JON VAN TIL’S HOME PAGE

Jon Van Til is Professor of Urban Studies and Community Planning at Rutgers University’s Camden Campus. This website provides material for his students in several courses, and for colleagues in the field of urban policy, voluntary and nonprofit organization, and citizen participation.

Van Til chaired the Urban Studies Department from 1974 to 1986, and is a co-founder of the graduate program in public policy at his campus. He directed the Urban Studies department's innovative program in Citizenship and Service Education from 1988 to 2000. He is on a sabbatical leave at Rutgers for the academic year 2008-9.

Van Til's books include BREACHING DERRY’S WALLS (2008), GROWING CIVIL SOCIETY (2008—paperback; 2000 hardback), HEGYESI ’60—A FESTSCHRIFT (co-edited with Andras Kelen), CRITICAL ISSUES IN AMERICAN PHILANTHROPY (1990), MAPPING THE THIRD SECTOR: VOLUNTARISM IN A CHANGING SOCIAL ECONOMY (1988), NONPROFIT BOARDS OF DIRECTORS (co-edited with Robert Herman, 1988), SHIFTING THE DEBATE: PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR RELATIONS IN THE MODERN WELFARE STATE (co-edited with Susan Ostrander and Stuart Langton, 1987). Earlier books include LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS: CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE, LIVING WITH ENERGY SHORTFALL (1982), INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON VOLUNTARY ACTION RESEARCH (1981), and PRIVILEGE IN AMERICA: AN END TO INEQUALITY? (1973).

A forthcoming book is Public Deliberation and Sustained Dialogue: Pracademic Perspectives (co-edited with Roger Lohmann and Dolly Ford).

Van Til served as Editor-in-Chief of NONPROFIT AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR QUARTERLY (formerly the JOURNAL OF VOLUNTARY ACTION RESEARCH) from 1978 through 1992. He was twice elected President of the Association of Voluntary Action Scholars, and is the founding Board Chair of the Center for Nonprofit Corporations (Trenton). Van Til has also served as a Trustee of the George H. Gallup International Institute.

Van Til writes a regular column in the NONPROFIT TIMES, the major trade magazine for the nonprofit sector, which he serves as a Consulting Editor. He has published in a variety of scholarly journals including SOCIAL WORK, TRANSACTION/SOCIETY, and the URBAN AFFAIRS QUARTERLY.

An active leader in the development of nonprofit organizations in the Camden area, Van Til is a former board member and longtime adviser of the Community Planning and Advocacy Council, the Human Services Coalition of Camden County. Among the national clients of Van Til's consulting in the area of voluntary and nonprofit action have been the National Service Secretariat, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Health Visions Inc., the University of Colorado, the University of Pennsylvania, and the United Way of Central Indiana.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore College with High Honors in Political Science, Van Til received his doctorate in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1991 he was recognized as "Creative Teacher of the Year" at Rutgers, Camden for his work in developing that campus' program in Citizenship and Service Education. In 1994, he received the Career Award for Distinguished Research and Service from the Association for Research in Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.

Van Til was named Fulbright Distinguished Professor at the University of Ulster during the Spring term, 2004, serving in the Magee College’s INCORE and Centre for Voluntary Action Studies. In the academic year 2005-6 he served as Fulbright
Senior Specialist at INCORE. In March 2010 he plans lead a study tour of Northern Ireland for post-graduates from Rutgers and other universities. For further information on that study tour, use the following link: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/NISTUDYTOUR2010.html

Van Til served as Anna Deane Carlson Distinguished Visiting Chair in Social Science at West Virginia University from 2003-2005. His biography has been included in WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA.

To access pages in the website, please use the links below:

PAPER PRESENTED AT 2008 ISTR CONFERENCE, BARCELONA

THE THIRD SECTOR IN THE SOCIAL CRISIS OF OUR AGE, by JON VAN TIL, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, USA and GABOR HEGYESI, ELTE UNIVERSITY BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, Paper presented to ISTR/EMES conference, Barcelona, July 2008

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ISTRPAPER2008.html

SLIDES ACCOMPANYING THE PAPER

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ISTRSLIDES2008

ESSAYS HERE PUBLISHED BY JON VAN TIL

These essays seem sufficiently mature to their writer to be presented to colleagues as “published” on this site—that is made available to the public. Colleagues will be notified of their existence, and of new additions, through the remarkable list-serv, ARNOVA-L. The author is deeply appreciative for the support he has been provided by colleagues within ARNOVA, and for their kind interest in his writings over a period of 35 years.

These two essays were presented at the ARNOVA conference in Atlanta, November 2007:

“American Nonprofit Scholars Think About Social Justice,” a dialogue in the mythical “Explorers’ Club”. http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ARNOVA 2007 SOCIAL JUSTICE.html

“A Review Essay: Searching for Critical Issues in Philanthropy,” a review of four recent books on philanthropy, including two relating to the secret giving of Charles Feeney. http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ARNOVA 2007 PHILANTHROPY PAPER.html

Here are several other recent writings:

“Identity in a Millennial Age”, a lecture invited for presentation in Budapest during a time of right-wing street violence and resurgent anti-Semitism (February 2007).

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/IDENTITY IN A MILLENNIAL AGE.html

“Active Citizens Networking”, an article about the remarkable work of the Italian organization, Cittadinanzattiva.

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ACTIVE CITIZENS.html

“Wonderland 2006”, based on earlier work by Lewis Carroll and William Van Til, and first presented as a lecture to the Summer School on Nonprofits at Trinity College, Dublin in June 2006.

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/WONDERLAND 2006.html

“The Fascinating Culture of the American Nonprofit Sector”, another humorous and ironic article adapting the work of William Van Til to the 21^st Century nonprofit world.

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/J. ABNER PEDDIWELL.html

“Nonprofits and the Ends of the World”, a consideration of the frightening presence of religious fanaticism in the nonprofit world.

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/RAPTURE.html

COURSES JON VAN TIL HAS RECENTLY TAUGHT AT Rutgers University

975: 204 POVERTY AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/courses/204-POVERTY.html

975:493 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/courses/493-NONPROFIT.html

975: 490 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TECHNIQUES: DIALOGUE AND DELIBERATIONhttp://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/courses/490-SD.html

975:451 COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/courses/451-COMMUNITY.html

975:102 APPROACHES TO URBAN STUDIES http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/courses/102-APPROACHES.html

INFORMATION ON JON VAN TIL'S NEWEST BOOK, GROWING CIVIL SOCIETY

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/GCS.html

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES OF REPORTS WRITTEN BY JON VAN TIL (For full electronic copies of these reports, send an email to vantil@camden.rutgers.edu)

A report on a focus group on Fragile Families policy, 2000: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/reports/FRAGILE-FAMILIES.HTML

A report on the Mentoring in the City Program at Marian College, 1997: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/reports/MARIAN.HTML

A stakeholder assessment of Youth as Resources of Central Indiana, 2000 (FULL REPORT): http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/reports/YAR.HTML

A qualitative research report on the AmeriCorps program conducted for the George H. Gallup International Institute, 1998: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/reports/AMERICORPS.HTML

WORKING PAPERS BY JON VAN TIL

A draft paper on social capital and weak community infrastructure in Northern Ireland, joint with Arthur P. Williamson and Ed Cairns, as presented in 2004 to ISTR, Toronto

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/ISTR04.html

A paper on theory of the third sector done for the Think Tank of Case Western Reserve University, 1997: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/CWRU-THEORY.HTML

A paper on issues beyond the "end of work", presented to the International Society for Third Sector Research in 1998: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/END-OF-WORK.HTML

A paper on education and training in nonprofit management, prepared with the support of the International Society for Third Sector Research jointly with Gabor Hegyesi: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/Istrmex2.html

A review essay entitled "Change Leadership or Change Management" , co-authored with David Swalve for the forthcoming Handbook of Nonprofit Management (Tracy Connors, ed.): http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/LEAD-MANAGE.HTML

PAPER ON "CIVIL SOCIETY CENSUS" OF CAMDEN

This paper was presented at the ARNOVA conference in November, 2000 in New Orleans, and is titled "ASSOCIATIONS AS ASSETS IN THE URBAN COMMUNITY: A STUDY OF TWO INNER-CITY NEIGHBORHOODS IN CAMDEN." The paper is co-authored with five Rutgers undergraduates: LEROY GOULD, MEGHAN MURTHA, SUZANNE BRENNAN, TWANA CISSE, AND CLAUDE WALLACE: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~vantil/papers/census.html