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Scott Peters

Associate Professor

Primary Research Areas

  • adult and extension education
  • community development
  • sustainable agriculture
  • sustainable development

Graduate Fields

Research 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.

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

Research Grants

  • REALIZING THE ENGAGED INSTITUTION: A RESEARCH AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR BUILDING A NEW THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP IN LAND-GRANT EDUCATION
  • STRENGTHENING CITIZEN-CENTERED CIVIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PUBLIC DELIBERATION: AN INITIATIVE OF LAND-GRANT UNIVERSITIES AND THE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SYSTEM
  • UNDERSTANDING AND STRENGTHENING CORNELL UNIVERSITY'S PUBLIC MISSION

Selected Publications

PubMed Listings
  • 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.