Dr. Gigi Owen (she/her) is a research scientist with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) program. CLIMAS supports transdisciplinary and participatory climate research and is housed in the Arizona Institutes for Resilience (AIR) at the University of Arizona. As a qualitative social scientist with training in geography and political ecology, Gigi’s research interests center on interactions between humans and their environments. Her current research involves understanding if and how local adaptation strategies help people address impacts of climate change. She has worked on air, land, and water quality issues across the Arizona-Sonora border region and spent two years studying the ecology of desert grasslands in Sonora, Mexico.

Shelby Thompson (she/her) is the Arizona Food Systems Network coalition coordinator and serves on the steering committee for the Pima County Food Alliance. Shelby has worked and played in various parts of the southern Arizona food system over the past eight years and is committed to creating an equitable and sustainable local food system. Shelby’s work focuses on convening food system stakeholders across the state of Arizona to foster collaboration, capacity, and advocacy work, Her overarching goal is for everyone in Pima County to have access to the nourishing foods that they desire. She relies on relationships with local organizations, coalitions, and people to advance this work.

Dr. Laurel Bellante (she/her) is assistant professor of practice and director of the BA in Food Studies in the School of Geography, Development and Environment (SGDE) and assistant director of the UA Center for Regional Food Studies. Laurel is a human-environment geographer specializing in global environmental change, sustainable food systems, and agrarian questions in both the United States and Mexico. She uses a political ecology approach to connect what is happening in people’s kitchens, farms, and communities to larger political economic and environmental changes occurring regionally, nationally, and globally. Laurel’s research is centered on understanding and supporting the creation of more just and sustainable food systems. In the US-Mexico border region, Laurel has researched organic farming networks, linkages between poverty and climate change impacts, food waste reduction strategies, and food justice and food sovereignty initiatives.

Rachel Gildersleeve (she/her) is personally and professionally passionate about creating respectful and resilient ecosystems based on place-based living and human connection with nature. After growing up in Virginia, she is attuned to how precious water is in the desert and finds hope in this communal mindset. Rachel received her Master's in Public Health at the University of Arizona and is a research professional on the Community Research, Evaluation, and Development (CRED) Team in the Norton School of Human Ecology. On the CRED Team, she supports wide-ranging community partners, including Cooperative Extension, nonprofits, state agencies, and the county criminal justice system, in making program and policy decisions to promote equitable systems and community wellbeing.

Rachel Leih (she/her) is a Research Professional with the Community Research, Evaluation, and Development (CRED) Team at the University of Arizona, a team focused on conducting community-based research and evaluation that promotes the health and well-being of children, youth, and families throughout Arizona and the Southwest. Rachel moved to Tucson to pursue a Master's in Public Health after working for several years coordinating programs to promote civic and community engagement in college students at multiple universities in the Milwaukee area. She has channeled her passion for food access, capacity-building, and community engagement into a variety of professional and volunteer roles.

Kacy Bartels (she/her) graduated in May 2023 with a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arizona. She was a Peace Corps Coverdell Fellow at the U of A and worked as a graduate assistant for Pima County Emergency Eviction Legal Services and Pima County Food Alliance. Kacy has worked for various non-profit and governmental organizations including the Peace Corps in Morocco and the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Currently, Kacy is an intern in food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She is broadly interested in working on policy and programs that strengthen the social safety net. She looks forward to continuing to learn from and collaborate with community members in Pima County to work towards a more sustainable and equitable local food system.

Bio coming soon!

Dr. Amanda Hilton (she/her) is a research scientist at the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA), in the School of Anthropology. Amanda is an applied environmental anthropologist working at the interdisciplinary nexus of political ecology, critical food studies, and critical heritage studies. She has worked on a variety of applied research projects in and around Tucson, in the greater Southwest, on the US-Mexico border, and in South Louisiana; her dissertation examines the motivations for and impacts of a recent geographical indication for extra-virgin olive oil from the Italian island of Sicily. She is interested in the relationships between locally and sensorially grounded experiences of people in place (especially through practices of food production) and broader political economic processes and power dynamics.

Debbi Wainwright (she/her) is a fantabulous person and a joy to work with because of her let’s get this done attitude. In addition, Debbi brings fun, professional communication skills with her wordsmithing capabilities. Unfortunately, these skills were not able to save Tucson’s first Pay-What-You-Can-Café. Debbi is very heartbroken by the failure of Passion Community Café but uses the lessons learned every day to continue her fight against healthy food insecurity. Currently Debbi works as a Library Associate with Pima County Public Library where she manages her branch’s Seed Library by educating, supplying and supporting local gardeners.

Parker Filer (he/him) was raised in western Pennsylvania where he spent most summers helping his extended family cultivate large backyard gardens. He began studying agribusiness management at Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ and now holds a Masters Degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University. Having travelled widely as a student and a volunteer Parker has been an engaged in a variety of agricultural research and extension projects including fieldwork in India, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Honduras. From migrant labor camps to urban farm camps; from tropical kitchen gardens to food rescue and farmer’s markets- Parker’s diverse professional experience lends a broad perspective on his food policy and systems thinking about agriculture. He’s thankful for the opportunity to support Pima County Food Alliance in their mission to develop an integrated, resilient, and sustainable food system in Southern Arizona.