Katie Sanders

Bio

Katie Sanders, originally from Arkansas (the Natural State), completed her M.S. in Agricultural and Extension Education from the University of Arkansas in 2019. She then received her Ph.D in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication from the University of Georgia in 2023, with a concentration in science communication and Extension-based program evaluation. Her areas of inquiry include exploring culturally responsive methods of Extension communication and outreach, understanding the role of sociocultural values in science communication, and enhancing systems thinking through food systems communication efforts both in formal and non-formal education.

Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Katie Sanders is an assistant professor and Extension specialist of food systems communication in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences. Katie's area of research inquiry includes exploring culturally responsive methods of Extension communication and outreach, understanding the role of sociocultural values in science communication, and enhancing systems thinking through food systems communication efforts both in formal and non-formal education.

Additionally, she is interested in the communication and discourse around contentious topics in the food system, with particular focus on agri-food technologies such as gene-editing. The goal of her work is to explore stakeholders' perceptions of agri-food topics and deliver scientific information in a way that connects with their needs and lived experiences.

In addition to her research and Extension, she teaches agricultural and food systems science communication courses and leads the Agricultural Communicators Program, a scholars program for undergraduate and graduate students to increase their professional development around agricultural and natural resource communication.