Name: Joshua Faller
Programs completed at APU: Masters of the Arts in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
Project Title: Food System Resilience in Alaska: An Examination of Intimate Strategies for Building a Flourishing Foodshed in the Subarctic and Beyond
Hometown: Troy, New York
Best Classes at APU: My favorite classes were MAP, Research with Gina Miller, and MAP, Small Farm Economics with Yaso Thiru! The Masters of the Arts Program has allowed me the flexibility to work with a number of inspiring mentors who provided hands on, one on one guidance to build the skills and knowledge that I needed to achieve my academic objectives.
What is your favorite APU memory? Hands down, donating 2 and a half tons of fresh Alaskan produce grown by student farmers to food insecure families in the Mat-Su over 2 years through Alaska Tilth. Tilth is an inter-organizational collaboration inspired by similar projects in the Pacific Northwest to build food security by providing food access as well as training and opportunities for farmers.
What is going to be your next adventure post-APU? I plan to continue to work to create food system resilience in Alaska and help the new administration grow and strengthen hands on food and farming programming at APU.
Any words of wisdom for students working on completing their degrees?
Start using RefWorks early so that you don’t lose valuable sources. Google Scholar is a better search engine than Consortium Library- find sources there first and then retrieve documents from the library website. Consider assignments early in your program through the lens of preliminary research for your final project, and then go back later and ruthlessly mine them for content. Don’t forget about your body- eat well, get rest, and find time to exercise, it helps to keep the mind clear and ready to write. Try to break up your objective into digestible pieces so that you aren’t overwhelmed by the scope of your project. Sheer stubborn tenacity certainly doesn’t hurt.
