Resulting from the initial Farm strategic planning process conducted in the fall semester of 2014, President Jonathan Lash has issued a charge for a governing body that will oversee the Hampshire College Farm. The Farm Committee will be appointed by the President and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty for two academic years and may be extended. The Committee will include three faculty members appointed in consultation with the Deans, three staff members including the Director of Food, Farm and Sustainability, the Farm Manager and one staff person at large appointed in consultation with the SAC, and three students appointed in consultation with the HSU. Until the committee is assembled in Fall of 2015, the Farm Strategic Planning Committee will continue to work toward drafting a 5-year strategic plan for the farm including the mission, goals, vision and values of the program.
Hampshire College Farm: Steering Committee
Sow To Achieve Results (STAR)
The Hampshire Farm is a unique resource that is valued across our community for the important role it plays in our teaching, research, culture, and experience. It is part of our identity, a major factor in attracting new students, a source of a portion of the food we consume, and a fond memory for alumni. We are committed to building on those qualities in the coming years. The Farm STAR is a small committee of students, faculty, and staff willing and able to commit to regular meetings and on-going work representing and communicating with the Hampshire Community as a whole. The Farm STAR will work with the multiple segments of the community involved with and interested in the farm to advance and implement a broad vision of the farm’s role in the future.
Hampshire Farm Mission and Vision:
The mission of the Hampshire College Farm is to enhance and exemplify Hampshire’s approach to a liberal arts education.
The farm:
- supports teaching and research opportunities for faculty and students;
- serves as a model for land stewardship and ecological agricultural practices; and
- provides a “living lab” for Hampshire’s values, particularly in the areas of sustainability, social justice, community-building, and experiential education.
Our Vision is of a thriving, well-run farm that inspires interdisciplinary inquiry through the enterprise of ethical and sustainable food production, fosters connection to place and community through authentic and practical work, and provides opportunities for research, individual creativity, reflection and recreation. We see the operation and governance of the farm, and our potential to influence similar efforts at other colleges, as powerful components of Hampshire’s pursuit of a larger mission to foster a lifelong passion for learning, inquiry, and ethical citizenship that inspires students to contribute to knowledge, justice and positive change and, by doing so, to transform higher education.
Charge for the Farm STAR Committee
The Farm STAR will be appointed by the President and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, with clear criteria for success and accountability for performance, with a charge to oversee the next stages of planning and implementation of the ambitious vision. A major task of the Farm STAR is the development of a 5-year strategic plan for the farm including the mission, goals, vision and values of the program, built from the foundation of the campus community engagement in Fall 2014.
The Farm STAR will ensure that farm operations and future planning for the farm embrace a broad vision of the farm’s multiple purposes, in order to elevate the farm’s role at the College and enhance its primary purpose as an educational resource and living laboratory for Hampshire’s educational and social values. In doing so the STAR will regularly communicate with the community about its work and farm operations, and will seek community views and ideas on strategies, plans, and major decisions.
The Farm STAR may propose projects, curriculum, events, strategies and initiatives to accomplish these goals, and may convene campus discussions of issues and options. The Committee may set up appropriate sub-committees.
The Farm STAR will be appointed by the President and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty for two academic years and may be extended. The Committee will include three faculty members appointed in consultation with the Deans, three staff members including the Director of Food, Farm and Sustainability, the Farm Manager and one staff person at large appointed in consultation with the SAC, and three students appointed in consultation with the HSU.
