Biography honors life and work of graduate, former faculty member

At the time of his death in 1993, Ken Wilkinson ('65) was a distinguished professor of rural sociology at Penn State University and one of the most prominent scholars on the subject of community.

In a unique on-line publication, Community: A Biography in Honor of the Life and Work of Ken Wilkinson, family, friends, former students, and colleagues describe how Wilkinson fostered community in every phase of his life while influencing the field of rural sociology worldwide. Also included in the work are examples of Wilkinson's own poetry, diary entries, and academic writing.

Wilkinson earned a Ph.D. in rural sociology from Mississippi State and subsequently joined the faculty. He served as director of the university's Social Science Research Center 1964-71.

Published by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development headquartered at Penn State, Community illustrates the positive rippling effect of a single human being working and living in a particular place at a specific time. It seeks to cross the barriers that divide science, sociology, literature, and biography, and was published on-line in order to reach the most diverse audience possible.

Community is available on the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development's web site at <http://www.cas.nercrd.psu.edu/community.html>.