David Crocker

• Biography
• Research
• Teaching

Biography

Dr. David A. Crocker is Senior Research Scholar at the University's Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy and the School of Public Policy. Coming to UMD in 1993, he specializes in international development ethics, sociopolitical philosophy, transitional justice, democracy, and democratization. Offering graduate courses in ethics, development, foreign aid, democracy, and human rights, Dr. Crocker helped establish and directs the School's specialization in International Development, the School's largest and fastest growing program.  He also directs doctoral dissertations on ethics and global issues.  In 1998, he started the Development Circle, a bi-weekly speaker-forum that addresses ethical issues in international development.  In 2009, he shared with Herman Daly the School's award for "outstanding faculty member."  

Since 2007, Dr. Crocker has been director of the College Park Scholars Public Leadership program, an undergraduate living-learning-service program for 150 freshmen and sophomores.  In this program he treats global leadership, citizenship, and civic engagement as exemplified by people such as Nelson Mandela, Greg Mortenson, and Wangari Maathai.  In January, he will direct his third study-abroad trip to Morocco, where the group studies "Culture and Human Rights - A Public Leadership Perspective."  In 2010, he led a study trip to Peru to study "Development, Democracy, and Human Rights in Peru."

After three degrees from Yale University (M.Div., MA, and Ph.D.), Dr. Crocker taught philosophy for 25 years at Colorado State University, where he established one of the world's first courses in ethics and international development.  He was a visiting professor at the University of Munich, was twice a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Costa Rica, held the UNESCO Chair in Development at the University of Valencia (Spain), and taught at the National Autonomous University of Honduras and the University of Chile.  He was chair of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on International Cooperation, an officer of the Human Development and Capability Association, and a founder and president of the International Development Ethics Association.  He has been a consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, and the World Bank.

Dr. Crocker has given 250 invited lectures or conference papers in English or Spanish in 25 countries. His most recent publications are Ethics of Global Development: Agency, Capability, and Deliberative Democracy (Cambridge University Press) and "Comercio, reducción de pobreza, y democratización: Hacia un círculo virtuoso."  A study in progress, entitled "Reckoning with Past Wrongs: Ends, Means, and Cases," evaluates the experiences of Chile, East Asia, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. In November 2010, Dr. Crocker received the Landmark Award "given for exceptional long-term achievements in support of international life at the University of Maryland."

Areas of Interest:
Ethics, development, foreign aid, democratization, and human rights

Research

Please visit https://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/faculty/dcrocker for more information.

Teaching - Spring 2012