Professor Powell is an interdisciplinary scholar of environments and food systems, whose research, teaching, and program development work weaves together her training in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, as well as her life-long involvement in her family’s farm. In her role as Director of Sweet Briar’s Center for Human and Environmental Sustainability, Professor Powell collaborates with students, faculty, staff, and surrounding communities on sustainability initiatives. She leads the academic and community-focused aspects of SBC’s agricultural areas, including the greenhouse, apiary, vineyard, garden, and forests. She also supervises the amazing teams of students who work in the greenhouse, apiary, and garden both during the school year and as Willits Summer Food Systems Fellows.
As a researcher, Professor Powell pursues a range of questions that all ultimately address human-environment relationships, most frequently in the contexts of food systems, policy, land use, and education. She supervises student research on a broad range of topics related to agriculture, food, and the environment. While she is always eager to discuss new ideas students have for research projects, she also welcomes conversations with students who are interested in joining ongoing projects on agricultural and food literacy education; local- and regional-scale environmental policy; adoption of new crops and crop production technologies; and Virginia beverage and food tourism.
Courses Taught
ENVR 385: Food and Environments in the U.S. South
ENVR 382: Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
ENVR 215: Environmental Policy
ENVR 446: Evaluation of Environmental Issues
ENVR 201: Agricultural Operations
CORE 140: Sustainable Systems
AGRI 421: Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Certificate Seminar
ENVR 356: Natural Resources Management
Publications
Selected Journal Articles:
Italicized = student co-author
Powell, L.J.; Mendly-Zambo, Z.; Newman, L., “Perceptions and acceptance of yeast-derived dairy in British Columbia, Canada,” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 7,2023
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1127652
Mendly-Zambo, Z. Powell, L.J., and Newman, L. (2021), Dairy 3.0: cellular agriculture and the future of milk. Food, Culture, and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2021.1888411
Renwick, K., Powell, L. J., & Edwards, G. (2021). ‘We are all in this together’: Investigating alignments in intersectoral partnerships dedicated to K-12 food literacy education. Health Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969211011522
Newman, L., Newell, R., Mendley-Zambo, Z., and Powell, L.J. (2021), Bioengineering, telecoupling, and alternative meat and dairy: Agricultural land use futures in the Anthropocene. The Geographical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12392
Powell, L. J. & Renwick, K. (2019). “The world is our home”: Food literacy education and Vaines’ conceptualization of ecology. International Journal of Home Economics, 12(2), 46-54.
Renwick, K., and Powell, L.J. (2019), Focusing on the literacy in food literacy: practice, community and food sovereignty, Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 111(1): 24- 30. doi: 10.14307/JFCS111.1.24
Powell, L.J., and Wittman, H. (2018), Farm to School in British Columbia: Mobilizing Food Literacy for Food Sovereignty, Agriculture & Human Values 35(1): 193-206. doi: 10.1007/s10460- 017-9815-7
Newman, L., Powell, L.J., Nickel, J., Anderson, D., Jovanovic, L., Mendez, E., Mitchell, B. and Kelly-Freiberg, K. (2017), Farm stores in agriburbia: the roles of agricultural retail on the rural/urban fringe, Canadian Food Studies 4(1): 4-23. doi: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v4i1.211
Newman, L., Powell, L.J., and Wittman, H. (2015), Landscapes of food production in agriburbia: farmland protection and local food movements in British Columbia. Journal of Rural Studies 39, p99-110. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.03.006
Wittman, H., Powell, L.J., and Corbera, E. (2015), Assembling Resources for Sustainable Development? The Clean Development Mechanism and the carbonization of agriculture in Latin America. Environment and Planning A 47, p2031-2046. doi: 10.1068/a130218a
Lisa Powell joined the Sweet Briar College faculty in January 2020. Prior, she was working in British Columbia, Canada, on research focused on strengthening regional food systems, agricultural land use policy and planning, adoption of new technologies in the agri-food sector, diversification of fruit and vegetable production and food literacy education. She served as coordinator of Think&EatGreen@School, a university program supporting food literacy education and access to healthy and sustainable food for K-12 students.
Prof. Powell has an active role in the management of her family’s farming operation in Kentucky, focused on grain production and soil and water conservation.