Ronald J. Oakerson

Ronald J. Oakerson is the dean of Houghton College. He served previously as a professor of political science and as the chairman of the Department of History and Political Science. He is a founding member of the National Rural Studies Council and serves on the American Political Science Association's Task Force on Civic Education for the Next Century.

Oakerson states, "The purpose of education is to build a bridge between generations, so as to preserve our accomplishments."

Employment History

From 1985-88 he was a senior analyst with the US Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and directed the Commission's program on metropolitan government. He has previously taught at Marshall University and from 1988-92 was a scholar with the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indian University, Bloomington.

Oakerson is a former member of the Panel on Common Property Resources Management of the National Resource Council and a coeditor of Making the Commons Work: Theory, Practice, and Policy (1992). From 1992-94 he served as the research director for the Program of Research on Market Transitions of the US Agency for International Development (Cameroon).

Writings by Ronald J. Oakerson

• Governing Local Public Economies: Creating the Civic Metropolis
• Keepers of the Republic: A Civic View of American Politics