Dr. Kim Niewolny

Professor

Virginia Tech

State: VA

(w) (540) 231-5784

About

Kim Niewolny is Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education and serves as the founding director of the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation at Virginia Tech. Since 2009, Kim’s research, teaching, and extension programming has emphasized food systems–based community development from an interdisciplinary and social theory perspective. As a scholar-practitioner, Kim focuses on the interface of sustainable food systems and the praxis of community food work from classroom to community spaces at the local, regional, and global level. Her research training and experience in qualitative research methods with special interest in discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. Currently funded initiatives include urban agriculture and sustainable food systems; farmworker food, health and wellness; the “Stories of Community Food Work initiative” and more. Kim teaches graduate courses and provides teaching leadership in Virginia Tech’s undergraduate Pathway minor, Food Agriculture, and Society. She has previously served as President for the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and has been a board member of the Virginia Food Systems Council since 2018. At the Center, her focus is on supporting research, outreach, and education that generates and promotes creative possibilities for food systems that are abundant and resilient so that all may thrive.