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<h2>David Cooper Bio</h2>
<p>David Cooper (Ph.D., American Studies, Brown University) is professor of <a href="http://www.msu.edu/unit/wrac/" target="_blank">Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures</a>, affiliate faculty in the <a href="http://www.americanstudies.msu.edu/" target="_blank">American Studies Program</a>, a member of the core faculty of the <a href="http://www.rhetoric.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Graduate Program in Rhetoric and Writing</a>, and adjunct professor in the <a href="http://www.rcah.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Residential College in the Arts and Humanities</a>. In 1995, Cooper co-founded the Service-Learning Writing Project and designed a community-based writing course—<a href="http://writing.msu.edu/content/wipi/c&j.html" target="_blank">“Writing in the Public Interest”</a>—that continues to enroll nearly 300 undergraduates a year in 12 stand-alone sections. </p>
<p>Cooper’s interdepartmental and cross-college faculty alliances and outreach efforts, numerous collaborations with <a href="http://www.vps.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Student Affairs</a> and <a href="http://outreach.msu.edu" target="_blank">University Outreach and Engagement</a>, and working relationships with dozens of community organizations and municipal groups lead to him being named the Director of the Public Humanities Collaborative in 2005. Cooper has received national recognition for his engaged scholarship, teaching, professional service, and leadership, including the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning (Campus Compact and American Association for Higher Education) and a Lifetime Achievement Citation from Michigan Campus Compact. In 2006, Cooper was named MSU University Outreach and Engagement Senior Fellow.</p>
<p>For five years Cooper served as chair of the 15-member Faculty Board of Advisors for MSU’s <a href="http://www.cedp.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Community and Economic Development Program</a> (now called Center for Community and Economic Development). Since joining the MSU faculty in 1990, Cooper has developed interdisciplinary community-based teaching, learning, and research initiatives in six different colleges, schools, and departments. He founded or co-founded several campus programs in engaged teaching and public scholarship that draw on a rich interdisciplinary mix of faculty, academic staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and community partners.</p>
<p>Nationally, Cooper has served as a consultant to Campus Compact, the Invisible College, Corporation for National Service, National Youth Leadership Council, National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, and, among others, Midwest Campus Compact Collaboration. He speaks and gives faculty development workshops at colleges and universities across the country. Cooper is also a research associate at the Kettering Foundation, where he participates with colleagues from across the nation in two active work groups on Deliberative Democracy in Higher Education and The Public Academy.</p>
<p>To complement his rigorous commitment to community-based teaching and learning practices, Cooper sustains a robust and engaged intellectual life. He has published four books and over 150 book chapters, essays, and articles in a number of fields, including literary studies, rhetoric and composition, American studies, philosophy and ethics, education, and public culture studies. Cooper’s recent articles, essays, and commentaries on the topic of public humanities include:</p>
<ul>
<li>“Four Seasons of Deliberative Learning: From General Education to the Senior Capstone.” <em>Deliberative Democracy and Higher Education</em>. The Charles F. Kettering Foundation (2007). </li>
<li>“Can Civic Engagement Rescue the Humanities?” The lead chapter in <em>Literature Matters: Community-Based Learning and the Work of Literature</em>. Anker Books (2007).</li>
<li><a href="/Documents/David Cooper-Civic Discourse.pdf">“Is Civic Discourse Still Alive?”</a> Museums and Social Issues (2007).</li>
</ul>
<p>A Senior Editor at Michigan State University Press, Cooper edits <em>Fourth Genre</em>, an award-winning international journal of literary nonfiction that has awakened renewed interest in the personal essay as a populist literary form. Cooper’s works in progress include compiling, selecting, and editing the letters of preeminent public scholar Robert Coles, and writing a book length essay on the narrative life of democracy. As a practitioner of the scholarship of engagement, Cooper edits reports and proceedings for the Bipartisan Urban Caucus of the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Partnership for Economic Development, among others. Cooper is also a published photographer with a special interest in social documentary photography and nonprofits.</p>
David Cooper Bio
David Cooper (Ph.D., American Studies, Brown University) is professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, affiliate faculty in the American Studies Program, a member of the core faculty of the Graduate Program in Rhetoric and Writing, and adjunct professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. In 1995, Cooper co-founded the Service-Learning Writing Project and designed a community-based writing course—“Writing in the Public Interest”—that continues to enroll nearly 300 undergraduates a year in 12 stand-alone sections.
Cooper’s interdepartmental and cross-college faculty alliances and outreach efforts, numerous collaborations with Student Affairs and University Outreach and Engagement, and working relationships with dozens of community organizations and municipal groups lead to him being named the Director of the Public Humanities Collaborative in 2005. Cooper has received national recognition for his engaged scholarship, teaching, professional service, and leadership, including the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning (Campus Compact and American Association for Higher Education) and a Lifetime Achievement Citation from Michigan Campus Compact. In 2006, Cooper was named MSU University Outreach and Engagement Senior Fellow.
For five years Cooper served as chair of the 15-member Faculty Board of Advisors for MSU’s Community and Economic Development Program (now called Center for Community and Economic Development). Since joining the MSU faculty in 1990, Cooper has developed interdisciplinary community-based teaching, learning, and research initiatives in six different colleges, schools, and departments. He founded or co-founded several campus programs in engaged teaching and public scholarship that draw on a rich interdisciplinary mix of faculty, academic staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and community partners.
Nationally, Cooper has served as a consultant to Campus Compact, the Invisible College, Corporation for National Service, National Youth Leadership Council, National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, and, among others, Midwest Campus Compact Collaboration. He speaks and gives faculty development workshops at colleges and universities across the country. Cooper is also a research associate at the Kettering Foundation, where he participates with colleagues from across the nation in two active work groups on Deliberative Democracy in Higher Education and The Public Academy.
To complement his rigorous commitment to community-based teaching and learning practices, Cooper sustains a robust and engaged intellectual life. He has published four books and over 150 book chapters, essays, and articles in a number of fields, including literary studies, rhetoric and composition, American studies, philosophy and ethics, education, and public culture studies. Cooper’s recent articles, essays, and commentaries on the topic of public humanities include:
- “Four Seasons of Deliberative Learning: From General Education to the Senior Capstone.” Deliberative Democracy and Higher Education. The Charles F. Kettering Foundation (2007).
- “Can Civic Engagement Rescue the Humanities?” The lead chapter in Literature Matters: Community-Based Learning and the Work of Literature. Anker Books (2007).
- “Is Civic Discourse Still Alive?” Museums and Social Issues (2007).
A Senior Editor at Michigan State University Press, Cooper edits Fourth Genre, an award-winning international journal of literary nonfiction that has awakened renewed interest in the personal essay as a populist literary form. Cooper’s works in progress include compiling, selecting, and editing the letters of preeminent public scholar Robert Coles, and writing a book length essay on the narrative life of democracy. As a practitioner of the scholarship of engagement, Cooper edits reports and proceedings for the Bipartisan Urban Caucus of the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Partnership for Economic Development, among others. Cooper is also a published photographer with a special interest in social documentary photography and nonprofits.
