Lori van Handel has joined the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives at Williams to manage the college’s Sustainable Food and Agriculture Initiative.

Lori has extensive experience with the sustainable food movement, having served as leader for SlowFood Western Massachusetts convivium (chapter), and as a member of the Board of the farm-to-table sustainable food advocacy group Berkshire Grown.   Her personal and research interests include:
artisanal/farmstead cheese production, taste and sensory evaluation, heritage breed and native plant conservation and preservation, and advocacy of food traditions. In 2005, she studied artisan cheesemaking at the University of Vermont’s Institute for Artisan Cheese.

She has supported local farmers through direct purchases for over a decade  through memberships in a number of community- supported agriculture operations (Caretaker Farm, Two Spoon Farm, Hidden Pasture Farm, and North Plain Farm). Her personal story in eating locally and seasonally and supporting local farmers was featured in the article “From Farm to Table: Discovering your local foodshed,” published in the Women’s Times, May 2005.

Lori’s experience in higher education includes consulting, teaching, and organizing educational events and symposia through her work as adjunct professor at Tufts University, teaching in Williams’ Winter Study term, organizing events for the Williams College Museum of Art, managing Heritage Conservation Services, and as director of Preventive Conservation at the Williamstown Conservation Center.

The Williams College Sustainable Food and Agriculture Initiative is supported by a grant from the Joyce and Irving Goldman Foundation.  For more information contact Lori van Handel, Sustainable Food Program Manager at lori.vanhandel@williams.edu or Stephanie Boyd, Director of the Zilkha Center at stephanie.boyd@williams.edu

Thoughts? Go to the Sustainability Blog or send an email to Stephanie Boyd (sboyd@williams.edu) to comment.