Hello!

I am a sociologist who specializes in studying the socio-cultural, community, and governance dimensions of food systems, especially as it relates to sustainability, livelihoods, health, and food security. I am the Research Director of Community Food Systems and Social Sustainability in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University, working closely with CSU’s new Spur campus. Previously I was postdoctoral research fellow at Colorado State University as well as the University of Otago’s Centre for Sustainability in New Zealand. I am originally from Colorado where I have had extensive involvement in a variety of community-based projects such as community gardens, cooperatives, and urban agriculture collaborations. Before this, I was a Peace Corps agroforestry extension agent in Malawi. My research typically involves:

• Studying the socio-cultural values, identities, and practices enacted in environmental, food, and agriculture improvement efforts;

• Investigating the ways groups of people work to achieve (and neglect) justice, fairness, and equity in environmental, food, and agriculture arrangements;

• Explaining the socio-cultural, economic, and political connections between day-to-day interactions and regional and global environmental, food, and agriculture patterns;

• And infusing sociological theory and methods into interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral work.