Faculty and Staff Brief Bios

Let us introduce you to a UMass faculty or staff member whose work helps to support the mission of the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment. With these pieces, we aim to present a picture of the breadth of the education and research that happens every day at UMass Amherst. Enjoy getting to know some of our extraordinary colleagues.

  • Marie-Françoise Hatte

    Her Life in Water – A Conversation with Marie-Françoise Hatte

    Forest ranger dreams turned water champion: Marie-Françoise Hatte's incredible journey protecting New England's waterways. What was her most memorable field work experience? And why does she say rivers are like wild animals?
    Read more »
  • Lacresha Bowers writes on a board an outline of a plan for the Nutrition Education Program

    Passionate NEP Director, Lacresha Bowers, Works to Improve Health and Nutrition of MA Residents

    Lacresha Bowers began her current position as the UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program (NEP) Director on September 5th. Since then, she has been developing curriculum, alongside nutrition program educators, to improve the nutritional health of people who are food insecure in Massachusetts. 
    Read more »

  • Clem Clay: Administrator by Day, Farmer at Heart

    Growing up on a farm in Vermont, Clem understood that University Extension Programs are essential resources for sustainable land management, especially his family's land. He now works as Director of the UMass Extension Agriculture Program, organizing the team that helps Massachusetts farms succeed. 
    Read more »
  • Alice Newth: Livestock Manager at the UMass Hadley Equine and Livestock Research and Education Center

    Life as a Shepherd (and Beyond): Alice Newth

    It’s hard to say what a typical day looks like for Alice Newth. One day, she might be moving fences and animals to new grazing pastures, and the next she’s teaching UMass students about livestock management. Sometimes, she’s even helping students oversee the birth of lambs or piglets.
    Read more »

  • Stephen Oram: Nutrition Educator

    Stephen Oram’s gentle and thoughtful approach to nutrition education is clear from the minute you begin speaking with him. As a UMass Extension Nutrition Educator, Oram believes in the importance of food as a unifying force and simple joy in life.
    Read more »
  • Ashley Keiser stands on a platform overlooking the mountains on a beautiful partly cloudy day

    Ashley Keiser: Lover of Plant and Soil Communities

    There aren’t many people who say things like, “I always really liked nitrogen… It’s just an element that has really struck me.” Ashley Keiser is one of those people. Her passion for all-things ecosystem ecology is infectious.  
    Read more »

  • Ezra Markowitz: Two Passions Make a Profession

    As an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, Ezra Markowitz has two foremost passions: human behavior and environmental conservation. These two passions stem from his childhood and upbringing in the suburbs of New York. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, Markowitz spent his formative years exploring the forested landscape of his backyard and hometown, a time during which he learned to care deeply for the environment. Later, in high school, Markowitz took a few psychology classes, wherein he quickly fell in love with the study of human behavior.
    Read more »
  • Hannah Whitehead, UMass Extension vegetable educator

    Hannah Whitehead: Sheep Farming, Raising Bees and Botanic Bootcamp

    While Hannah Whitehead has been working at the University of Massachusetts Extension for four years, her journey to get here took her on a rich, life-building trek.  Whitehead was hired by UMass in 2018 as a honey bee extension educator. In that role, she offered workshops on beekeeping topics, wrote fact sheets, and conducted research on bee health. In July 2021, Whitehead joined the UMass vegetable extension team.
    Read more »
  • Meaghan McDermott, 4-H educator

    Meg McDermott: Making 4-H Fun and Accessible

    Meaghan (Meg) McDermott calls her Worcester office “home base” but loves that her work allows her to travel throughout the large county for club meetings and myriad programs. The UMass 4-H educator is an enthusiastic cheerleader for 4-H, which is no surprise since she cut her teeth in Norfolk County’s 4-H program as a youngster.
    Read more »
  • Liz Garofalo, Extension Educator

    Elizabeth Garofalo: Fruit Aficionado

    Growing up in Buckland, Elizabeth Garofalo remembers experiencing four distinct seasons by walking through her immediate environment, an orchard just down the road from her home. Every spring, tractors mowed fields, summer fruit was easily plucked from low-hanging branches, and a “lovely elderly woman” invited her to climb apples trees in the fall. Seasonal orientation is also in her blood with her grandparents’ dairy farm and other generational agriculture tasks flowing through her veins.  However, as an adult, the journey to the University of Massachusetts to become a well-respected Extension educator, has been a long and winding road.
    Read more »
  • Jim Cronk, assistant farm superintendent, South Deerfield Agronomy Farm

    Jim Cronk: Farming Is In His Blood

    Jim Cronk is a farm boy at heart. His grandmother owned a large farm in Des Moines, Iowa, where she grew corn and raised livestock and Jim’s mother had a green thumb. Turns out that love of farming the land has filtered down through the generations to him. For seven years Jim was employed in the landscaping business. There he built a solid foundation that provided him with the expertise to grow and maintain a variety of perennials, annual flowers, shrubs and trees and to understand factors needed for healthy growth (soil, nutrients, etc.). This background also provided a launching point for working at the University of Massachusetts Cold Spring Orchard (CSO) in Belchertown.  
    Read more »
  • Heather Lohr, Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment

    Heather Lohr: Growing the Job

    Heather Lohr began work with UMass Extension in 2013 at the Extension Bookstore and then became part of the administration team for the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE) in 2014. She now assists CAFE assistant director William Miller in managing Experiment Station and Extension planning and reporting, along with other responsibilities.  She reports that she finds herself interested in learning about the internal workings of CAFE, how all the pieces fit together, and how she can contribute to the success of the Center and everyone it serves. 
    Read more »
  • Madeleine Charney, research services librarian with the UMass Libraries.

    Madeleine Charney: This Librarian’s Sustainable Roots Run Deep

    Madeleine Charney is a research services librarian with the UMass Libraries. She specializes in topics close to the heart of anyone interested in agriculture, food or the environment. Charney has seen an evolution of her tasks from the love of books, when she steered students toward library stacks, to managing data and offering information on open access.
    Read more »
  • Paulina Borrego, UMass librarian

    Paulina Borrego: Librarian Who Catalogs Books (and Seeds)

    Paulina Borrego is a naturally curious person, the very quality one hopes for in a librarian. However, if your image of a librarian is one who shushes people with a stern personality, Paulina will help you ditch those expectations at the door. Borrego is eager to help those looking for guidance.
    Read more »
  • Sai Sree in bog holding cranberries

    Day job: Cranberry Pathologist. Off duty: Inspires Women and Farmers

    Sai Sree Uppala focuses on cranberry pathology at the UMass Cranberry Station in Wareham. She is intrigued by the resilient and unique nature of cranberries compared to most other agricultural crops.
    Read more »

Pages