Patrick Harman in the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies will travel to the United Kingdom next year to research how the British invest in community improvement projects compared to American renewal efforts.
An Elon University adjunct faculty member who serves as executive director of a North Carolina philanthropic foundation received a Fulbright award this winter to conduct research on neighborhood revitalization efforts in the United Kingdom.
Patrick Harman in the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies leaves in January to collaborate with social scientists at Durham University to identify policies that are considered effective by everyone involved in revitalization programs, including neighborhood residents, civic leaders and policy makers.
Harman notes that revitalization efforts in the United States are decentralized and often involve financial support in the form of federal community development block grants. In the United Kingdom, the British government exerts far more control and direction of revitalization efforts, which requires more money but ensures better consistency and long-term viability.
As such, what qualifies as a “success” depends on whom you ask, Harman explained. Neighborhood residents might call a program a success if they feel safer, even if data doesn’t align with perceptions. At the same time, policymakers might consider a program a success if economic growth occurs, despite ongoing unemployment in a region.
Is there a better way to decide what policies and programs are worth replicating and what should be shelved?
“Community work is not for the faint of heart,” Harman said. “It has to be continually nurtured. That’s what I hope to learn through the Fulbright.”
Over the past decade, Harman and the Hayden-Harman Foundation he directs have been instrumental in revitalization efforts that include a jazz festival and neighborhood improvement project in High Point, N.C. Harman also was influential in organizing public support for a bus system in Burlington, N.C., that municipal leaders recently approved.
Researching how the two nations differ in their approaches to revitalization and fighting poverty will make him an even stronger educator, Harman said. Since arriving at Elon in 2007, Harman has taught courses in nonprofit organization, and philanthropy and social change.
Both courses focus on the development of nonprofit and philanthropic institutions in the United States and the roles they play in American society, he said. Students in his philanthropy courses create a grant-making foundation with a mission and vision, interview charities that align with that mission, and at the end of each course, select a grantee that receives funding equal to half of Harman’s teaching salary.
“I engage with students and enjoy getting them excited about current events and issues while preparing them to work,” Harman said. “And even at middle age there are new horizons and new challenges. You don’t get your bachelor’s degree and that’s it. You need to keep learning and progressing.”
Administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, under a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of State, the Fulbright Scholar Program each year sends about 800 U.S. faculty and professionals to more than 150 countries to lecture, research or participate in seminars, according to the program website.
Approximately the same number of foreign faculty each year visit the United States through the program.
Harman earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from High Point University, a master’s in educational psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a doctorate in educational research methodology from the UNC-Greensboro. He also will lead a Durham University course on community redevelopment as part of his award.
“We are thrilled for Patrick,” said Associate Professor Betty Morgan, chair of Elon University’s Department of Political Science and Policy Studies. “This could not have happened to a more accomplished professional, and Durham University where he’ll be working next year is so fortunate to have him coming in.”
The Fulbright was established in 1946 by Congress to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Since its establishment under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 300,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.