Sterling College has announced the appointment of Nicole Civita as a faculty member in Sustainable Food Systems and the Assistant Director of the Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems.
“Nicole’s background in food justice and agricultural law will help further strengthen Sterling College’s pioneering work in studying sustainable food systems,” said the College’s Dean of Academics Carol Dickson. “Her expertise will help us build upon our strengths in preparing students to build a healthier food system.”
Civita holds an LL.M from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Agricultural & Food Law, as well as a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and an AB from Columbia University. She most recently taught at the University of Arkansas School of Law, where she expanded the specialized curriculum for the LL.M Program in Agricultural & Food Law. She taught classes in food justice, urban agriculture, and global food security. She was the Director of the University of Arkansas’s special initiatives, the Food Recovery Project and the Food Resilience Initiative.
Sterling College’s Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems encompasses both curriculum and working farmland. The Center has over 130 acres of farm and garden where students grow crops, manage livestock, and use tractors and draft horses to power the farm. The Center also includes an edible forest garden, the Alfond Draft Horse Barn, hoop houses, and a sugar house and sugarbush for maple syrup production.
Civita says, “Because the most sustainable food systems are place-based, community-oriented, and resilient, Sterling College offers an ideal environment for the study of food systems. With its emphasis on experiential learning, integrated farm, and values-based food culture, Sterling also serves as a living laboratory for food systems innovation. I could not have asked for a better opportunity to unite my calling to teach and my desire to do.”
She continued, “I am excited to live and work in community, build relationships with Sterling’s thoughtful students, integrate my family into campus life, and be surrounded by Northeast Kingdom’s extreme beauty.”