Mark G. Chupp, PhD, MSW is an associate professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University. He is founding director of the Community Innovation Network, a resource for communities and practitioners seeking strength-based approaches to community change. Mark’s research and practice over 30 years has focused on community building, community development and inter-group conflict transformation. Mark served as co-director of the Social Justice Institute at Case Western Reserve University from 2020-2023 and the SJI Education Coordinator in 2024.
Mark began his career in restorative justice, directing the first Victim Offender Reconciliation Program in the US. Dr. Chupp is an international consultant and trainer in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. He lived in Costa Rica and Nicaragua from 1988 to 1991, where he worked extensively throughout Central America. Of note, he accompanied Peace and Reconciliation Commissions during the negotiation of the end of the civil war in Nicaragua. He also provided leadership in the establishment of the Culture of Peace Program and a UN Local Zone of Peace in post-war El Salvador.
Mark holds a PhD in social welfare from Case Western Reserve University. He earned his MSW from the University of Michigan with a concentration in community organization, which led to him serving as an organizer in a marginalized neighborhood facing intractable internal conflict. He also organized a comprehensive community assessment and founded a nonprofit organization focused on community mediation and violence prevention. Mark designed an appreciative inquiry process for promoting race relations in a Polish American neighborhood that was experiencing a large increase in African American residents. This work was the focus of his dissertation, which identified pathways for building trust across racial differences. He then collaborated with other practitioners to establish Appreciative Inquiry for Community and Social Change, one of the first systematic efforts to adopt appreciative inquiry for nonprofit and community contexts. He has published numerous theory and practice oriented articles, manuals and book chapters. A Spanish language manual he co-authored with John Paul Lederach on transforming conflict and violence has been used throughout Latin America. Mark is a founding trustee of the National Peace Academy, an adjunct faculty at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute of Eastern Mennonite University, and a member of the faculty of the Asset Based Community Development Institute based at DePaul University.
Biosketch
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar
Why I Chose This Profession
I have been on a vision quest throughout my career, seeking to build community across identity groups. I spent years as a practitioner in community building, community organizing and conflict transformation. Social work provided the strongest theoretical and practice foundation for this work. I pursued this quest for community-led social change in both my social work practice and studies. Having initiated several change movements and nonprofit organizations, I realized the capacity to affect change was much greater through training, teaching, applied research, and writing.
Teaching Information
Courses Taught
Research Information
Research Interests
- Community building and social capital in community development
- The transformation of inter-group conflict, especially across identity groups
- Citizen participation in democratic decision-making and public deliberation
- Appreciative Inquiry in nonprofit organizations and communities
Recent Funding
2024-2025
Principal Investigator: Community Engagement Process: Reducing Gun Violence by Taking Action Locally
City of Euclid, Euclid City Schools, Euclid Public Library
$54,000
2024-2025
Principal Investigator, Cleveland Care Response: Pilot Engagement Process
The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County
$34,000
2023-2025
Principal Investigator, Social Justice Postdoc Scholars
The George Gund Foundation
$300,000
2022-2023
Principal Investigator, Working Together to Break the Cycle of Child Trafficking in Greater Cleveland.
Ohio Department of Mental Health Services
$148,000
2021-2023
Principal Investigator, Cleveland Community Engagement Program
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress
$55,000
2021-2023
Co-Principal Investigator, Conflict Transformation and Restorative Practices Curriculum Development
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Equius Consulting
$20,000
2020
Consultant, External Committee on Community Engagement and Social Impact
Think Big Seed Grant, Case Western Reserve University
$10,000
2018-2021
Principal Investigator, Build Capacity - Strengthen Communities
George Gund Foundation
$100,000 (over 3 years)
2019-2020
Consultant, Community Engagement Capacity Building with an Asset-Based Approach Community Foundation of Elkhart County, Elkhart, IN
$25,000 + $25,000
2019-2020
Consultant, Development of a place-based community engagement strategy using the ABCD framework in Baltimore, MD.
Bainum Foundation, Baltimore, MD
$80,635
2018-2020
Consultant, Case Western Reserve University Community Engagement Planning
George Gund Foundation, Cleveland, OH
$75,000 (portion of $1,000,000 capital grant to Case Western Reserve University)
2018-2020
Scholarships for neighborhood residents, Foundations of Community Building
Office of the Provost, Case Western Reserve University
$17,500 + $17,500 (2 cohorts)
2018-2019
Co-Principal Investigator, Promoting Effective Neighboring
St. Luke's Foundation, Cleveland, OH
$20,000
Publications
Recent Publications
Chupp, Mark, Madden, Jennifer, Yankey, John. (2022) Strategic Planning.
Chupp, Mark G., Fletcher Adrianne M., Graulty, James A. Toward authentic university-community engagement.
Jewett-Tennant, J., Collins, C., Matloub, J., Patrick, A., Chupp, M., Werner, J., Borawski, E.A. (2016). Partnership among peers: Lessons learned from the development of a community organization/ academic research training program. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 10/3, 461-470.
Chupp, M. G., & Joseph, M. L. (2010). Getting the most out of service learning: Maximizing student, university, and community impact. Journal of Community Practice, 18, 190–212.
Chupp, M. G. (2009). "Task groups as agents of community change." In A. Gitterman & R. Salmon (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Work with Groups. pp. 269–272, New York, NY: Routledge.
Presentations
Recent National and International Presentations
Chupp, M.G. & Garcia Zembrana, I. (2020). “An Analysis of Six Power Ladders, Wheels, and Progressions: From Non-participation to Community Control and from Victims to Producers,” Presentation at the Global (Un)conference, Co-Creating Our Future Stories of Hope and Action, online, June 24.
Chupp, M. G., Garth, G., & McDonnell, K. (2020). “Connecting institutions, nonprofits, researchers and people on the frontlines through strength-based approaches to community change,” presentation at the National Community Leaders Summit, Essential Partners, online, June 26.
Chupp, M. G. & McKinney, S. (2020). “Effective Neighboring across Difference: Lessons Learned in Participatory Action Research,” e-poster presentation, Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, DC, January 17.
Chupp, M. G. (2018) “Facilitating Racial Equity in Funding the Arts,” presentation, National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation Biennial Conference, Denver Colorado, November 2.
Chupp, M. G. & Broadus D. (2018) “Bridging the Divide: Urban Universities and the Communities They Serve,” International Conflict Resolution Education Conference, Case Western Reserve University, May 25.
Education
Additional Information
Concentration
- Community Practice for Social Change (Chair)
- Masters of Nonprofit Organizations
- Undergraduate Minor in Social Work (Chair)