
Company: The Ohio State University
Position: Kellogg Endowed Chair of Agroecosystem Management, and Professor
I am broadly trained as a sociologist, with significant background in geography, economics, political science, and anthropology. I believe deeply in the value of using social science theory and mixed methods to address pressing problems in the United States and abroad. Throughout my career, I have sought to balance the importance of structural determinants of social outcomes with the notion that individual and collective actors have significant agency in determining their choices and behaviors. My work has spanned multiple, overlapping scales to better understand the relative contributions of individual, household, community, institutional, and national/global drivers of farm structural change, land use transformations, and environmentally-relevant behaviors.
I utilize a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data in my research, including extensive use of secondary data, mail and internet surveys, key informant interviews, and focus groups). I have published research using multivariate statistical modeling as well as structured iterative analysis of qualitative data. I am particularly interested in finding ways to use geospatial technology and data to explore ways to integrate spatial processes and outcomes into my work.
Nearly all of my research is deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary, and my published work is targeted at journals and audiences across both social science and environmental science disciplines and outlets. I am increasingly interested in participatory and engaged models of scholarship, and seek opportunities to integrate the voices and experiences of farmers, citizens, and stakeholders in the design and use of scientific research.
As Kellogg Chair, I direct the OSU Agroecosystem Management Program (AMP) and Organic Farm and Food Education and Research (OFFER) program.
See CV on my website
BS, Rural Sociology, Cornell University 1986
MS, Rural Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1990
MA, Agricultural Economics, UW-Madison 1991
PhD, Sociology, UW-Madison 1995
Kellogg Endowed Chair of Agroecosystem Management, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2023-present.
Director, Agroecosystem Management Program, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, 2023-present (2021-2022, Interim).
Professor and Associate Director, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, August 2016-present.
Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, July 2011 to August 2016.
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, July 2005 to June 2011.
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, August 2001 to June 2005.
Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URPL), with joint faculty appointment in the Department of Rural Sociology, and Co-Director, Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, January 1999 to July 2001.
Associate Scientist and Associate Director, Program on Agricultural Technology Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, July 1996 to December 1998.