Biographies of Authors

Darrol Bussler's experiences as a student in a one-room country school in central Minnesota provided the basis for his beliefs regarding learning and schooling. He is an educational reconstructionist serving as a faculty member at Minnesota State University, Mankato where his research interests focus on democratizing education. After having been a victim of crime, he is working to develop restorative justice processes in communities, including partnerships with schools.

Mark Carey is currently Deputy Commissioner, Community and Juvenile Services Division, Minnesota Department of Coorections. Previously he was director of the Dakota County Community Corrections. He has over 20 years of experience in the correctional field serving as a counselor, probation officer, planner and consultant. He taught juvenile justice at Rochester Community College, and has written and published over a dozen articles. He is currently on the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) Board of Directors, and in 1993, was selected as the Corrections Person of the Year by the Minnesota Corrections Association.

Barbara Carson is an Associate Professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato in the Department of Sociology and Corrections. She received her doctorate in Sociology from the University of New Hampshire. She conducts research on how society legitimates violence and teaches courses in the areas of violence, peace studies, and criminal justice.

Desmond M. Connor is a rural sociologist-applied anthropologist (Ph.D., Cornell, 1963) with an international practice in public participation; he is also the president of Connor Development Services Ltd. in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. During the last 30 years, he has completed over 300 projects, mostly in Canada. The library of his website has an overview article, four case studies, publication reviews and other papers; see www.connor.bc.ca/connor

Corey Dolgon is the Chair of Sociology at Worcester State College and has published widely on community-based research and political activism in the academy. Dolgon holds a Ph.D is from the University of Michigan where he worked with the Ann Arbor Homeless Action Committee and wrote a dissertation on economic development and cultural politics in Ann Arbor. Dolgon is on the Editorial Committe for Radical America and is currently working on a book about the post WWII history and political economy of the Hamptons in Eastern Long Island called "Spending Time in the Hamptons."

William Du Bois currently teaches sociology at South Dakota State University. He has consulted with a wide variety organizations including state government, school administrators, chambers of commerce, women’s crisis centers, juvenile group homes, bars and nightclubs, managers, nursing home administrators, and medical staff.

Gary R. Gunderson, MDiv, D.Min. Director of the Interfaith Health Program of Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. Initiated the program and led it for eight years at The Carter Center until moving it to Emory in 1999. Ordained American Baptist Minister. Fellow of the Center for Community Transformation, Chicago Theological Seminary. Author, Deeply Woven Roots (Fortress Press, 1997) and Boundary Leaders (Fortress Press, Winter 2001), and numerous articles and presentations dealing with the role of faith groups in advancing the health and wholeness of communities. Extensive experience in Africa in economic and communit development. Has served as Honoray Consul for the country of Burkina Faso since 1988.

Bernie Jones over the last 30+ years has been a practitioner, researcher, evaluator, trainer, and teacher of community development, as well as a community leader. Bernie received his PhD in Sociology, is a Certified Professional Community Developer, a Provisional Member of the Planning Institute of BC, and Coordinator for CRUNCH (a community development consortium in Downtown Victoria, BC). He has taught at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver. Bernie has written on community development and community problem solving, urban neighborhoods, physical disabilities, community arts and cultural planning, program evaluation, and social impact assessment.

Sidney Jourard was one of the founding voices of humanistic psychology. Until his premature death in 1975, he taught at the University of Florida. His books include Personal Adjustment, The Transparent Self, Disclosing Man to Himself, Self-Disclosure: An Experimental Analysis of the Transparent Self and Healthy Personality.

Ken Kiser is a professor in sociology at Oklahoma State University. From 1988-91, he was visiting professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virgina Tech and Associate Director of the Virginia Productivity Center which did research and development work with a variety of organizations including the U.S. Navy, Pennsylavannia Power and Light, Bay State Gas Company and Virginia Fibre Corporation. His current teaching and research interests include organizational change, especially the transition from old manufacturing systemes to e-based commerce, and work and family in American society. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

Frank Lindenfeld teaches sociology at Bloomsburg University. He is a former President of the Association for Humanist Sociology. He has written and co-edited several books on economic democracy including When Workers Decide: Workplace Democracy Takes Root in North America. He is co-founder of the Rural Enterprise Development Corporation, a technical assistance group that provides loans to small businesses and microenterprises in North Central Pennyslvania.

Lawrence Miller has been a management consultant to major corporations over the past twenty five years assisting in the creation of high performnace-high involvement cultures. He founded and recently sold the Miller Howard Consulting Group and has authored several books including Barbarians to Bureaucrats: Corporate Life Cycle Strategies, as well as several practical manuals for implementing Team Management and redesigning organizations using a holistic process of systems redesign. He is currently serving non-profit organizations focused on social and economic development.

Martin G. Miller is a sociologist at Iowa State University. He conducts workshops on "Developmental Coaching: An Approach to Positive Youth Development in Sports" and has written several articles in the field of the sociology of youth sport. Closely tied to his writings in this book, he coaches youth softball and volleyball teams and has done so for 18 years. He is founder, program director, President of the Board of Directors, and a coach of the Iowa Heart Volleyball Association, Inc., a United States Volleyball affiliate (a mid-Iowa juniors volleyball program). He is currently the president of the Board of Directors of the Iowa Region USAV and the Iowa Region juniors program representative to the national governing board of USAV.

Hal Pepinsky teaches criminal justice at Indiana University, and is the author of many books including The Geometry of Violence and Democracy, and co-editor with Richard Quinney of Criminology as Peacemaking

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Paul Rossler received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virgina Polytechnical Institute. He is currently an Associate Professor at Oklahoma State University in Industrial Engineering. His research and teaching focues on organizational performance and improvement processes as well as organizational performance and information systems. He has previously taught at Kettering Univerity.

Pat Sheehan is currently an Adult Protective Services Investigator for the state of Indiana and teaches Sociology part time at the Southeastern campus of Indiana University.

Art Shostak has been an applied sociologist since earning his Ph.D in 1961. His work with unions dates back earlier to his B.S. degree work in Industrial and Labor Relations (1954-'58). After six years with the Wharton School at Penn, he joined the faculty at Drexel University in 1967. He began teaching as an Adjunct for the AFL-CIO National Labor College in 1975. His 19 books include such titles as CyberUnion: Empowering Labor through Computer Technology; For Labor's Sake: Gains and Pains as Told by 28 Creative Inside Reformers; The Air Controller's Controversy: Lessons from the PATCO Strike; Blue-Collar Stress; Blue-Collar Life; and Blue-Collar World. He consults with unions here and in Canada about the use they can make of computers, futuristics, and/or industrial sociology.

William Wagner is Chair of the Department of Sociology and Corrections at Minnesota State University, Mankato. His years of study and teaching in the area of juvenile delinquency brought him quite naturally to a focus on parenting. As a recovering scientist, Bill readily admits that he strayed from the straight and narrow allowing the art of critique combined with a genealogical method to inform much of his scholarly endeavor. His writing in the area of parenting has transformed his own relationship with his children and suggests that this is the greatest reward of the work.

William Foote Whyte was professor emeritus in The School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He is the author or co-author of 20 books. His best known book is Street Corner Society. In 1994 he published an autobiography, Participant Observer. He died in July 2000.

R. Dean Wright is professor of Sociology at Drake University. He has been President and is currently Treasurer of the Midwest Sociological Society, has been or is a member and/or chair of numerous community and state agencies and organizations, has consulted widely in the community, and specializes in crime, poverty, homelessness, and minorities of South Asia.