Professor of Sociology at Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political
Science, Universitas Indonesia. His field of work is urban sociology. His focus of
research are urban issues, globalization, poverty alleviation and postcolonial society
studies. He was born in Tasikmalaya at March 11th 1963. He finished his undergraduate
in Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Indonesia at January 1989 and got
his doctorate degree (Doktor der Sozialwissenschaften) at Faculty of Sociology,
Universitaet Bielefeld, Germany in 1995.
Besides having a good reputation in his academic career, Profesor Gumilar has also a
very good management skill. It manifests in his decisive leadership, entrepreneurial, team
building and reformist. He was Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Science for two
periods during 2002-2007. He was elected as Rector of Universitas Indonesia at 2007 in
his 44 year old of age. He is recorded as the youngest rector in the history of Universitas
Indonesia. His managerial experiences are illuminating. He was a Secretary of
Universitas Indonesia’s Board of Trustees (2001-2002), Vice Director of Center for
Japanese Study (1997-2003). He is deeply involved as member of Steering Committee in
several international organizations like Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU),
Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of High Learning (ASAIHL) and Sasakawa
Young Leaders Forum (SYLFF). Besides that, he is an active member of ASEAN
University Network (AUN), South East Asia-Taiwan Universities (SATU), ASEANEuropean
Academic University Network (ASEA Uninet), Federation of Universities of
the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW), Southeast Asian Ministers Education
Organization for Tropical Medicine and Public Health (SEAMEO TROPMED), and
Association of Universities of Asia Pacific (AUAP). He is currently the Chairman of
Indonesian Rector Association. In his academic career, Professor Gumilar is member of
Indonesian Sociology Association, International Communitarian Society (USA) and
International Urban Anthropological Association (Netherland). Based on his academic
and managerial background, Professor Gumilar puts himself in a very strategic and
important position in industrial, political and academic network.
Professor Gumilar has several important academic works. His major work is a book
titled ”Migration Within Cities: A Study of Socioeconomic Processes, Intra-City
Migration and Grassroots Politics in Jakarta”, published by Universitaet Bielefeld in 1996.
He also wrote several research publications based on his field study. They are “Urban
Expansion and Sub-urbanization in the Capital Cities: A Comparative Study on Tokyo
and Jakarta”, in Hiroyoshi Kano Growing Metropolitan Suburbia: A Comparative
Sociological Study on Tokyo and Jakarta (2004); “Patterns of Intra-City Migration in
Tokyo’s and Jakarta’s Suburban Areas”, in Hiroyoshi Kano Growing Metropolitan
Suburbia: A Comparative Sociological Study on Tokyo and Jakarta (2004); “Towards
Democracy Beyond Societies: A Study of Internet Practices in Indonesian Politics”, in
Indrajit Banerjee (ed), Rhetoric and Reality: The Internet Challenge for Democracy in
Asia (2003); “Building Community in Jakarta”, in Naoki Yoshihara dan Raphaela
Dwianto (eds), Structures and Changes of Grassroots in Japan and Indonesia (2002);
“Looking at the Gigantic Kampung: Urban Hierarchy and General Trends of Intra-City
Migration in Jakarta” (2000) “A Study of Socioeconomic and Cultural Changes among
Rice Farmers in Indonesia”, in Hidetoshi Kato, Seven Farmers in Asia, Comparative
Rural Sociology (2000). Recently, Professor Gumilar published a book titled “Social
Science at the Crossroads” published by FISIP-UI Press 2007.
Prof. Gumilar has a long research experience in his field of work and some got
international recognition. One of them is research on “Social Transformation in Village
Community using ICT: A Case Study in E- Pabelan Telecenter, Central Java, Indonesia”
(2007) funded by POSCO TJ Park Foundation, Korea. Prof. Gumilar was a visiting
professor at several universities like University of Groningen, Netherland (1990),
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore (1990), Institute of Social Studies,
University of Tokyo (1998), Bonn University Germany (1999), Tohoku University, Japan
(2000). He is often invited as speaker in various international academic forum either as
scientist or Rector of Universitas Indonesia.
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