diego, California, United States
Philip R. Pryde, PhD, a retired geography professor, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in the field of education, as well as in his community.
Having accrued more than three decades of expertise in his chosen field, Dr. Pryde contributed much in his position as a professor of geography at San Diego State University. He joined the faculty in 1969 and remained active in this capacity until he retired in 2001. During this time, he taught courses on environmental policy, with a particular focus on water and energy resources, land use planning and environmental impact analysis. His main research and publication efforts were on environmental problems in the USSR, and he published three books on this topic.
Since retiring, Dr. Pryde has maintained his involvement with a number of nonprofit environmental organizations, including the Anza-Borrego Foundation, which is the primary support group for the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. He is likewise active with the San Diego River Park Foundation, having joined their board of trustees in 2014. Previous board directorships include his service with the San Dieguito River Valley Regional Park Joint Powers Authority between 1989 and 2008, the San Diego County Water Authority from 1985 to 1991 and the San Diego Audubon Society from 1980 until 2014. During his affiliation with the San Diego Audubon Society, he was responsible for adding several hundred acres to the Silverwood Wildlife Sanctuary. Earlier, he served on the San Diego County Planning Commission for six years, and was its Chair in 1979.
He received proclamations commending his work in regional environmental advocacy from the San Diego City Council in 2018, the California State Senate in 2013 and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in 2000. Furthermore, in 2018, Dr. Pryde was chosen as the National Environmental Hero of the Year by Cox Communications and the Trust for Public Land during an annual competition for that award.
Dr. Pryde’s career accomplishments were born of his academic journey, which began at Amherst College, from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1959. Following three years in the U.S. Army Security Agency in Germany, he entered graduate school and received a Master of Arts from the University of Washington in 1965 and a Doctor of Philosophy 1969. Throughout the course of his subsequent career, Dr. Pryde contributed more than 100 book chapters, reviews, and professional articles in peer-reviewed journals. Among his published books were “Conservation in the Soviet Union” in 1972 and “San Diego: An Introduction to the Region,” the 5th edition of which was published in 2014. Based on his research regarding the Soviet Union, he was selected as a delegate for the exchanges between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1978, which were a part of the 1972 US/USSR Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection.
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