University of Connecticut |Meet the Co-Director
Dr. Scott Harding
Scott Harding is Co-Director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work Practice (NAHIPSW) and is an Assistant Professor in Community Organization at the School of Social Work. He teaches courses on community organization, macro social work practice, social policy, and war, militarism, and social welfare. He was previously a faculty member at the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare.
Scott received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where he was a founding member of the Intergroup Dialogue, Education and Action project, which adopted peer-facilitated dialogue on issues of diversity and social justice into the social work curriculum. His dissertation examined urban redevelopment, gentrification, and the loss of low-income housing in downtown Seattle. He earned his bachelors’ degree and MSW from California State University, Sacramento.
His research addresses “political social work,” including collaborations between social workers and activists working to strengthen local communities and address poverty and forms of social exclusion. His work on international issues, centered on the relationship between global social problems, conflict, and international social welfare, analyzes the linkage between processes of globalization, well-being, and policy at the national and international level.
Scott has worked on social justice and international solidarity issues for 20 years. He has extensive organizing and advocacy experience on issues of homelessness, affordable housing, welfare, and community development. He was Executive Director and Policy Coordinator for the California Homeless & Housing Coalition from 1992-1995. He also worked for Housing California, the California Budget Project, and the California Coalition for Rural Housing.
He has served as a board member for national, state, and local organizations in Connecticut, California, and Kansas. From 1988-1990 he was the Project Coordinator for the Labor Coalition on Central America, a national human rights organization working to build labor solidarity with unions in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, and to raise public awareness about U.S. foreign policy in Central America.