RDI Staff and Associated Faculty
Dr. Besser is the RDI project director. Her research efforts have been directed toward studying life in small communities, particularly businesses in small towns. She also is involved in community development efforts, including the design and presentation of a process complete with materials, to help communities make wise economic development decisions, coordinating workshops and conferences on development and leadership, and coordinating a biweekly column on community-related matters published in small town newspapers.
Dr. Agnitsch is a research scientist with RDI. She is the main project manager who oversees data collection efforts, conducts analyses of project data, and disseminates study results to a variety of audiences. Her research involves investigating the link between social capital and community action, factors impacting community participation, and the application of social network analysis to community studies.
Monica is presently a graduate research assistant with the Rural Development Initiative. She is pursuing a Master's Degree in Sociology at ISU. Her primary responsibilities include data collection, data analysis, and writing publications. Monica's research interests are in the areas of gender and the body, social psychology, and community.
Dr. Allen conducts research related to leadership, housing and community development in both rural and urban areas. The main emphasis is to develop local capacity toward strengthening social and economic community infrastructures. Current research assesses the importance of place, gender and home ownership among rural women and the relationship to community social capital.
Dr. Morton's research focuses on community and the role of civil society in public decision making. Other research includes community well being and health outcomes, quality of life, and relationships among agriculture, food systems, communities, and population health.
Dr. Sharon Bird's research interests include social inequality, sociology of gender, work, and self and identity. Her current research focuses on the effects of masculinity on the quality of men's work, the effects of gender differences and sex composition on men's and women's social relations in the workplace, and theorizing the connection between hegemonic masculinity and inequality by sex, race, ethnicity, and class. Dr. Bird's teaching interests include social inequality (race, class, gender) and stratification, sociology of gender, work, race and ethnic relations, and social psychology.
Dr. Flora specializes in the areas of community, agricultural, and rural change in the United States and in developing countries. He is a community extension specialist, assisting with participatory action research in Iowa communities. Current research includes a USDA-funded study comparing social infrastructure among rural U.S. communities that are successful and unsuccessful at economic development and collaboration with Ecuadorian colleagues on research on sustainable agriculture and sustainable communities. He served as academic advisor for the public television series Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, and co-authored the textbook for the series. He was president of the Rural Sociological Society during 1996-97.
