Glen Sterner
POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Glenn Sterner's main research is focused on the application of social network analysis in understanding dark and gray networks
Industry Expertise (2)
Research
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (3)
Community-Police Networks
Opiate Abuse Networks
Illegal Opiate Distribution
Biography
Glenn Sterner received his PhD in Rural Sociology from The Pennsylvania State University. His main research agenda is focused on the application of social network analysis in understanding dark (illicit and illegal) and gray (covert) networks. His dissertation examined and documented the use of social networks in community organizing processes in four municipalities. His current projects include the examination of opiate abuse networks, illegal opiate distribution, and community-police networks to address the opiate epidemic. Please visit the Justice Center’s site Addressing the Opiate Epidemic to learn more about these projects. Glenn is examining the use of social network analysis techniques to address deception in intelligence on terrorism activity. Finally, he is actively engaged in research on the networks of child and human trafficking and cyber aggression on Twitter.
Glenn is also interested in the scholarship of engagement and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He is actively developing a Public Scholarship Consortium to enable the connection of scholars and practitioners across disciplines dedicated to collaboration with communities in knowledge creation initiatives that address public issues and are publicly accessible. This Consortium will be launched in summer of 2017.
Recent publications have been featured in the International Journal for Rural Law and Policy and American Journal of Community Psychology.
Prior to his graduate work at The Pennsylvania State University, Glenn received an M.A. and B.S. from Michigan State University.
Education (3)
The Pennsylvania State University: Ph.D., Rural Sociology 2015
Michigan State University: M.A., Student Affairs Administration 2006
Michigan State University: B.S., Agricultural and Natural Resources Communications 2004
Links (3)
Media Appearances (2)
National leadership needed to fight the opioid crisis
The Hill online
2017-08-09
The opioid crisis claims more than 91 Americans per day from overdoses; more than die of car crashes, gun violence or murders. Although the rate of opioid addiction has risen recently at an alarming rate, there is a misimpression that legitimate opioid use for pain invariably places patients on a fast track to addiction, with many turning to illicit prescriptions and, in many cases, heroin. In reality, only a small portion (1 in 100,000) of those who become dependent on legitimately prescribed opiates become addicted to opioids, such as heroin. So what factors explain the opioid crisis and where should we devote our precious resources?
Researchers, Pennsylvania State Police collaborate on countering opioid epidemic
Penn State News online
2017-02-17
Ongoing research at the Penn State Justice Center for Research is attempting to identify and understand opioid distribution networks and ways to disrupt them.
Articles (5)
Student Perceptions of the Impact of their Diverse Study Abroad Experiences
NACTA Journal
Alison Harrell, Glenn Sterner, Ted Alter, Jean Lonie
2017 Study abroad is a complex and dynamic topic, with many interesting implications on society as the world becomes more globalized. Study abroad programs vary based on many structural factors such as length of stay, location, quality of institutions and language immersion. Student experiences associated with such programs are influenced by these structural factors as well as personal factors including the student's personality and goals for the trip.
Experiencing Service-Learning
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement
Glenn Sterner
2015 These partnerships have the potential to create a context for public access to the knowledge created within our institutions. At a time when American public opinion of higher education continues to wane, reinvigorating and reestablishing our relationship with the public is critical to future support for our work. This may seem self-serving, that the motivation for establishing community–university partnerships is a public relations strategy.
Community implementation dynamics: Nutrient management in the New York City and Chesapeake Bay Watersheds
International Journal of Rural Law and Policy
Glenn Earl Sterner, Ray Bryant, Peter JA Kleinman, Jack Watson, Theodore R Alter
2015 The creation of natural resource management and conservation strategies can be affected by engagement with local citizens and competing interests between agencies and stakeholders at the varying levels of governance. This paper examines the role of local engagement and the interaction between governance levels on the outcomes of nutrient management policy, a specific area of natural resource conservation and management. Presented are two case studies of the New York City and Chesapeake Bay Watersheds in the US. These case studies touch upon the themes of local citizen engagement and governance stakeholder interaction in changing nutrient management to improve water quality. An analysis of these cases leads to several key considerations for the creation and implementation of nutrient management and natural resource management more broadly, including the importance of: local citizen engagement, government brokering and cost sharing; and the need of all stakeholders to respect each other in the policy creation and implementation process.
The Short Guide to Community Development
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement
Glenn Sterner
2013 Review by Glenn Sterner What is community development? Why is community development practiced in certain ways? How do people engage in community development? Why is community development relevant? Gilchrist and Taylor tackle these and other tough questions in The Short Guide to Community Development.
Rural Embedded Assistants for Community Health (REACH) Network: First-Person Accounts in a Community–University Partnership
American Journal of Community Psychology
Louis D Brown, Theodore R Alter, Leigh Gordon Brown, Marilyn A Corbin, Claire Flaherty-Craig, Lindsay G McPhail, Pauline Nevel, Kimbra Shoop, Glenn Sterner, Thomas E Terndrup, M Ellen Weaver
2013 Community research and action projects undertaken by community–university partnerships can lead to contextually appropriate and sustainable community improvements in rural and urban localities. However, effective implementation is challenging and prone to failure when poorly executed. The current paper seeks to inform rural community–university partnership practice through consideration of first-person accounts from five stakeholders in the Rural Embedded Assistants for Community Health (REACH) Network. The REACH Network is a unique community–university partnership aimed at improving rural health services by identifying, implementing, and evaluating innovative health interventions delivered by local caregivers. The first-person accounts provide an insider’s perspective on the nature of collaboration. The unique perspectives identify three critical challenges facing the REACH Network: trust, coordination, and sustainability. Through consideration of the challenges, we identified several strategies for success. We hope readers can learn their own lessons when considering the details of our partnership’s efforts to improve the delivery infrastructure for rural healthcare.
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