Andrew Targowski

Andrew (Andrzej) Stanislaw Targowski is a Polish-American informatician, civilizationist and philosopher. He is an author of 33 books on information technology, civilization, philosophy, and political science. He is a professor of computer information systems at Western Michigan University since 1980. He is President Emeritus of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (2007-2013). In Poland in the 1970s he initiated the INFOSTRADA Project which has been adapted as the Information Superhighway in the U.S. providing a new paradigm for a New Economy, triggered by the Internet. In Poland he also is known for developing computerized the social security number (PESEL, 1972–74) for 38 million citizens. He was Poland's Delegate to the Working Group on Automation at the United Nations (Geneva), (1972–74). INFOSTRADA hindered by the political authorities as too risky for the dictatorship of the communist system, because it promoted the free flow of information in society. From that moment the trouble started for Targowski's employment and publishing, and organized harassment of his person began. In 1980 he was able to travel to the U.S., where he obtained political asylum. In the United States he has developed one of the first digital cities in the U.S., teleCITY of Kalamazoo, Michigan (1992–1996). In his research he concentrates on the cognitive informatics-oriented development of the theories of enterprise-wide system, information, communication, civilization, and wisdom.

Hi is a former Chairman of the Advisory Council of Information Resource Management Association (1998-2005) and a founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Business Practices at Haworth College-Western Michigan University (2010-2013). He is a Vice-chairman of the Advisory Council of Dialogue and Universalism.

During the World War II his father, Stanislaw was publicly executed by hanging for sabotaging the V2 production. Targowski's mother Halina during the Warsaw (Polish) Uprising (September 1944) was wounded 14 times. She was able to take out her son Andrew (7 years old) from a pile of corpses, after the execution. He is an Honorary President of the Association of the Children of the Warsaw Uprising 1944. He was a competitive tennis player and a President of the Polish Tennis Association (1971-72).