Research Interests

My research program has grown primarily out of my academic training and professional experiences. In my current teaching position in CEDEV at Penn State, I am attempting to build a research program centered around the following themes:

Land Use and Economic Development;

Community Visioning and Organizational Development

Community-based Business Retention and Expansion Programs;

Higher Education Outreach Programs and Local Economic Development;

International Web-based Community Development Programming

Research Proposals and Projects

Graduate Fellows Program at Penn State

Intergenerational Visioning in the Mon Valley

NGO Organizational Development in Western Ukraine

Assessment of Community Watershed Organizations in Pennsylvania

Awards and Certifications

BREI Certified Master Consultant (Community Business Survey), Business Retention and Expansion International, Certification #334, (1999-2001)

Fulbright Dissertation Research Grant, (Belize), Institute for International Education, New York, New York. September 1994 to September 1995.

Doctoral Travel Awards, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Graduate Professional Student Association, University of Pittsburgh, August 1993 and October 1995.

Gamma Sigma Delta, The Honor Society of Agriculture-Penn State Chapter, Pennsylvania State University, November 1991.

Academic and Community Service

State Program Leader Search Committee (Community and Economic Development), College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State University. (1998-2000)

Community Impact Model Advisory Committee (CIM-PSU Project / Center for Rural Pennsylvania), Harrisburg, PA. (1997-1998)

Habitat for Humanity of Wayne County. Certificate of Appreciation for Volunteer Service, Presented at 1997 Volunteer Dinner, Honesdale, PA.

East End Food Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Supervisory Committee and Organizing Committee, Pittsburgh, PA. (1992-1994).

Pittsburgh Area Returned Peace Corps Association, Board Secretary and Development Education Committee, Pittsburgh, PA. (1992-1995).

Basic Economic Development Course, (40 hours of lecture and discussion / 4.0 C.E.U's), Penn State Continuing Education Program at Penn State-Harrisburg. December 1990.

Community and Economic Development Applications Training Program, (96 hours of instruction and applications), Penn State College of Agriculture. June 1990.

Professional Background

I have been involved in both domestic and international development projects since joining the Peace Corps in 1983. In the late 1980s, I worked for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and Penn State's Community and Economic Development Associates Program. In 1994-95, I was awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Research Fellowship to study in Belize, Central America. From 1997 to 2000, I 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. In 1997, I served as Interim County Extension Director in Pike County, and as County Extension Director in Blair County from 1998 to 2000.