Cynthia Duncan: Civic Culture in New England Communities: Why the Middle Class Matters

Cynthia (Mil) Duncan became founding director of the Carsey Institute for Families and Communities at the University of New Hampshire in May 2004. She has a joint appointment in the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Health and Human Services, as Professor of Sociology and Professor of Health, Management and Policy respectively. The Carsey Institute supports interdisciplinary policy research as well as analysis that informs community leaders in the northern New England region. Prior to joining the Carsey Institute, Dr. Duncan served as the Ford Foundation?s Director of Community and Resource Development, a national and international program that supports sustainable development focused on racial justice, social equity, and inclusive civic engagement. From 1989-2000 she was a professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, where she taught classes on poverty and inequality, political sociology, social change, and qualitative and applied methodology. She is the author of Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America (Yale University Press 1999), which won the American Sociological Association?s Robert E. Park Award, Rural Poverty in America, an edited collection on rural poverty, and numerous articles on poverty and development. Before joining UNH?s faculty, Dr. Duncan was Co-founder of the Aspen Institute?s Rural Economic Policy program.