I am Randall C. Hill Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work and Professor of Geography and Geospatial Sciences at Kansas State University.  I am also Editor of Agriculture and Human Values.

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My main interest is development, as a practice, a problem, and an ideal.  I am especially interested in understanding the relations between people and the ecosphere in the context of globalization – the social processes integrating economies, polities, and cultures into an increasingly shared, but contested, space.

Most of my work is comparative and historical, investigating development processes across places and over time.

Through research, teaching, and outreach, I am exploring means of developing more regenerative, socially and ecologically resilient communities.

I am working on several projects that examine co-evolving relations between humans and ecosystems. This work focuses on the dynamic intersections of water, agriculture, and local social structures in the context of long-term, global social change.

Much of my other research focuses on international migration.  This work investigates migration as both a cause and consequence of global political-economic dynamics.

My work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Australian Research Council.