Peters, Scott

Associate Professor
Scott Peters joined the Department of Education at Cornell University in August of 1999. He holds a B.S. in Education (1983) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. in Public Policy (1995) from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration (1998), also from the University of Minnesota. Before his graduate study, Peters` served for ten years (1984-1993) 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. Dr. Peters` book, The Promise of Association: A History of the Mission and Work of the YMCA at the University of Illinois, 1873-1997 (Champaign, IL: University YMCA, 1998), examines the ways that people who have been engaged in the organization throughout its history have pursued and integrated personal and public ideals and ends.

research

research and scholarship focus

Dr. Peters` research program is centered on a critical examination of the social, political, and cultural identities, roles, purposes, and work of academic institutions and professionals. He pursues and contextualizes his research in two related lines of inquiry: a historical line that focuses on the origins and early development of the national land-grant system’s agricultural extension work, and a line that utilizes narrative inquiry to analyze and interpret the civic engagement experiences and public purposes and work of contemporary land-grant scholars and extension educators. A key theoretical and practical problem his research seeks to address is that of the dilemma of the relation of expertise and democracy in the academic profession.

research areas

affiliations

faculty appointment in

member of graduate field

other Cornell affiliations

teaching

teaching focus

Dr. Peters` teaches two related graduate courses 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.

teaches

background

educational background

  • Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Educational Policy and Administration, 1998
  • M.A., University of Minnesota, Public Affairs, 1995
  • B.S., University of Illinois Education, 1983

publications

selected publications (listing in progress)

  • Peters, S.J. (2007). Reconstructing a democratic tradition of public scholarship in the land-grant system. In The academy and the public. Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation Press.
  • Peters, S. J. (2007). Changing the story about higher education's public purposes and work: Land-grants, liberty, and the Little Country Theater. Ann Arbor, MI: Imagining America (Foreseeable Futures Position Paper #6, published by Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life [www.imaginingamerica.org]).
  • Peters, S.J. (2006). Every farmer should be awakened: Liberty Hyde Bailey`s vision of agricultural extension work. Agricultural History, Vol. 80, No. 2: 190-219.
  • Peters, S.J., O'Connell, D., Alter, T.R., and Jack, A. (Eds.) (2006). Catalyzing change: Profiles of Cornell Cooperative Extension educators from Greene, Tompkins, and Erie Counties, New York. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Cooperative Extension.
  • Morgan, P.A. and Peters, S.J. (2006). The foundations of planetary agrarianism: Thomas Berry and Liberty Hyde Bailey. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Vol. 19, No. 5: 443-468.
  • Peters, Scott J. (2005). Extension Agencies. In B. Feintuch and D. H. Watters (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of New England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), pp. 38-40.
  • Peters, Scott J., N. R. Jordan, M. Adamek, and T. R. Alter. (Eds.). (2005). Engaging Campus and Community: The Practice of Public Scholarship in the State and Land-Grant University. Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation Press.
  • Peters, Scott J. (2004). Educating the Civic Professional: Reconfigurations and Resistances. Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 47-58.
  • Peters, Scott J. (2004). The Country Life Commission: Reconsidering a Milestone in American Agricultural History. Agricultural History, Vol. 78, No. 3., pp. 289-316.
  • Peters, Scott J., H. Gregoire and M. Hittleman (2004). Practicing a Pedagogy of Hope: Practitioner Profiles as Tools for Grounding and Guiding Collective Reflection in Adult, Community, and Youth Development Education. In R. Vince and M. Reynolds, eds., Organizing Reflection. Ashgate Publishers.
  • Peters, S.J. (2003). Reconstructing civic professionalism in American higher education. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Vol. 8, No. 2: 183-198.
Keywords: adult and extension education, civic education, civic engagement, community development, extension education, history of american higher education, history of extension, outreach scholarship, public issues education, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development