Laura Livingston, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Joined Chatham: July 2022
Hometown: Roanoke, Virginia

BIOGRAPHY

Laura Livingston is a food systems scholar that uses critical theories to investigate community-identified problems in the food system. On Eden Hall Campus, she works with a phenomenal team of staff and students to steward our agricultural and land-based resources. Our agricultural enterprises include: beekeeping, mushrooms, vegetables, fruit, and maple.

Her first interest in food systems began when she was elected head composter for her college dining cooperative when she was in undergrad. After completing the Peace Corps in Ghana, working with cashew farmers and beekeepers, she began her Agroecology graduate program to gain interdisciplinary skills to support farmers in different cultural, social, economic, and ecological contexts. After falling in love with teaching, Laura decided to persue her PhD in Environment and Resources, utilizing interdisciplinary and community-based research in ther dissertation work. 

At Eden Hall, Laura teaches classes such as Food, Farm, and Field, Agroecology Research Methods, botany, and intensive agriculture using her interdisciplinary background to explore different facets of the food system. Her current personal research centers student agency and leadership development in food systems. 

ACADEMIC AREAS OF INTEREST

Food systems, Critical theories, Community-based approaches, Sustainable agriculture, Soil health, Integrated pest management, Sustainable agriculture pedagogy

PERSONAL AREAS OF INTEREST

Being outdoor, hiking, paddling, skiing, and general adventuring 

EDUCATION
  • Ph.D., Environment and Resources, University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 2022
  • M.S., Agroecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 2018
  • B.A., Biology and Geology, Oberlin College, May 2013
ORGANIZATIONS
  • Association for the Study of Food and Society
  • Association for Food, Culture, and Society 
  • Pasa Sustainable Agriculture 
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
  • Livingston, L.J. and S. LaBrake. “The Challenges of Choosing a ‘Sustainable’ tractor.” Lancaster Farming. August 6, 2024. 
  • Livingston, L. J. (2022). Lessons from COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Engaged Scholarship in Food Systems. Journal of Agriculture, Land, and Human Values.
  • Livingston, L. J. (2021). Tracing Power from within: Learning from Participatory Action Research and Community Development Projects in Food Systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Stoecker, Randy, and Adrienne Falcón (eds). Handbook of Participatory Action Research and Community Development. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

  • Livingston, L. J, Strader, C. and Dawson, J. C. (2018). Creation of an Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship Program in Wisconsin. eOrganic, 6-9. 

 SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
  • Siedel, L.J. Livingston, C. Murakami, and S. Frey, “Addressing campus food security: Navigating the disconnect between right to food philosophy and eemergency food system procedures”, Proceedings of the Agriculture, Land, and Values Association on June 7, Syracuse, New York, June 2024.
  • Cadiuex, C. Murkami, J. Nicklay, Danny Block, and L.J. Livingston, “Funding Participatory Action Research and Learning in Agri-Food Systems work”, Proceedings of the Agriculture, Land and Values Association on June 1, Boston, Massachusetts, June, 2023.  
  • Lessons & Models from COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Engaged Scholarship in Food Systems. Will be presented at Agriculture and Human Values. Savannah, Georgia, May 18-21, 2022. 
  • Innovative Initiatives in Conducting Community-Based Science and Training the Next Generation of Practitioners. Presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Conference, Virtual, December 12, 2021.
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Community-Based Food Systems Scholarship and where we go from here. Presented at the International Association for Research on Service- Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) Virtual Gathering, November 15, 2021.
  • Tracing Power from within using Institutional Ethnography. Presented at the Culture, History, and the Environment Symposium. Madison, Wisconsin, March 20, 2021. 
  • Gompers Grows: A story of community-academic partnership. Accepted to Present at the Living Knowledge Conference. Groningen, The Netherlands, (Cancelled due to COVID- 19), 2020.
  • Organic Farm Manager Apprenticeship Program. Presented at the Organic Vegetable Production Conference. Madison, Wisconsin, February 2, 2020.
  • Participatory Evaluation. Presented at the Organic Vegetable Production Conference.Madison, Wisconsin, February 2, 2020. 
  • This is your Song too: Colorblind Racism in the Online Phish Community. Presented at the Phish Studies Conference. Corvallis, Oregon, May 18, 2019.
  • Formalizing Apprenticeship Curriculum and Material Development. Presented at the Regenerate Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 30, 2018.
  • Nipped in the bud: curriculum creation process reproduces inequalities in sustainable agricultural education. Presented at the Agriculture, Food, and Human Society Conference. Madison, Wisconsin, May 28, 2018.
  • Designing an Apprenticeship Curriculum. Presented at the Community Food Systems Conference. Boston, MA, December 5, 2017.