Jasmine R. Linabary, Ph.D., is a researcher, educator, and consultant whose work explores how we design more equitable and inclusive spaces for participation. Her research focuses on organizing for social change, new media, and feminist and participatory methodologies. As an engaged scholar and teacher, Dr. Linabary is committed to working with and alongside communities and organizations, particularly around issues of food security and justice.

Dr. Linabary was most recently an assistant professor of communication at Emporia State University (ESU) in Kansas and the co-founder and director of the EAT Initiative, a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort to combat food insecurity on ESU’s campus and in the Emporia community. Through this initiative, she established community and campus partnerships, organized collaborating faculty members across a wide range of disciplines, cultivated student leadership, hosted community dialogues, and conducted research alongside students and partners, among other activities. Dr. Linabary also served as vice chair of a local food policy council and conducted food systems research on its behalf. Her work with the EAT Initiative was recently recognized with the Service Engagement Award from the National Communication Association’s Organizational Communication Division, which recognizes outstanding external engagement and/or service learning that has resulted in significant community transformation.

In her classes at UA, she often incorporates topics related to food and food systems, including as the focus for applied humanities projects around which students collaborate with each other and community partners. She is also committed to addressing issues related to food access and other basic needs among college students, serving on the steering committee of the UA Basic Needs Coalition.