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c80d Jack Seitz ’05 is a c80d real instance of the interdepartmental c80d targets of the Faculty Farm. c80d This historical past main’s expertise c80d with farming within the Faculty c80d Backyard (earlier than it turned c80d the Faculty Farm) helped information c80d his path to a Fulbright c80d fellowship, Grasp’s diploma in Central c80d Eurasian Research, and Doctoral dissertation c80d on agriculture within the Kazakh c80d steppe. c80d
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c80d Jack labored within the Faculty c80d Backyard for 2 tutorial years c80d and one summer time of c80d his Dickinson expertise. In true c80d Faculty Farm vogue, Jack was c80d bribed into his first farming c80d place by a good friend c80d who supplied recent produce after c80d frisbee observe. Jack fondly remembers c80d many antics on the farm, c80d together with a mishap with c80d a professor and a few c80d lifeless rabbits. Maybe most significantly, c80d conversations about meals and agriculture c80d within the Backyard’s beat-up ’78 c80d Chevy Silverado began Jack on c80d a path of deep considered c80d agricultural observe that has taken c80d him from West Virginia to c80d Kazakhstan. c80d
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c80d Instantly after commencement, Jack gained c80d a Fulbright Fellowship to Kazakhstan c80d to analysis the Virgin Lands c80d Marketing campaign, which was a c80d undertaking undertaken within the Fifties c80d by the Soviet Union to c80d plow up “virgin” steppe in c80d Kazakhstan and plant wheat. After c80d his Fulbright, Jack moved to c80d his grandparents’ small farm in c80d York County, PA and began c80d a Licensed Naturally Grown vegetable c80d truck with two different DCF c80d alums. c80d
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c80d Nevertheless, Jack was not content c80d material with collaborating within the c80d current meals system in Pennsylvania. c80d As an alternative, he wished c80d to advertise meals safety. So, c80d Jack moved to the coalfields c80d of Southern West Virginia to c80d work with a non-profit that c80d helps low-income communities entry produce. c80d Whereas there, he helped set c80d up farmers markets, train youth, c80d and create an illustration farm. c80d
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c80d Whereas sustaining this busy work c80d schedule in West Virginia, Jack c80d earned acceptance to an M.A. c80d program in Central Eurasian Research c80d at Indiana College. He deferred c80d this system for just a c80d few years to proceed working c80d in West Virginia, however finally c80d moved to Indiana. When not c80d finding out Central Asian historical c80d past, languages, and tradition, Jack c80d volunteered on the Indiana College c80d school backyard. He then enrolled c80d in a PhD program at c80d Iowa State College specializing in c80d agricultural and rural historical past. c80d Jack’s dissertation drew upon his c80d Fulbright analysis, discussing the function c80d of agricultural science, peasant farmers, c80d and agronomists within the Russian c80d Empire’s settler colonization. It additionally c80d connects Kazakhstan to different semi-arid c80d areas, together with the North c80d American plains. c80d
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c80d Jack is now an Assistant c80d Professor of Historical past at Tennessee c80d Wesleyan College. His distinctive background c80d within the fields of historical c80d past, agriculture, and politics creates c80d attention-grabbing alternatives for him to c80d discover typically disregarded points like c80d environmental historical past, settler colonialism, c80d erasure of individuals of colour, c80d and problematic capitalism within the c80d meals system, in his lessons. c80d
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c80d Dwelling in East Tennessee, Jack c80d is completely happy he’s in c80d a position to have an c80d enormous backyard with fruit timber c80d and blueberry bushes and get c80d up to the view of c80d the Smoky Mountains every single c80d day, however he realizes how c80d difficult studying about place, and c80d dwelling and proudly owning what c80d is actually stolen land, will c80d be. c80d
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c80d Jack remembers the Faculty Backyard c80d because the spark that helped c80d him notice that farming is c80d about extra than simply the c80d fantastic thing about the land; c80d it requires asking tough questions c80d on energy buildings and relationships c80d with meals. Within the midst c80d of his pursuit of high-level, c80d systemic change, Jack maintains empathy c80d and respect for the difficulties c80d of farming. He credit this c80d empathy to his time engaged c80d on his personal farm and c80d within the Dickinson Faculty Backyard. c80d
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c80d When he’s not being (in c80d his personal phrases) “an ornery c80d critic of our agricultural system,” c80d Jack performs the banjo and c80d enjoys singing round a campfire c80d together with his associates. c80d
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c80d The Faculty Farm is proud c80d to be represented by alumni c80d like Jack, who’re working to c80d sort out big-picture points within c80d the meals system. We applaud c80d his wonderful work thus far c80d and are excited to see c80d the place his analysis will c80d take him subsequent! c80d
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