Jess Gerrior

Jess joined the USM faculty in Spring 2020, co-teaching Food & The Environment with Jamie Picardy. Jess currently teaches Introduction to Food Systems and other courses within the Food Studies Program. She previously taught and designed graduate courses on food and sustainability in Keene State College’s Master of Public Health program, and taught Environmental Education Jess joined the USM faculty in Spring 2020 and currently teaches Introduction to Food Systems and Food, Power, and Social Justice. She previously designed and taught graduate courses on food and sustainability in the Master of Public Health Nutrition program at Keene State College and the Environmental Education Master’s program at Antioch University New England. She was previously Franklin Pierce University’s Sustainability Coordinator and Educator, managing the Sustainability Center and Sustainability Certificate program and leading the creation of its first campus food garden. Her earlier college teaching includes biology, microbiology, and environmental science courses at several of New Hampshire’s community colleges.

Jess is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Studies and former Doctoral Fellow, directing a multi-state workplace organic gardening project. Her doctoral service learning project, Cultivating Community, focused on the experiences of people engaged in food systems work in the Monadnock Region. The working title of her dissertation is “You Can Eat Change: A Critical Autoethnography of Growing Food, Community, and Identity.” Jess serves in a leadership role with NH Food Alliance, a statewide network that engages and connects people dedicated to growing a thriving, fair, and sustainable local food system. She has served on the Board and Food Access Working Group of the Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition.

Jess is also a garden educator, teaching skills of healthy eating and caring for the earth in school garden, kitchen, and farm programs. At home, Jess raises laying hens, vegetables, herbs, berries, and native flowers, and runs a small community supported agriculture project, Hindsight Gardens (established in 2020).