Bob J. Walter is the Director of the International Development Studies Program at Ohio University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Geography and past Director of the IDS Program from 1989 to 1997. He was a faculty member in the Geography Department at Ohio University from 1968 to 1998, serving as Chair of the department from 1974 to 1978 and then Director of the African Studies Program (1978 to 1983). In 1983, he was appointed as The Geographer for the U.S. Agency for International Development and served three years in that capacity. Beginning in the fall of 1989, he became Director of the Development Studies Program at Ohio University, a predecessor to the current IDS program. In 1998, he left Ohio University and went to work for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), an international development consulting company, becoming the Project Coordinator for the five year, BASIS IQC, a USAID funded project that was worldwide in scope.

Over the course of his career, he has conducted research, implemented projects, done assessments, conducted evaluations, and worked with and in local institutions in 25 countries in Africa, in 10 countries and islands of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Republics of Georgia and Moldova.The majority of his work focused on natural resources and their management, but more recently issues relating to land tenure have been the specific interest.