Jim Dator

James Allen (Jim) Dator is Professor, and Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa. He received his BA from Stetson University where he graduated magna cum laude. Seven years after that he received his PhD from American University.

His major areas of specialization include:

• Political futures studies (especially the forecasting and design of new political institutions, and the futures of law, education, and technology)
• Space and society, especially the design of governance systems for space settlements
• The political-economic futures of North America, the Pacific Island region, and East Asia, especially Japan and South Korea
• Media production and the politics of media-- video, radio, and multimedia production and the effects of these media on political and other human relations and consciousness

He is also:

• Co-Director, Space & Society Department International Space University, Strasbourg, France.
• Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the World Academy of Art & Science,
• Secretary General/President of the World Futures Studies Federation, 1983-93.

In the 1970s, while teaching at the University of Toronto, Dator was hired by Canadian educational television network TVOntario, to work on educational programming related to futurism. As part of his duties he filmed educational introductions and conclusions for Jon Pertwee-era episodes of Doctor Who aired by the channel.^[1]

References

1. "That time when Doctor Who educated Ontario" by Ed Conroy, BlogTO (September 3, 2012)

External links

• Homepage at the University of Hawaii
• Why Futures Studies: An Interview with Jim Dator
• TVOntario Dr. Jim Dator 1977, extro to an episode of the Doctor Who story "Planet of the Spiders"
• TVOntario Jim Dator Farewell 1977 Dator's final Doctor Who extro.