Robert M. Ward holds an AB from Earlham College, MA from Indiana University, and Ph.D. from The University of Michigan. He has been a cartographer and a recreation resource planning specialist with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (U.S. Department of the Interior) and a soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and subsequently taught in the Department of Geography and Geology at Eastern Michigan University, where he initiated the undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Urban and Regional Planning. He has published articles on resources/environment/conservation, planning, and geography. Ward has held leadership offices on rural township and county planning commissions and also with a nationally accredited nonprofit land conservancy organization.