Dan W. Butin

Dan W. Butin is an associate professor and founding dean of the school of education at Merrimack College. He is the author and editor of more than sixty academic publications, including the books Service-Learning in Theory and Practice: The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education (2010), which won the 2010 Critics Choice Book Award of the American Educational Studies Association, Service-Learning and Social Justice Education (2008), and Teaching Social Foundations of Education (2005). Dr. Butin's research focuses on issues of educator preparation and policy, and community engagement. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Butin was a middle school math and science teacher and the chief financial officer of Teach For America. More of Dr. Butin’s work can be found at http://danbutin.org/.

Click here for Dr. Butin's full CV.

Books

 New Book: The Engaged Campus: Majors, Minors, and Certificates as the New Community Engagement. (co-edited with Scott Seider)

This book is an outgrowth of annual Summer Research Institute on the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. (See the website for this year's conference, where many of the book chapters will be presented.)



 Award-Winning Book: Service-Learning in Theory and Practice

 Service-Learning in Theory and Practice: the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. NY: Palgrave. 2010.

“This book is intellectually honest, theoretically sophisticated, and deeply impassioned. Butin embodies the kind of ‘scholarly criticality’ that anyone interested in moving the field forward should cherish. This book will shake your assumptions about service learning in all the right ways.” ~ Joel Westheimer, University Research Chair and Professor, University of Ottawa

WINNER -- 2010 Critics Choice Book Award of the American Educational Studies Association

Palgrave; Amazon

The Education Dissertation: A Guide for Practitioner-Scholars. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 2010. 

"The book is rich with ideas and strategies for thinking about every phase of the dissertation and for undertaking each phase once it has been carefully thought out." ~ Daniel L. Duke, Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Virginia

 Corwin; Amazon; Google Books

 
Service-Learning and Social Justice Education (2008)

 Routledge; Amazon; Google Books

100 Experiential Activities for Social Studies, Literature, and the Arts (2008)

Corwin; Amazon; Google Books

Teaching Social Foundations of Education (2005)

• Reviewed in Teachers College Record, 2006, 105(8)
• Reviewed in the Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2007, 41(2)

Routledge; Amazon; Google Books

Service-Learning in Higher Education (2005)

Palgrave; Amazon; Google Books

(read the introduction)

• featured book (summer 2007) of the  Canadian Association of Community Service-Learning
• featured book (September 2005) of the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

New Scholarship

New Book Series with Palgrave: Critical Studies in Community Engagement in Higher Education (editor: Dan W. Butin)

New Theme Issue in the Journal of College and Character: "The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education" writing the editor's introduction and an article: "Rethinking the ‘Apprenticeship of Liberty’: The Case for Academic Programs in Community Engagement in Higher Education"

New Book Chapter

“Service-Learning as an Intellectual Movement: The Need for an ‘Academic Home’ and Critique for the Community Engagement Movement.” In Problematizing Service-Learning: Critical Reflections for Development and Action, edited by Trae Stewart & Nicole Webster. Information Age Publishing. 

AAC&U Presentation-- January 27, 2011

Chair and presenter of a panel presentation -- “’Can I Major in Service-Learning?’ Rethinking and Revitalizing the Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education” -- with Elizabeth Minnich, Edward Whitfield, and Nadinne Cruz. 

Participant -- Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

Panelist on a roundtable discussion of 25 researchers brought together by AAC&U and the US Department of Education on the creation of a policy paper on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement in higher education. February 7, 2011.

Keynote Talk

"When Service is Not Enough: A Vision for the Future of the Engaged Campus" Keynote talk at Duke University, December 1-2, 2010.

Previous Work

Educational Studies (2005)

Theme: How Social Foundations Matters to Teacher Preparation: A Policy Brief

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2006)

Theme: Future Directions for Service-Learning in Higher Education

recent talks

Keynote speaker at the The International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership meeting in Portland, Oregon on February 17, 2009 on the topic of “Service-Learning, Leadership, and Democracy”.

Keynote speaker at Oakland University's Equity Within the College Classroom Conference, on April 6, 2009 on the topic of "Democracy and Education: The Limits and Possibilities of the Engaged Campus”.