David M. Scobey Named Director and Professor of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College.

(From AScribe)

LEWISTON, Maine -- David M. Scobey has been named as the director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships and as the Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Professor of Community Partnerships at Bates College, announced Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Jill Reich. Scobey comes to Bates from the University of Michigan, where he is associate professor of architecture in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and director of the Arts of Citizenship program.

"His intellectual gifts, academic accomplishments and prominence in community-based learning will enable Bates to build a center of community partnerships with both deep local significance and a national reputation of the first rank," Reich said. She praised the "energy, imagination, intelligence and experience" that Scobey will bring to the position. Faculty, staff, students and community members who met Scobey during his recent visits to Bates and Lewiston-Auburn are convinced, Reich says, that "he will contribute to our educational work both inside and outside the curriculum, forge new connections with local and global communities and enhance the intersection between academic and residential life at the college."

"David Scobey's appointment as director of the Harward Center is exciting news for both the college and the L-A community," said Rick Speer, director of the Lewiston Public Library. "Scobey's commitment to academic excellence should earn the center a high level of respect on campus, while his proven track record in connecting with a diverse array of community groups will reinforce the links already established between Bates students and schools, businesses, and hospitals and a variety of community agencies."

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships is an emerging organizational structure at Bates College designed to pursue academic excellence through integrating local and global communities with the mission of the college. Under Scobey's leadership, the center will link key academic endeavors at the college with community collaboration, research and service. Firmly rooted in the academic purpose of the college, the center will serve as a focal point for connected learning that fuses academic discussion and community.

Scobey has written and spoken extensively about U.S. history and community-based learning. He is the author of the well-regarded "Empire Study: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape" (Temple University Press, 2002), and two forthcoming books from the University ...