CFAT PEOPLE
Directors:
Douglas L. Murray - Professor of Sociology, CSU. Dr. Murray’s research and applied work has focused on agricultural modernization in the developing world and the social and ecological changes that accompany it, most notably in chemical intensive farming systems. He is co-editor of the book, Fair Trade: The Challenges of Transforming Globalization. He also works regularly as an advisor to NGOs and international development agencies on issues of agriculture, fair and alternative trade, and social change.
Laura T. Raynolds – Professor of Sociology, CSU. Dr. Raynolds has done extensive research on production, social movements, network organization, and market issues related to fair and alternative trade in the agriculture and food sectors. Her research is informed by expertise in globalization, stratification, gender, and political economy and by extensive fieldwork in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is the co-editor of Fair Trade: The Challenges of Transforming Globalization and author of numerous articles and book chapters.
Associates:
Maureen DeCoursey - Private Consultant. Ms. DeCoursey (MF, Yale University) is an expert in forest and natural-resource based sustainable development. She brings to CFATS senior-level programming and project management expertise from over 20 countries. Areas of expertise include environment-friendly rural development, small-medium enterprises, the natural products sector, non-timber forest products, fair and alternative trade, community-based conservation, protected areas, sustainable agriculture, and ecotourism.
Molly Eckman - Professor of Merchandising, CSU. Dr. Eckman’s research interests include the effect of culture on consumer behavior, internationalization of retailing, and social responsibility in the global apparel and footwear supply chain. She is co-author of Social Responsibility in the Global Apparel Industry. Most recently, along with colleagues, she has published journal articles in International Marketing Review, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, and the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.
Douglas B. Holt - Professor of Marketing, Said Business School, University of Oxford. Dr. Holt’s academic research focuses on the sociology of consumption, emphasizing consumer culture, social class, and gender; his management research develops a socio-cultural approach to branding (How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding) and innovation (Cultural Strategy: How Innovative Ideologies Build Extraordinary Brands). His current projects analyze the branding challenges of social mission companies and Southern producers.
Mary Littrell - Professor and Department Head of Design and Merchandising, CSU. Dr. Littrell is an expert on corporate social responsibility and alternative trade organizations. Her research focuses on artisan enterprise sustainability and fair trade. She is co-author of Social Responsibility in the Global Market: Fair Trade of Cultural Products and is currently completing a second book on socio-economic impacts of fair trade for an artisan group in Mumbai, India. Her fair trade research is based in India and Guatemala.
Dimitris Stevis - Professor of Political Science, CSU. Dr. Stevis is an expert on transnational regulatory agreements. His research and teaching focus on international environmental politics and policies, environmental and labor regulation, and environmental justice. Building on an ILO funded project on International Framework Agreements between multinational corporations and unions, Dr. Stevis is working with CFAT to research synergies and tensions between Fair Trade and labor rights strategies.
Leah Sprain – Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, CSU. Dr. Sprain’s research focuses on local practices of democracy, which includes a range of ways that individuals see themselves acting politically from conscious consumption to environmental activism to participation in community deliberation. Her fair trade research focuses on farmer cooperatives in Nicaragua and the fair trade movement in the United States.
Dawn Thilmany – Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, CSU. Dr. Thilmany is an expert on US organic and “buy local” food sectors. Her research explores alternative food markets defined by consumer concern for organic, local, and eco-friendly product attributes and the willingness to pay for such assurances in natural meats, fresh produce, local wine, and agritourism. In a CSU / Farm Foundation project, she provides a regional and economic development view on how alternative food systems impact communities.
Tuba Ustuner - Assistant Professor of Marketing, College of Business, CSU. Dr. Ustuner’s research extends the sociology of consumption to the distinctive context of the developing world. Her research emphasizes consumer acculturation and status consumption, and has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Harvard Business Review, and Advances in Consumer Research. Before entering academics, she worked as a financial analyst and manage a small business-to-business trading company in Turkey.
Research Assistants:
Meghan Mordy - PhD student, Department of Sociology. Meghan was a member of the Peace Corps in El Salvador and completed her Master’s in Public Administration, studying farmers’ cooperatives in Central America, in 2006. She is currently a PhD student in Sociology at CSU focusing on theories of development, globalization, and social inequality. Her research assistantship is generously supported by an institutional development grant to CFAT from Colorado State University.
Emily Thorn – PhD student, Department of Sociology. Emily received her Master’s in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana in 2009. For her MA thesis, she researched the Domestic Fair Trade Movement. She joined the PhD Sociology program at CSU in 2009 and is currently working on the CFAT project called the Conscious Consumer Trust. She is generously funded by project funding to CFAT from the Ft. Collins Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
Jen Loomis - MA student, Department of Sociology. Jen recetly returned from Peru after completing research on local markets for organic produce in the region of Huancayo. While in Peru, she assisted Doug Murray in completing a consultancy project called “No Como Veneno: Strengthening Local Organic Markets in the Peruvian Andes” for the Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.
Erica Schelly - MA student, Department of Sociology. Erica has a BA in English from the University of Washington and is currently a MA student in Sociology at CSU. Her research interests include environmental sociology, sustainable development, and fair and alternative trade. She is currently working on a research project with Laura Raynolds studying Fair Trade Flowers in Ecuador. Her research assistantship is generously supported by the National Science Foundation.
