Dr. John M. Gerber is Professor of Plant Sciences and Sustainability Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In this capacity he has taught courses in;
o Sustainable Agriculture,
o Sustainable Living,
o Plants and the Environment,
o Botany for Gardeners
o Junior Writing
o Dialogue (mindfulness communication) on Agricultural Issues,
o Agricultural Systems Thinking,
o Participatory Leadership: Consensus, Conflict and Community,
o Community Food Systems, and
o Permaculture.
John is a member of the Board of Directors of Living Routes, Inc., an educational collaborative that helps students earn college credit for the study and practice of sustainable living in Ecovillages around the world. He also serves as chairperson of his local town Conservation Commission. John has served as Executive Director of the Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a national consortium of universities and research institutes, and is a founding Board member of the Loka Institute, a non-profit institute dedicated to the democratization of technology. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment.
John was Director of the University of Massachusetts
Extension System from 1992 to 2000. He served as leader and manager for
this major outreach effort of the University of Massachusetts with programs in
agriculture, natural resources, youth and family development, and nutrition
education. He has also served as Associate Dean in the College of Food
and Natural Resources at the University of Massachusetts. He was
Assistant Director in the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, and Program
Leader for Sustainable Agriculture in the Illinois Cooperative Extension
Service (1989-1992). He was responsible for the establishment and
administration of the University of Illinois Agro-Ecology Program. He
served as a faculty member and Extension Program Leader from 1979 - 1989 at the
University of Illinois, Urbana.
John’s research interests include ecological cropping
systems, plant nutrition, seed and flowering physiology. He is former
Extension Division Vice-President of the American Society for Horticultural
Science, and former President of the National Agricultural Plastics
Association. He has written and lectured nationally and internationally
on participatory research and education, the integration of research and extension
education, and the role of citizen input in land grant universities.
John currently focuses on teaching at the University of
Massachusetts where he is active in helping to create a new undergraduate program
in Sustainability Studies. He continues
to investigate ways in which students are encouraged to explore personal growth
and community responsibility through service, dialogue, meditation and
contemplation.
John has an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and a
B.S. from the University of Rhode Island.