Julia Barton, Graduate Fellow, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University
Putting Students to Work: How a College Farm Raises Citizen Scholars
A liberal arts education is one that fosters new ways of thinking, creative problem solving, social awareness and engagement. Liberal arts institutions boast of academic rigor woven within diverse and well-integrated curricula. College farms can serve to support these advantages of a liberal arts education, while adding a hands’ on, living laboratory that puts students to work directly with their environment and their communities. Julia Barton recounts how her involvement with Dickinson’s student garden in conjunction with other sustainability and social justice groups and initiatives on campus helped to shape her academic and professional pursuits during and after her time at Dickinson College.
Julia Barton, Graduate Fellow, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University (Dickinson Alumni, ’05)
Introduced by William Durden, President of Dickinson College
Putting Students to Work: How a College Farm Raises Citizen Scholars
A liberal arts education is one that fosters new ways of thinking, creative problem solving, social awareness and engagement. Liberal arts institutions boast of academic rigor woven within diverse and well-integrated curricula. College farms can serve to support these advantages of a liberal arts education, while adding a hands’ on, living laboratory that puts students to work directly with their environment and their communities. Julia Barton recounts how her involvement with Dickinson’s student garden in conjunction with other sustainability and social justice groups and initiatives on campus helped to shape her academic and professional pursuits during and after her time at Dickinson College.
Biography
Julia Barton is a graduate of Dickinson College (2005) and an urban homesteader with her partner, Patrick Turner, and cat, Purslane. Since her time at Dickinson, Julia has remained engaged in agriculture, managing a small farm and day program for adults with disabilities, then working with urban farmers and community gardeners to preserve urban gardens, create new gardens, and address land use and policy issues associated with urban agriculture. Julia completed her MS in Rural Sociology in 2010, during which she focused on agricultural economic development at the rural-urban interface, and collaborated with fellow students to found the Ohio State University Student Farm, which Patrick manages. She has recently begun an interdisciplinary PhD program in Environmental Sciences, which supports her work with Somali refugee women in an urban agriculture and empowerment project. Through a National Science Foundation grant, Julia teaches science in a rural, public school. Julia’s fourth grade students recently advocated the creation of a school garden when they became dissatisfied with the vegetable options provided in school breakfast and lunch. Garden plans are underway!
