Rusty Brooks
Ph.D., University of Georgia
Associate Director
International Center
706.542.7502
rbrookscviog.uga.edu

Dr. Brooks's program in the International Center focuses primarily on assisting government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector in work related to sustainable economic development policies and practices and rural development strategies and policies. He has expertise in strategic planning for economic development and in the development of policies and practices that support heritage and cultural tourism and related rural and economic development activities.

He has authored more than 100 community-level studies across the United States. He has worked with a diverse array of clients, including the Unitend Nations Development Organization, Georgia Power Company, Southern Energy, Inc., Lloyd Werft, WalMart, chambers of commerce in 11 states, the Georgia Council of Economic Development Organizations, Tennessee Valley Authority, Florida Rural Development, the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Dr. Brooks was named a Salzburg Fellow for Sustainable Development in February 1998 and an International Fellow in May 1998 by the University of Georgia. He is the coauthor of Transforming Your Community: Empowering for Change and has been published in numerous journals and other periodicals. He has worked extensively in international development activities in Australia, the Bahamas, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, China, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Fields of interest: sustainable development theory and practice, action learning, action planning