Statement of Research Objective

Through scholarly publication, applied research and community and professional service activities, I endeavor to contribute to knowledge in the application of planning’s theories, methods and techniques that advance sustainable community development. My research activities emphasizes local, regional and Native American Reservation community development, and an emerging focus in comparative research in European Community sustainable development policy, particularly addressing problems in southern Europe (Greece).  The research program seeks to promote innovation in community development techniques that simultaneously integrate economic development, environmental protection, social equity and technical and political development.  I am currently developing a multi-phase teaching and research program directly towards transatlantic collaboration in sustainable development studies. The objective of this endeavor is to bridge knowledge from the American and the European experience through comparative case study research and teaching collaborations. 

My publications emphasize the development of methods to attain sustainable development in Native American communities.  The research particularly concerns approaches that advance tribal self determination through the removal of historic political obstacles operating in Native American development.  A central theme in my research explores inter jurisdictional cooperation as an effective strategy to the attainment of tribal political self determination.  The approach advocates utilitarian relations achievable through regional political plurality, an approach which I demonstrate to be mutually beneficial to both Native community and to regional interests. I have proposed several tribal development models that have been recognized nationally for fostering tribal political self determination, community sustainability and environmental protection. In addition to publication, the research program employs technical and public policy advisement and outreach, the organization of professional conferences, community service and applied student research serving both non-tribal local and tribal communities.

 

My interest in sustainable community development studies spans beyond Native American communities and the regional community into an emerging scholarship in international sustainable development.  I have expanded my research and teaching concentration to encompass the interdisciplinary and emerging field of sustainable community development in the national context as well as the global context.  This endeavor engages research, applied teaching and practical applications ranging from sustainable campus planning, innovative smart growth initiatives at the local and regional level, and in international applications.  The thrust of my more recent research and teaching endeavors seeks to foster collaboration in American and European knowledge in sustainable development.  

 

The theme of my research scholarship encompasses inquiry into methods to achieve sustainability in political communities. Similarities exist between rural and historically isolated Native American communities and their goals to achieve “homeland” sustainability, and rural communities in Greece, particularly in semi-isolated island community settings.  Both sets of communities possess qualities constituting “political communities” – they have a strong system of cultural continuity, possess political authority over a territory, have economic and social dependencies to their territorial resources, and each have faced historic circumstances that have limited their self development.  Comparative studies between these communities provide a framework for comparing American models of community development with Greek and European approaches. 

 

With this stream of scholarship, I have developed a university-accredited community service learning teaching program that offers to Western and other American university students learning opportunities in transatlantic sustainable development and environmental policy studies.  The international studies program in sustainable development furthers my scholarly interests by establishing a comparative case study to investigate problems and opportunities in Greek rural island communities. 

 

In addition, I have developed several programs funded through the European Union for collaborative teaching and research activities in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean region.  Currently, I am the Principle Investigator in a series of funded workshops to establish sustainable economic development relationships between coastal Mediterranean communities, including EU member and non-EU member Arab communities.  I have assembled a partnership of cooperating universities to participate in the program, including the United Nations University, designed curriculum and programs, and identified case study communities which will participate in the program.  The non government organization that I have established enabling the conduct of funded research, A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity - Hellas, is a recognized sustainable development organization operating in the Mediterranean region. The organization has been admitted as a standing member of the United Nations Environmental Program, the United Nations Community Development Partnership, the Mediterranean Office for Education in Sustainable Development, the Anna Lindh Foundation, and other regional networks. The research in Mediterranean sustainability studies have received several international awards.