David Aday, Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Office:
Email:
[[dpaday]]
Research Areas:
Participatory Development/Critical Theory, Community-Based Participatory Research, Community Organization and Social Change
Background
- Professor of Sociology and Community Studies
- Academic Director of Students for Medical Outreach and Sustainability (SOMOS), Paraiso, Dominican Republic) and Medical Aid Nicaragua: Outreach Scholarship (MANOS)
- Co-Director, Public Health
- Formerly: Special Assistant to the Provost, Director of American Studies, Chair of Sociology
- Liaison to the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Education
B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Sociology
Research
My current teaching and research interests focus on community and international participatory development. This interest has emerged over a career that focusd on crime, regulatory arrangements and theory. It reflects a deep distrust of hierarchical and coercive strategies of "helping" and "managing" in human affairs. My work in the Dominican Republic and in Nicaragua represents a shift from issues of security and social control to those of health and well-being. I see the two as inherently related and believe that effective communities must find ways to solve these and other persistent and thorny problems. Students have taught me much over the years -- not the least, the need to continue to learn and to press forward to create and use knowledge. Students are responsible directly for my current work in community health and for my involvement in the two most exciting projects (SOMOS and MANOS) of my now lengthy career.
