Biography
Day completed her PhD in People-Environment Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a dissertation focused on how New Mexico’s farmers were responding to climate change. Her MS in Geography from US-Madison focused on how farmers in Niger were responding to climate and broader social change. She completed master’s courses in Crop and Soil Science before completing a Master of Arts in Teaching at Cornell University, where she was also certified to teach secondary biology. During a BA in French and Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas, Dr. Day studied abroad in France to polish her French and in Costa Rica to study ecology in Spanish. In between her times in academic endeavors, Dr. Day has taught K-12 science in New York, Alaska, and Maryland. She was a Peace Corp Volunteer Leader and Agricultural Extensionist in Niger for three years. She spent three years as faculty in the Environmental Studies department at Stetson University, where she also taught in the Sustainable Food Systems program. In Washington, D.C., she worked with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) on federal agricultural climate policy. After returning to New Mexico, she worked with a local food systems non-profit and continued to consult with NSAC.
Personal Statement
Throughout Dr. Day’s career, climate and environmental protection, agriculture, and education have remained key foci in her work. Using political ecological approaches, she has focused on examining the ways in which agriculture and environment intersect. She employs mixed methods to understand the roles of food system players, how they conceive of their work, and how the food system may be transformed.
Areas of Specialty
- Climate change
- Political ecology, mixed methods
- Agriculture and food systems
- Policy, deliberate transformation
Achievements & Awards
- 2021 Stetson First Year Advocate Award
- 2019 Brown Innovation Fellow, Stetson University
- 2015 National Science Foundation Doctoral Research Improvement Award
- 2014 Innovation in Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- 2010, 2012, Trewartha Research Grant, UW-Madison
- 2010-2011 FLAS Fellowships in Arabic and Hausa
- Lawrence Palmer Award, Environmental Education, Cornell University
- Neale Carman Award, French, University of Kansas
- Harley J. Nelson Award, French, University of Kansas
- University Scholar, University of Kansas
Research
Google Scholar page:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mD8XVhAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao