Hamm tapped to lead CANR’s Community Sustainability
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EmailMike Hamm has been named interim chairperson of the Department of Community Sustainability in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR). His appointment was effective Aug. 17.
Mike Hamm has been named interim chairperson of the Department of Community Sustainability in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR). His appointment was effective Aug. 17.
Community food security and community, regional, and sustainable food systems are research interest areas. Hamm founded the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Agriculture in 2003 and was founding director of the Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) from 2011-2015.
“The Department of Community Sustainability embodies the Spartan spirit of community engagement across the globe,” Hamm said. “Humanity faces a number of global challenges – and faculty within the department are working with communities in Michigan and across the globe to grapple with them in a way that helps enable people to thrive while living within environmental boundaries. My goal is to help create a departmental environment in which our faculty and students can achieve their professional goals around community sustainability so that future generations can do the same and will thrive.”
Hamm is the C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and CRFS senior fellow. In that role, he is affiliated with the departments of Community Sustainability; Plant, Soil and Microbial sciences; and Food Science and Human Nutrition.
“Our faculty, staff and students in the Department of Community Sustainability are in good hands with Mike,” said Ron Hendrick, CANR dean. “I am confident he will provide leadership and stability in this interim capacity.”
Prior to coming to Michigan State University in 2003, he was dean of academic and student programs for Cook College at Rutgers University. As a faculty member at Rutgers, he was co-founder and director of the New Jersey Urban Ecology Program and founding director of the Cook Student Organic Farm. He was also facilitator for the New Jersey Cooperative Gleaning Network and a board member/board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey.
Hamm has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Northwestern University and his doctoral degree in nutrition from the University of Minnesota.
