Penn State is recognized around the globe as a distinguished university because of the sterling caliber of its faculty. As a World Campus student in the community and economic development program, you can learn from the same faculty who teach traditional, face-to-face classes on Penn State's University Park campus.

The faculty listed below have academic homes in the College of Agricultural Sciences. All may serve as master's paper/internship advisers or committee members.

Diane K. McLaughlin, PhD

Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography and CEDEV Graduate Program Coordinator
Dr. McLaughlin's interests include studying rural communities with an emphasis on how changes in the larger society affect the well-being and viability of rural communities, families, and individuals, and the ability of communities and residents of those communities to act and successfully respond to change.

Dr. McLaughlin has looked specifically at issues of poverty, earnings, industrial structure, family formation, and youth educational aspirations and attainment and outmigration. She is the program coordinator of the community and economic development graduate program in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Dr. McLaughlin teaches CEDEV 452 Rural Organization.

Charles W. Abdalla, PhD

Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics
Areas of interest: natural resource economics and policy

Theodore R. Alter, PhD

Professor of Agricultural, Environmental, and Regional Economics
Dr. Theodore R. Alter is a professor of agricultural, environmental, and regional economics and co-director of the Center for Economic and Community Development in Penn State’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. His research and teaching focus is on community and regional economics, community and rural development, resource and environmental economics, public sector economics and policy, institutional and behavioral economics, and public scholarship and civic engagement in higher education.

Dr. Alter earned a bachelor's degree in economics with distinction from the University of Rochester. He received both his master's degree and doctorate in resource economics and policy from Michigan State University. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. His recent publications include Democracy and Higher Education: Traditions and Stories of Civic Engagement (in collaboration with Scott J. Peters and Neil Schwartzbach) and "The Individual-Institutional-Opportunity Nexus: An Integrated Framework for Analyzing Entrepreneurship Development" (in collaboration with Michael W-P Fortunato) in the Entrepreneurship Research Journal.

Dr. Alter’s recent and current courses include Agribusiness Management 101: Principles of Agribusiness Decision Making; Community, Environment and Development 417: Power, Conflict, and Community Decision Making; Community, Environment and Development 375 Honors: Community, Local Knowledge and Democracy; Community, Environment and Development 475: Integrated Capstone Experience: Community, Democracy, and the Political Economy of Local Knowledge; Community and Economic Development 500: Principles of Community and Economic Development and Leadership; and Community and Economic Development 560: Regional Development: Principles, Policy, and Practice.

David Blandford, PhD

Professor of Agricultural Economics
Areas of interest: agribusiness, international trade, food and agricultural policy, international agricultural development

Kathryn Brasier, PhD

Associate Professor of Rural Sociology
Areas of interest: environmental/natural resource sociology, agriculture, land-use issues

M.A. Brennan

Associate Professor of Leadership and Community Development

Dr. Brennan’s teaching, research, writing, and program development concentrates on the role of civic engagement in the youth, community, and rural development process. He has nearly 20 years of experience designing, conducting, and analyzing social science research related to community and development. He has conducted extensive comparative research throughout the United States, Ireland, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mexico. 

Dr. Brennan’s research has helped him produce more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, books, Extension publications, and reports, and more than 80 presentations at professional meetings. All have been translated into teaching and Extension curricula to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider citizen audience. He was awarded the 2011 NACDEP Excellence in Community Development Work Award; 2010 Community Development Society Current Research Award; and 2008 University of Florida Outstanding Faculty Research Award.

Dr. Brennan was named a UNESCO Fellow in 2008 and Fulbright Scholar in 2011 and continues to serve in both capacities with the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has also served as chair/co-chair on a variety of national committees. Dr. Brennan teaches a variety of leadership and community development courses at Penn State including CDEV/AEE 505: Leadership Development; AEE 460: Foundations of Leadership Development; AEE 465: Leadership Practices — Power, Influence, and Impact; and AEE 360: Leadership Development for Small Groups.

Jeffrey C. Bridger, PhD

Senior Scientist
Dr. Bridger's research and teaching focuses on community and economic development, the human dimensions of natural resources, qualitative research methods, and public scholarship and university engagement. His research has addressed sustainable community development in rural areas, the impact of rurality on social well-being, land use at the rural-urban interface, and conflicts over hazardous waste facility sitings. He is currently conducting a study of the relationship between social capital and economic development in several communities throughout Pennsylvania. Dr. Bridger co-teaches CEDEV 500 Principles of Community and Economic Development and Leadership.

Ann Dodd, PhD

Assistant Dean for Strategic Initiatives; Senior Research Associate; Associate Professor, Agricultural and Extension Education
Ann Dodd is the assistant dean for strategic initiatives in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State. Her responsibilities include strategic planning, implementation of strategic initiatives, and the administration, assessment, and improvement of the college's graduate programs.

Her research and teaching interests include conflict communication, leadership, and quality management. Dr. Dodd served for five years as a senior consultant in Penn State's Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. She joined Penn State in 1999 after five years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she last served as executive assistant to the vice chancellor and director of institutional effectiveness. Dr. Dodd teaches CEDEV 505 Leadership Development.

Leland L. Glenna, PhD

Associate Professor of Rural Sociology
Areas of interest: sociology of agriculture and natural resources, science and technology studies, and economic sociology

Stephan J. Goetz, PhD

Director of Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and Professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics
Dr. Goetz has a wide variety of research interests. An underlying theme of his work is the role of markets and human capital in stimulating economic growth and development. Recent research addressed issues such as inequality and economic growth, migration, industrial location, and the impacts of rural economic development policies.

Current studies include applications of spatial econometric methods to modeling economic growth, the determinants and effects of social capital at the county level, and interactions among the environment, wages, and job growth. Dr. Goetz alternates teaching CEDEV 430 Principles of Economic Development with Dr. Larson.

Clare Hinrichs, PhD

Associate Professor of Rural Sociology
Areas of interest: sociology of food systems, agriculture and environment; rural social change and development

Leif Jensen, PhD

Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography
Areas of interest: demography, social stratification, international development, and economic change

Timothy W. Kelsey, PhD

Professor of Agricultural Economics
Areas of interest: community economics and public policy

Janelle Larson, PhD

Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics
Dr. Larson's primary research interests are land tenure issues and rural economic development, both international and domestic. Dr. Larson has researched land titling and land markets in Latin America and is looking at the effects of development on agriculture in urbanizing areas on the domestic front.

She also studies women's immigration in agricultural labor markets. She is based at Penn State Berks, where she teaches undergraduate courses in economics and agricultural economics. Dr. Larson alternates teaching CEDEV 430 Principles of Economic Development with Dr. Goetz.

A.E. Luloff, MS, PhD

Professor of Rural Sociology
Dr. A.E. Luloff is professor of rural sociology and human dimensions of natural resources and the environment in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, MS from North Carolina State University, and PhD from Penn State, all in rural sociology. Dr. Luloff was part of the University of New Hampshire faculty from 1977 to 1990 prior to moving to Penn State. During his tenure here he has taught the following courses: RSoc 11; RSoc 327/427; RSoc/CEDEV 452; RSoc 502; RSoc 516; RSoc 555; RSoc 597 A, B, C; HDNRE 574; HDNRE 590.

Dr. Luloff teaches, conducts research, and writes about the impacts of rapid social change, as a result of demographic shifts, on the natural and human resource bases of the community. Changes in land cover and use, particularly in areas at the rural-urban fringe, and the impact of rural development policy on small and rural communities have been central features of his work. He has been involved in survey and public opinion research for more than thirty years which has been supported by state, regional, national, and international public and private agencies and has resulted in more than 200 journal articles, book chapters, research bulletins, and other professional publications, including several books and monographs. Luloff served as secretary-treasurer of the International Rural Sociology Association, editor of The Journal of the Community Development Society of America, and treasurer of the International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR). He is a recipient of the Rural Sociological Society’s "Excellence in Research Award” and “Excellence in Instruction Award” and the Natural Resources Research Group’s (Rural Sociological Society) "Merit and Excellence in Natural Resources Sociology Award." He is cofounder and current executive director of IASNR.

Dr. Luloff has been the primary or co-author of many recent articles including a piece on community response during the BP Deepwater Oil Spill and various other topics in community development, and also published People, Places and Landscapes: Social Change in High Amenity Rural Areas, a book he coauthored with R.S. Krannich and D.R. Field.

Anouk Patel-Campillo, PhD

Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology
Dr. Patel-Campillo's research interests include city and regional planning, development, global economic restructuring, and agriculture.

Daniel F. Perkins

Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Daniel F. Perkins is professor of family and youth resiliency and policy at Penn State. He is also an affiliate faculty member of the Children, Youth and Families Consortium and the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development. Dr. Perkins’ scholarship involves the integration of practice and research into three focal points: positive youth development, healthy family development, and community collaboration. Dr. Perkins has been designing and evaluating strengths-based family and youth development programs in 4-H and Cooperative Extension and leading complex projects for more than 15 years.

Currently, Dr. Perkins is examining the transition of evidence-based programs and practices to their large-scale expansion into real-world settings. Dr. Perkins received a grant from the U. S. Department of Defense–National Institute of Food and Agriculture partnership for the development of the Penn State Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. The Clearinghouse is an interactive, knowledge-based platform designed to promote and support the use of research-based decision making; select, disseminate, and implement evidence-based programs and practices; identify metrics used to evaluate programming; and provide continuing education for professionals assisting military families.

Richard C. Ready, PhD

Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics
Areas of interest: environmental and natural resource economics

Carolyn Sachs, PhD

Professor of Rural Sociology
Areas of interest: agriculture, natural resources, and women in agriculture and rural development

John Shingler, PhD

Research Associate
Dr. Shingler's research interests include energy conservation and policy, community and economic development, organizational behavior, and low income assistance programs and policy.

Stephen M. Smith, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Agricultural and Regional Economics
Areas of interest: rural development, economic diversification, international agricultural development

Ann Tickamyer, PhD

Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
Dr. Tickamyer's interests include rural poverty and inequality, gender and development, work and labor markets, social policy, and political sociology.

Jason Weigle, MS, PhD

Instructor
Dr. Jason Weigle, instructor of community and economic development in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, has taught CEDEV 452: Rural Organization and CEDEV 509: Population, Land Use, and Municipal Finance for the World Campus and CED 152: Community Development Concepts and Practice on campus. He earned his dual-title doctorate in rural sociology and human dimensions of natural resources and the environment; a master’s in community and economic development; and a bachelor’s in soil science with a minor in extension education, all from Penn State. Jason has been an instructor for the World Campus for nearly two years.

As a former adult learner, Dr. Weigle has a first-hand understanding of the unique experience of the adult learner. As an instructor, he uses this experience as an adult learner to help his students understand and work through the challenges facing them in the online environment. He has been honored with two awards for his teaching service, the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award and the inaugural Paul Hand Award for Graduate Student Teaching Achievement.

His research currently focuses on the lived experience of communities facing unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania. In particular, his research focuses on people’s perceptions of Marcellus Shale natural gas development and how the rapid development occurring around this natural resource is influencing individual and group action within communities. He has extensive experience in solid and hazardous waste management as well as water quality monitoring and watershed management.

Fern K. Willits, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Rural Sociology
Areas of interest: individual well-being and life-satisfaction in adulthood, changing values and attitudes through the life span, adolescent behavior, rurality

Bradley Woods, PhD

Instructor
Dr. Bradley Woods is an instructor in the MPS in CEDEV program for World Campus. He earned his doctorate in rural sociology and human dimensions of natural resources and the environment from Penn State in 2010. Woods' research interests include studying the impacts of natural resource extraction in resource dependent communities; human dimensions of natural resources; ethical issues in the social sciences; and rural community development.

He has recently instructed students in CEDEV 505: Leadership Development; HDNRE 575: Ethical Issues in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment; and SOC 001: Introduction to Sociology.