Vojnovic to receive the 2025 Scott Cummings Distinguished Editorial Service Award

February 25, 2025 - Diane Huhn

The Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University is pleased to announce that Dr. Igor Vojnovic has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2025 Scott Cummings Distinguished Editorial Service Award by the Urban Affairs Association (UAA).

This award was established in April 2021 to highlight the significant contributions made by individuals in service to UAA’s publications. The Award Committee recommended Dr. Vojnovic in recognition of his service as the editor of the Journal of Urban Affairs (JUA). In particular, the committee noted that Dr. Vojnovic has enabled the journal to thrive and grow, both in terms of issues per year and in terms of the interdisciplinary and global perspective of urban affairs. This has been achieved through, among other things, the establishment of a new editorial board and an increase in the number of associate editors. He has also helped advance the next generation of scholars using the Publishing Fellows Program hosted by the JUA Scholar Development Editors. As a result, the impact factor has risen dramatically, and JUA has become a destination for urban scholarship.

“Professor Vojnovic’s professionalism, incredible dedication and thoroughness have provided the foundation for UAA’s journals to thrive over his almost two decades of service. Countless authors, reviewers, and multiple editors have benefited from his assistance and support. UAA and the entire urban research community of scholars are in his debt,” said Margaret Wilder, UAA Executive Director. “I have watched the level of thought, time, and energy Igor has devoted to the journal and came to understand that this is what a truly committed editor does.”

“After serving in various editorial capacities since 2010 in the journal, including as Editor-in-Chief from 2015 to 2021, it is a real honor to receive this award from the Urban Affairs Association, a community of urban scholars who I respect a great deal. In my experience with the JUA, I recognized that we could have considerable impact in our scientific community through service, such as serving on editorial teams,” said Vojnovic. “I was able to take some important lessons that I learned as a faculty member at MSU and apply them as Editor-in-Chief. Mentoring and nurturing students and being inclusive and engaging globally were key lessons that successfully transitioned from MSU to the JUA. My efforts were focused on three goals: to be more inclusive of urban disciplines, have greater global representation in our articles, and ensure that we nurture younger scholars and allow them to have greater representation in the journal.”

The award is named in honor of Scott Cummings, Editor of the Journal of Urban Affairs from 1987 to 2005. At the beginning of Cummings’ 17-year tenure, the future of the journal was uncertain. By the end of his term, the journal had attained a solid reputation with articles by major urban scholars, was accepted by major bibliographic indexing systems, and had become part of the social science family of journals at Wiley Publishers, the largest academic publisher at the time. JUA eventually became part of the urban studies titles published by the global leader in academic journals, Taylor & Francis.

Dr. Vojnovic earned his Ph.D. in Geography and Urban Planning at the University of Toronto. He is currently a professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences, College of Social Science, and holds adjunct status in Urban and Regional Planning, School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University (MSU). Before coming to MSU, he taught in the departments of Public Policy, Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Geography at the University of Toronto, Syracuse University, Dalhousie University, and Texas A&M University. He has worked in government and in private consulting firms as an urban policy analyst, city planner and urban designer. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Studies, Environment and Planning A, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Ecological Economics, Transportation Research Part D, Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Design, Urban Geography, Applied Geography, Health & Place, GIScience and Remote Sensing, Urban Affairs Review, and Environmental Conservation. Vojnovic has served in various editorial capacities within the Journal of Urban Affairs, including as Associate Editor (2010-2015), Editor (2015-2021) and Senior Associate Editor (2021-current).

The formal presentation of this award will be made at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on April 16, 2025. Vojnovic will become only the second recipient to receive this award, following its namesake, Scott Cummings, in 2021. The conference will convene over 900 participants from 55+ countries representing 20+ fields of study.

The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is an international professional organization for 1000+ urban scholars, researchers, policy analysts, & public service providers. UAA is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, UAA fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.