Clare Hinrichs is an Associate Professor of Rural Sociology at Pennsylvania State University. Her research, teaching and public engagement activities broadly address the problem of societal transitions to sustainability, with particular attention to food systems, agriculture, and the environment. Building on her training as a development sociologist, she seeks to meld the agendas and insights of economic sociology, environmental sociology, community studies and agro-food studies. Current research projects focus on the process and outcomes of food system localization in a globalizing environment, the sustainability implications of a large scale transition to agriculturally derived bio-fuels, the effects of school and community context on childhood obesity, and the micro-politics of animal welfare in alternative livestock systems.

She is currently editor of the Rural Studies Series at Penn State University Press and recipient of an ESRC-SSRC fellowship with the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme at the University of Newcastle for study of relocalization of agri-food systems in the US and UK.
 

Tim Borich  

Tim Borich is the Associate Dean of the College of Design at Iowa State University and the Director of Extension Community and Economic Development. His research interests include community economic development; leadership development; rural sociology and development; multi-community collaboration; public policy development; distance education, and citizen participation and planning.