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Francis X. Higdon
The Pennsylvania State University 
107A Armsby Building 
University Park, PA 16802 
Phone: (814) 865-9218 FAX: (814) 865-3746 
E-mail: fxh100@psu.edu 

Community and Economic Development Program
Senior Lecturer in Community Development
(Ph.D., Public Policy, University of Pittsburgh, 1997) 


Dr. Higdon has been involved in both domestic and international development projects since joining the Peace Corps in 1983. He has previously worked for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and Penn State's Community and Economic Development Associates Program. In 1994-95, he was awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Research Fellowship to study in Belize, Central America. From 1997 to 2000, he delivered Cooperative Extension programming in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania. His primary educational program areas included: Alternative Agricultural Enterprises, Municipal Growth Management, Strategic Planning for Nonprofits, Effective Grant writing, Board development and Water Quality Education. He served as Interim County Extension Director in Pike County in 1997, and County Extension Director in Blair County from 1998 to 2000.

Dr. Higdon's research and teaching program are related both to his past experiences and his current position in the Community and Economic Development Graduate Program at AE&RS. Research interests include: the Impact of Ethnic Migration on Land Use and Economic Development; Business Retention and Expansion Programs; Linkages between Higher Education and Local Economies; and the Development of Web-based Community Development Programming. He is currently a member of the Community Development Society where he serves on the International Program Committee.

Representative Publications

Higdon, F.X. "Entrepreneurship in Community Settings", M.S. Thesis. Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Penn State University, 1990.

Higdon, F.X. "Farm Diversification and Specialization: the Adaptation of Mennonite Households in Spanish Lookout, Belize." Ph.D Dissertation. Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, 1997. (UMI: 9821253)

Higdon, F.X. and Drew W. Hyman. "Building a University-based Public-Private Partnership for Local Community and Economic Development: the CEDAP Project", presented at the Conference on Strengthening Postsecondary Education's Contribution to Economic Development, Penn State University, June 9-11, 1997.

Higdon, F.X. "Family Farms, Adaptation and Change Among Mennonites in Western Belize", Mennonite Family History, January 2001, pg. 25-28 (forthcoming)

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