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| Food Studies Year in Review 2020-21 Advancing food justice through collaboration We’ve all witnessed collaboration’s power to guide us on a path to positive action and change. We are stronger working together, which has never been more evident—and more essential—than in recent months. A global health crisis continues to have us reflecting on our health and the wellbeing of our communities. Our attention also remains on racial justice. Educating for creating positive social change is embraced here in Falk College where social responsibility and social justice are at the heart of our value system- a theme evident in the news highlights below. The commitment of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners is inspiring and propels us forward toward a more just and sustainable society. We invite you to join us in these efforts. Rick Welsh, Ph.D.
Falk Family Endowed Professor of Food Studies
Chair, Department of Nutrition and Food Studies | | | | | |
| Combating food insecurity during pandemic and beyond | | | | Nel Gaudé worked in kitchens for a decade before pursuing a master’s degree in food studies. After job displacement due to COVID, Gaudé was connected with the facilitator for the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA). Gaudé is helping SOFSA, a new food policy council that sprang into action in response to COVID, to create an organizational structure while fulfilling a demand for emergency food. “They saw the need to help organize and connect people with emergency food,” says Gaudé. SOFSA continues to address community challenges in mitigating pandemic-induced food shortages. Read this story. | | | | | |
| Professor Weissman’s food justice vision continues through fellowship, scholarship | | | | Professor Evan Weissman was a tireless advocate for food system equity. His local work continues to serve as a national best practices model for bringing food justice to communities across urban America. Shortly after his unexpected and sudden passing in April 2020, he was awarded the Lender Center Faculty Fellowship to explore if the food systems in Syracuse were meeting community needs, in particular during the pandemic. | | | | | |
| | In collaboration and consultation with Falk College and local food system representatives, the Lender Center chose Weissman’s close friend and colleague, Jonnell Robinson, to continue the fellowship in Weissman’s name. During the fall semester, the Lender Center selected six student fellows to continue Weissman’s passion for advancing food justice in Syracuse working closely with the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA). To honor his legacy and to continue the work he believed in so deeply, his family has created the Evan L. Weissman Scholarship Fund to defray tuition costs for food studies students. Earlier this year, Weissman was honored with a 2021 Unsung Hero Award from Syracuse University. | | | | | |
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| How foods in natural urban environments can meet community needs Professor of food studies Anne Bellows describes the Syracuse Urban Food Forest Project (SUFFP) as a place where those involved “find inspiration in the pure camaraderie and fun of working together.” This interdisciplinary research initiative between Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is led by Bellows along with ESF professors Stewart Diemont and Matthew Potteiger. Together with students majoring in food studies and other disciplines, they explore parks and forests for edible plants to learn how foods in natural urban environments might answer community needs. Read this story. | | | | | |
| Have you ever tasted paw paw fruit? Healthy food growing around the South Side of Syracuse was the focus of a co-authored news story that appeared in the publication, The Stand this past winter. The article was written by food studies graduate student Marie Claire Bryant, Antonisha Owens, a licensed cosmetologist and beauty product artisan who forages within the city of Syracuse for ingredients for the beauty care products she sells in her local salon, and Food Studies Professor Anne Bellows who participates with the new Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA). Read this story. | | | | | |
| Class of 2021 honored with Food Studies Awards Falk College’s food studies program is pleased to recognize the outstanding work of its undergraduate and graduate students for excellence listed below and detailed in a story on our website. - Community Engagement Award: Emma Tyler Rothman
- Food Studies Culture and Commensality Award: Trinity Benton
- Food Studies Research Award: Lisa Bush
- Chef’s Prize: Nel Gaude
- Food Justice Award: Sydney M. Taylor
- Roseane do Socorro Gonçalves Viana Human Rights Award: Anna Zoodsma (Graduate) and Emma Tyler Rothman (Undergraduate)
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| Alumni updates Two recent food studies graduates are the proud and very deserving award recipients for winning research projects they began during the Capstone theses they prepared in Falk College’s food studies master’s program. Hanna Goldberg (FST MS 2020) won the 2021 Harry Braverman Award from the Labor Studies Division of Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) for her paper “The Two-Employer Problem: Strategic Dilemmas at the Heart of the Tipped Wage Debate.” Hannah is in the sociology graduate program at CUNY. This award is one of the top honors given for a paper on the study of labor and is not only for students. | | | | | |
| | | | Katie Mott (FST MS 2019) won the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Student Paper Award from the Division of Sociology and Social Welfare for her paper, “Hurry Up and Wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship.” The paper came out of the research Katie began in Dr. Gretchen Pursers’ SOC 816 Ethnography course and completed for her MS thesis in food studies. Katie is working on her Ph.D. in Syracuse University’s Maxwell School in sociology. | | | | | |
| | We are always proud to hear how food studies alumni are making a difference in the places where they live and work. Recent highlights shared with us include: - Elizabeth Pickard (FST MS 2021) was accepted to the development sociology Ph.D. program at Cornell University, an exciting next step in her research on beginning farmers, race, and class in the United States.
- Cara Santino (FST MS 2021) was hired as the food entrepreneurship program manager for CitySeed in New Haven, CT, where she will be starting after graduation.
- Cheyenne Schoen (FST MS 2019) helped produce the recent publication of “Feed PGH: Understanding Food Security in the City of Pittsburgh,” working with other food activists, scholars, and planners in Pittsburgh.
Congratulations to our food studies alumni! | | | | | |
| Hearts of Glass documentary showing and panel discussion | | | | A virtual screening and panel discussion for the documentary, Hearts of Glass, was held in March. From disability inclusion, sustainability and local food production to social entrepreneurship, the program was attended by the Syracuse University campus community and beyond. | | | | | |
| | The film follows the first 15 months of operation of Vertical Harvest (VH) of Jackson, Wyoming, a hydroponic greenhouse that provides meaningful employment for people with disabilities. Attendees were invited to watch the film and join an interactive panel discussion, which included the following panelists: Jennifer Tennican, film director; Chris Hogberg and Sean Stone, Vertical Harvest; Meg Lowe, Sustainability Coordinator, Energy Systems and Sustainability Management, and; Brianna Shults, internship coordinator for InclusiveU at the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education. The panel was moderated by Mary Kiernan, associate teaching professor, Falk Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. The event was sponsored by Falk College, School of Education, Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, Burton Blatt Institute, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Slow Food Syracuse University, Energy Systems and Sustainability Management. | | | | | |
| Faculty in the news and more! | | | | Anne Bellows, Professor Since 2013, Anni Bellows has been on the Board of FIAN International, a civil society organization focused on the human right to adequate food and nutrition. Projects have included attention to the development of the 2016 United Nations General Recommendation 34 from the Women’s Rights Committee (CEDAW) on Rural Women and ongoing work on the Rights of Future Generations. Since 2019, she has worked with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and the Syracuse community partners to study connectivity in human and non-human ecosystems and how they support urban food forest foraging in and beyond Syracuse. | | | | Bill Collins, Chef Instructor Over the past year, Chef Collins has been filming videos to aid students who have been forced to work remotely. To date, he has filmed, edited, and inputted closed captioning on over 330 videos from his home kitchen. The students who are not able to attend class watch him executing dishes using techniques that they would have learned had they been in class. The response from the students has been extremely positive and he hopes to continue offering the videos post-pandemic. | | | | Mary Kiernan, Associate Teaching Professor Spring semester saw the fruition of the Heart of Glass documentary screening and panel discussion presented remotely (see story above) made possible with Professor Kiernan’s leadership. The topic dealt with a business start-up whose mission is sustainable agriculture combined with employment of developmentally disabled workers. The course FST 415: Sustainable Food Enterprises showed progress with students gaining a foundation of business with students certifying in food service accounting. The students also presented seven different concepts of more sustainable business operations. Professors Kiernan and Gina Ippolito demonstrated a virtual food and wine pairing for the Syracuse University Lubin Society. The topic was Moroccan Food and Wine. | | | | Laura-Anne Minkoff Zern, Associate Professor Professor Minkoff-Zern is currently working on a project exploring the intersection of refugee gardening and mental health with colleagues in Falk’s Departments of Public Health and Marriage and Family Therapy. As the group surveys refugee gardeners in the Syracuse area, the researchers hope to understand how refugee gardening practices and utilization of agricultural and food-based knowledge from their home countries can contribute to their ability to cope with life in the United States. Two partnering agencies are Salt City Harvest Farm and Refugee and Immigrants Self Empowerment (RISE), both who have served as practicum sites for our students. | | | | Chris Uyehara, Culinary Specialist Chef Chris Uyehara teaches courses on introduction to culinary arts, professional baking, and fine pastries. He has competed in and won various national and international ice carving competitions. In 2014, he began studying the art of distilling, receiving his certification through Cornell University Extension. Using his skill as a chef and distilling knowledge, he opened Last Shot Distillery, earning international recognition for his spirits and reaching the level of Master Distiller. | | | | Rick Welsh, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Food Studies, Department Chair Professor Welsh enjoys including undergraduate and graduate students in his scholarship, which includes published articles in peer-reviewed journals. Sometimes an opportunity arises from a funded research project on which the student is working, and other times, an excellent student with research or data management skills is recruited to work on research with him or a group of colleagues. Recent publications include: “Plant Science and Intellectual Property Protections in Taiwan,” Small Farms Using Anaerobic Digestion: A Viable Technology Education and Outreach Effort,” “The Progressive Agriculture Index: Assessing the advancement of agrifood systems,” and “Factors affecting landowner enrollment in wetland restoration in northeastern New York State.” | | | | | |
| Upcoming events Planning is underway to host Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black and co-director, and farm manager of Soul Fire Farm. More details are forthcoming. In the meantime, stay connected with Food Studies at Syracuse! Visit falk.syr.edu to stay up to date with our latest events! Save these dates! Dates are now set for three signature weekends at Syracuse University this Fall: - Coming Back Together: September 9-12, 2021
- Family Weekend: October 8-10, 2021
- Orange Central 2021: October 28-31, 2021
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