Largely from Chats in the Stacks event listing.
Of all the issues in need of attention at this moment in the history of American higher education, few are as important as the status and future of its public mission, purposes and work. Scott Peters, associate professor of education at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, takes this issue up in his newest book, Democracy and Higher Education: Traditions and Stories of Civic Engagement, published last fall by Michigan State University Press.
Through the presentation and analysis of oral history profiles of the public engagement work of a dozen Cornell faculty members, he illuminates and defends an underappreciated tradition of civic professionalism in higher education that includes and interweaves expert, social critic, responsive service, and proactive leadership roles.
Four of those oral history profiles feature Department of Horticulture faculty:
- Marcia Eames-Sheavly – To Be in There, in the Thick of It
- Marvin Pritts – My Path Has Been Different from My Predecessors’
- Frank Rossi – The Expert in the Middle
- Anu Rangarajan – A Sense of Communion
Peters’ research program is centered on the study of American higher education’s public mission and work, including the role of cooperative extension professionals in making democracy work as it should. He will be presenting a seminar on his book as part of Mann Library’s Chats in the Stacks series on Thursday, March 31 at 4:00 p.m. in Mann 160. A reception and book signing will follow.
You can view or listen to Peter’s March 29, 2007 Chat in the Stack’s presentation, Engaging Campus and Community: The Practice of Public Scholarship in the State and Land-grant University at the Mann Library Podcast site.