OSU Human Development and Family Science Department to Host Expert on Engagement and Extension in Higher Education

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

(Stillwater, OK   January 13, 2010) - The department of Human Development and Family Science and the College of Human Environmental Sciences at Oklahoma State University will host Cornell faculty member, Scott J. Peters as a special guest lecturer on Jan. 19. 

Peters, an associate professor of education at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will give a talk titled “Losing the People’s Colleges:  Risks and Remedies” beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the Student Union Little Theater on the OSU Campus in Stillwater.  A reception will follow at 5:00 p.m. in the Centennial Lounge.  The public is welcome at both events.

Peters’ research is centered on the study of American higher education’s public mission and work. His studies incorporate two main topics including the origins and early development of the national land-grant system’s cooperative extension work, and also the civic engagement work and experiences of academic professionals and community-based extension educators. HIs projects address the relation of expertise and democracy in the American academic profession.

His research has been published in several journals, including Agricultural History, the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, the Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and the Journal of Extension.  He has also written several books including Engaging Campus and Community: The Practice of Public Scholarship in the State and Land-Grant University System and Catalyzing Change: Profiles of Cornell Cooperative Extension Educators.

Peters teaches two graduate courses at Cornell that focus on the history, philosophy, politics, theory, and practice of community education, organizing, and development, with special attention to complex relationships and tensions between democracy, science, and education. He also teaches a research design and methods course on narrative inquiry and analysis in social science and action research.He serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.

Peters is currently serving as a scholar in residence at the Kettering Foundation. He is writing his next book, tentatively titled Rebuilding Democracy's College: The Land-Grant Mission in the 21st Century. He is also pursuing a new research project, in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation, on the work and experiences of contemporary cooperative extension professionals in making democracy work as it should.

In 1999 the Kellogg Commission challenged all institutions of higher education particularly land-grant institutions to engage the public in reciprocal education which would ultimately benefit society. Peters has been conducting research, speaking and publishing on the successes and challenges of this engagement effort. 

“We are pleased to have Dr. Peters speak on how to improve collaboration between HDFS faculty and extension educators,” said Sue Williams, HDFS department head.

Peters earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and a doctorate degree in educational policy and administration also from the University of Minnesota. Before his graduate study, he served for ten years as program director of the University YMCA at the University of Illinois, where he worked with students, faculty, staff, and community members on a variety of civic education and community development initiatives.