John Reiff

Director, Community Engagement Program
Co-Director, Citizen Scholars Program
(413) 545-2015
jreiff@honors.umass.edu

Education
Ph.D., American Culture, University of Michigan, 1982
M.A., American Civilization, University of Texas, 1970
B.A., Plan II (interdisciplinary liberal arts), University of Texas, 1969

Experience
From 1973 to 1987, I taught courses on social issues and peace studies at the University of Michigan and directed a program of writing across the curriculum. For the next five years, I taught peace studies and writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and helped direct the Global Peace and Security Program. From 1992 to 2000, I helped lead the reconstruction of the curriculum at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee, to focus on the "civic arts"-the knowledge and skills needed by citizens to work collaboratively to build solutions to community and societal problems. I oversaw the introduction of service-learning into the curriculum, both creating and directing the service-learning center. Since 2000, I have been Director of OCSL, now CEP.

For the 2005-2006 academic year, I was appointed as the first Visiting Faculty Fellow by Massachusetts Campus Compact. In this role I consulted with faculty and administrators at colleges and universities across the state to support the development of Community Service Learning and civic engagement.

Community Involvement
I have worked as a tutor and in a youth and family counseling center, a hotline/crisis counseling center, and a child care referral service. I've been on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity. My current community involvement is organized mostly through my job-linking community organizations with students and faculty.

Interesting facts
I'm married and have three children and two grandchildren; my family and my work are the major focuses for my life.
I have a long commitment to the practice of nonviolence; I became a conscientious objector to war during the Vietnam War.

I love personal stories-funny or serious.

Favorite quote
"People are a lot like crabgrass. You look at a yard full of crabgrass, and it appears to be full of separate individuals, separate blades of grass. But if you dig down, you find that they all share a common root system, a common system for nourishment; they are all connected at the deepest point." ~Fran Peavey