Another reason Beck likes teaching at ISU is his research agenda, noting that he accepted the job at Illinois State over two years ago due to the balance between teaching and research. Beck's research interests include community growth policies and practices, absentee-owned companies and their effect on communities and regional economies, and the federal program titled Empowerment Zones, where block grant money is allocated in addition to tax cuts to boost community economic development. Illinois State's master's degree programs for returning Peace Corps Fellows factored into Beck's decision to leave his teaching position at Pennsylvania State for one at Illinois State. This fall we will have the first group of Fellows going through the Sociology master's degree program. Beck will serve as coordinator of the program for Sociology-Anthropology.
Students take various community perspectives on issues.
Sometimes they are the mayor, sometimes a regional planner, sometimes a parent. The latter is a role Beck identifies with as he and his wife, Cathy, have a six-year old son, Alex. We are very active parents. When Beck is not parenting, he and his family like to hike and camp regionally, with a trip to Indiana's Turkey Run in the making. We even camped on our honeymoon.