Dr. Katie Trozzo

Food Systems Network and Outreach Specialist

Virginia Tech Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education

State: VA

(w) (540) 232-2233

About

Dr. Katie Trozzo is a Food Systems Network and Outreach Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Leadership and Community Education at Virginia Tech. She has served in this role since 2021, following prior experience as a Program Coordinator and Extension Project Associate, working in similar network-building, facilitation, and outreach capacities. She currently serves as the Assistant Director of Outreach and Engagement with the Virginia Tech Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, as the Coordinator of the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition, and serves as the State Coordinator for the Virginia SARE Program.

Dr. Trozzo’s work focuses on strengthening collaborative capacity across food and agricultural systems through participatory education, facilitation, and culturally responsive evaluation. Her responsibilities include developing and supporting cross-sector partnerships; organizing and facilitating agricultural education programs, workshops, and network meetings; managing educational and outreach resources; coordinating communications through newsletters, websites, and listservs; supporting community-based research; designing and implementing participatory evaluation approaches; and grant management, reporting, and network strategy development. Her topical expertise includes agroforestry, food systems network development, and beginning farmer education.

Dr. Trozzo holds a PhD (2019) and MS (2012) in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech, where her research focused on the social dimensions of agroforestry adoption and practice. She earned a BS in Environmental Technology from North Carolina State University with minors in Environmental Science, Agroecology, and Forest Management. She also has formal training in ecological and agroforestry system design and is a co-founder of Kindred Roots Design Collective.

She is first author on four peer-reviewed journal articles, one peer-reviewed extension article, and two non–peer-reviewed extension fact sheets. Dr. Trozzo has delivered more than 50 public presentations to agricultural professionals, educators, academic audiences, and community members. She has been the primary organizer and facilitator of over 25 workshop and training series and has designed and facilitated six multi-stakeholder strategy meetings and retreats, including a six-month strategic planning process for a national agroforestry nonprofit.