state-ofthe-art

Positioning our
Community & College
Research for the Community
The Center for Community Studies (CCS) at Jefferson Community College
is committed to enhancing the quality of life of the North Country. Each
year, the Center conducts unbiased community-based research on issues
of significance to aid in local decision-making. Jefferson students play a
big role in the research process: the Center provides the opportunity for
students to apply their classroom knowledge, gain hands-on experience,
and grow as citizens making a difference. All of this makes the Center a
highly valued entity here in the North Country, for both the residents and
student participants.
On the brink of his re-immersion into full-time teaching after five years
as director of the College’s Center for Community Studies, JCC politicalscience
professor Ray Petersen described the rewards of his CCS tenure
and his vision for the Center’s future.
When Dr. Petersen assumed the title of director in 2011, he was not
new to the Center. Since 1999, he helped with programming and was
instrumental in setting up a lecture series that focused, over the years, on
topics ranging from understanding world cultures, to sustainability, to
community social and economic issues like wind farms, gun control, and
minimum wage.
Jefferson Insider - Volume 13 • 10
In fact, the CCS grew out of a prospectus he submitted after a 1991
sabbatical trip to study other community centers. As the fourth director,
he succeeds JCC’s Dr. Richard Halpin, Denise Young, and Richard
LeClerc, each of whom furthered the Center’s work. During his tenure, Dr.
Petersen described his own Center objectives as financial and workload
stability - maintaining the Center’s valuable work while recognizing that