Bio
Dr. Kaiser engages in collaborative, interdisciplinary, and community-engaged ecological-social research. Her community food security research addresses interconnected social, economic, and environmental issues. Trained in social work and public health, Kaiser utilizes anti-oppressive critical frameworks, rooted in environmental justice principles. She seeks to center the voices of people with lived and living experiences and supports community members and organizations designing and implementing place-based initiatives to address complex problems.
At Ohio State, she led an extensive interdisciplinary community-university Food Mapping project highlighting extreme disparities in food insecurity, food access, and food affordability across Columbus, Ohio. Kaiser has collaborated with Franklinton Farms. She served as an evaluator for their USDA NIFA Community Food Projects grant, co-created an affordable and accessible neighborhood-based Community Supported Agriculture Program, and co-designed and taught a community-engaged service-learning course related to community food strategies. She also collaborated with the farm on an online food hub feasibility study with the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, OSU, and Seminary Hill Farm. In addition, Kaiser worked with a soil scientist veterinarian, and biologist on a project related to environmental concerns and urban agriculture. She recently completed a project with colleagues from OSU’s Glenn College, Outreach and Engagement, and Knowlton School of Architecture’s City and Regional Planning related to community perspectives on the roles of land-grant institutions in Columbus.
Dr. Kaiser values teaching and mentorship. She has supported research by an MSW-PhD student with the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association related to farmers/producers, mental health, and social sustainability, a PhD student’s dissertation on the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and undergraduate Honors theses about student food insecurity, food preparation behaviors, food insecurity and health at food pantries, diabetic management programs at food pantries, and food systems observations within residential facilities for persons with intellectual disabilities . Kaiser advised several Schweitzer Fellowship projects and the President’s Prize UNITY Fridge project. She has been awarded OSU’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Kaiser recently completed additional coursework on ecopsychology, nature-based healing and ecotherapies, and is taking courses related to horticultural therapy. She is continuously seeking ways to connect ideas and people, preferring community work and choosing participatory processes emphasizing reciprocity, resiliency, sustainability, and justice.
Education
PhD - University of Missouri, Columbia, 2012 - Social Work
MPH - University of Missouri, Columbia, 2011 - Public Health
MSW - University of South Carolina, 2004 - Social Work
BA - University of Iowa, 2001 - Social Work
Areas of Expertise
Community food security
Community-engaged research
Service-learning pedagogy
Social, economic, environmental, and food justice
Sustainable community food systems
Community social work practice
Areas of Interest for Mentoring PhD Students
Food security/Food systems
Interdisciplinary work (social justice, public health, sustainability)
Community engagement/Community-based research methods
Ecosocial Work