Jason Konefal, the new chair of the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, is originally from upstate New York. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains in a small town of about 250, and his parents owned a small inn and restaurant. "So I grew up in and around that area working in the restaurant, obviously from a very young age," Konefal says with an easy laugh, which suggests he thinks it both funny and formative that he was made to work at a young age.
"Then I went to college at Saint Lawrence University as a political science and sociology major. I used to come across to UVM quite a bit because I had friends here. Burlington was kind of a big town compared to where I went to school, so we'd come to Burlington for cultural events."
For graduate school, he attended Michigan State and completed his PhD in Sociology, specifically in environmental sociology, focusing on food and agriculture, "I did my dissertation on sustainable seafood. I looked at the use of market-based strategies that tried to get consumers to eat more sustainably [so as] to influence fishing and aquaculture practices. For that research, I traveled around, particularly to the Pacific Coast, to interview activists, folks in the fishing industry and seafood buyers for supermarkets."
Next he spent a couple years at Utah State as adjunct faculty, and has been at Sam Houston since 2009 in the Department of Sociology where he moved through the ranks from an assistant to an associate to a full professor. "Along the way, I became Grad Director. At Sam Houston our grad programs in sociology are online, so I directed an online master's and a certificate program in sociology which involved working with students all over the US. I directed that program for three years and built that up. I've been Chair of the Department of Sociology for the past six years."
His interest in the work of the faculty and students within CDAE predates his interview for this position. "I've known about CDAE for a long time, and it has an incredible reputation in terms of programs that do community development. There are not a whole lot of programs in America that specialize in community development. Lots of other programs do it as part of something else, but here, it's really the focus in many ways. And CDAE is also known for being super interdisciplinary: Economists, sociologists, communications, and MFAs—it really brings together a unique combination of faculty that I don't think you find in many other universities or programs."
He's excited to join this illustrious group and be able to continue his work with students doing impactful research. "The key appeals of CDAE are its mission, the kinds of research it engages in, the kinds of students in the program, and the opportunity to work with all kinds of people. It fits really well with my research in sustainability, food, and agriculture; I overlap with a lot of the interests of the faculty here. There's a lot of great possibilities for collaboration."
Some of the most attractive aspects of CDAE he also sees within UVM as a whole. "When I look at UVM, I see the strategic mission. An emphasis on healthy communities, healthy societies, and healthy environments. The university is emphasizing sustainability even at the strategic mission level. Again, this is a unique opportunity. I believe in the strategic mission of UVM, also the way UVM prioritizes sustainability, and the way that it fits into all kinds of significant research being done on campus. There's a lot of research around food systems, agriculture, and sustainability in CDAE, but it's also in lots of other departments and programs, and cross-pollination also comes into the curriculum. [not sure where the quote ends]
"When I came for my visit, I met many students interested in sustainability and the environment, doing research and taking classes on these kinds of things, much more so than at my prior positions. So, these kinds of opportunities -- to work with students, to work with faculty, to work in this kind of environment within a university that's fully engaged in these kinds of activities -- I think this is a wonderful and rare opportunity."
With his many years of academic administrative experience to guide him, Jason is both practical and aspirational when talking about how he will lead the program into its next iteration, "The first part of my time at UVM will be getting to know everyone, so it will be an information-gathering period before I come up with strategic initiatives or a departmental vision. The first step will be talking with faculty individually and in small groups as well as students.”
"One of the things I did when I became Chair at Sam Houston was to have round tables with different sets of students to understand our program's strengths and weaknesses. What the students would like to see, and what they saw as the gaps.
"I would also like to meet with alumni with different focuses from their time in the CDAE programs. Talk to both graduates and undergraduates to get a sense of their specific experiences in the program. Also, to learn about what they are doing now and how their degree has translated into the kinds of careers and jobs they have had. Sort of begin to think about the program holistically, the skills that graduates need, and the careers they map onto. I think the first step will be a lot of information gathering from faculty, from alumni, from students, so that I can get a sense of the program's strengths, where we could go, what we could build on, on those kinds of issues. Then out of that will be strategic visioning."
His impression of CDAE from his interview process is that it is a "completely collaborative community and space." When I was in my interview it came across that CDAE has quite a history of collaboration. There's a history of consensus building, and so I think a new person coming in has to understand and respect that and use that to build off of.”
In thinking about returning to the Northeast of his youth and college days, Konefal is most excited to reexperience seasons. He's also looking forward to not having such extreme heat. "Houston is about 100 degrees every day, and the heat index is even worse. It is hot. What I miss most about New England is the mountains, hiking, biking, and having those kinds of outdoor opportunities. I grew up sort of in the Catskills, so I miss being outside. It's very hard to do those kinds of things in the greater Houston area. Before I moved to Texas, I always lived in college towns, towns in which the university plays a large role. I'm looking forward to having that again. And I'm looking forward to moving back to an area with a strong sense of community as well. My two kids, who are 14 and 17, have also never lived where there was snow. So, they are a little bit nervous about what that's gonna be like. Though, as a family, we did sabbatical and lived in the Netherlands. So presumably, they will find the adjustment to the Burlington area more familiar than that."
One of his career passions has been supporting students as much as possible. "I've been teaching at a university that's very diverse. Over 50% of our students are first-generation college students. Sam Houston is an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) and has a large population of African American students, so I've taught a very diverse student body in a student-centered program. To meet the needs of students, I've been very involved in numerous student-centered academic success initiatives as chair over the last six years.”
"There are a lot of students who can't financially participate in internships because they're working or they can't afford to study abroad. At Sam Houston, we developed scholarships, stipends and ways to support lower-income students so that they can benefit from these experiential learning opportunities. One of my emphases at Sam Houston was to try to get students for whom these activities were historically harder to participate more resources so they could undertake those activities. "
Other passions he's interested in pursuing after the move include skiing and cooking "I grew up as a competitive skier, so I'm going to try to get back to that, and I'm a big cook. My dad was a chef, so I do cook a lot." Competitive skiing, agricultural advocacy, foodie-minded cooking, and supporting high-impact student programs: Jason Konefal sounds like he’ll have plenty of shared interests with those in CDAE at UVM.