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As the Research Coordinator and a Community and Organizational Specialist, Scott facilitates the Research team of Self-Help Network and plays a major role in assisting non-profits, grassroots coalitions, and community based initiatives through our Community and Organizational Development team. Since 1993 Scott has coordinated our Research team which has conducted several projects designed to help create thriving and supportive communities. Scott believes through a partnership approach, useful evaluation and research can be conducted that provides timely and useful feedback to those involved and helps inform future decisions. While this approach benefits the projects and initiatives in which he is involved, Scott's work has also been recognized more broadly. He has nearly fifteen peer-reviewed articles published and has made over forty presentations at national and international professional conferences. In addition, Scott is a WSU Research Professor and serves as an adjunct professor of psychology at Wichita State University. With his leadership, the Self-Help Network has researched and evaluated a number of nationally recognized projects and initiatives. The Self-Help Network research team explored the factors that contribute to self-help group development and survival, examined the effectiveness of self-help groups for Hispanic parents, evaluated the largest statewide initative designed to create leader-full communities, assessed a statewide initiative to make Kansas a better place to raise a child, conducted the most in-depth evaluation of consumer run organizations, and assessed of a statwide initiative to build the capacity of community-based and faith-based organizations. While at the Network, Scott has served on two national research projects in which Self-Help Network was involved. He participated in a Stanford University School of Medicine multicenter trial of support groups for breast cancer patients and prostate cancer patients to determine the effects psychological and social factors have on breast cancer patients' quality and quantity of life. Scott was also a research associate on a University of North Carolina national system-level evaluation of the ACCESS (Access to Community Care and Effective Services and Supports) federal demonstration project funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration. ACCESS was designed to integrate systems of treatment, supportive services, and housing for homeless persons with severe mental illness, particularly those with a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. The Network was responsible for conducting the evaluation of the two Kansas ACCESS sites. More recently, Scott played a major role in the evaluation of the Kansas Community Leadership Initiative (KCLI). The KCLI was the largest statewide initiative in the United States designed to create leader-full communities. This research was based on social psychology and related theory, while also having practical relevance to the individuals and organizations served by the research. Scott also has a strong background in strategic planning, nonprofit development, grant writing, and group decision-making processes. He applies his facilitation skills to a variety of settings, whether it is with a group of Parish Nurses in Parsons, a coalition in Abilene to make it the best place to raise children, or teaching classes at Wichita State University. Committed to making his home state of Kansas the best place to live, Scott believes that everyone has strengths and personal experiences that can help in creating a shared vision for the future. In his spare time, Scott enjoys tennis, basketball, reading, and watching a good movie. Finally, and most important in his life are his wife, Joy, and their two children.
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