Besel is associate professor at Indiana University-Kokomo, School of Public and Environmental Affairs and faculty member at the Center on Philanthropy, IUPUI.
His research includes nonprofit sustainability, comparative civil society, as well as community and economic development. Besel served as a visiting philanthropy faculty scholar at the Clinton School’s Center on Community Philanthropy during the Fall of 2009 and undertook a comprehensive study on nonprofit sustainability within the American South and Midwest with Dr. Charlotte Williams and Clinton School student Joanna Klak. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Nonprofit Management and Leadership Fall 2011.