Director
Assistant Professor of the Practice, Duke Franklin Humanities Institute
(She/Her)
Dr. Saskia Cornes took the helm at the Duke Campus Farm in June 2014. Saskia holds a PhD in English Literature from Columbia University and teaches in the environmental humanities through Duke's Franklin Humanities Institute. A farmer by vocation, she learned regenerative agriculture through a range of apprenticeships on urban and rural farms, and through post-graduate study in organic agriculture at the Center for Agroecology at UC Santa Cruz. She has been working in and around the campus farm movement since 2009, designing experiential curricula in critical food studies for Columbia University, the University of San Francisco, UC Santa Cruz and Hostos Commmunity College.In her work now, she weaves teaching, farming, and more traditional forms of research together to rework our relationship to climate, and our relationship to food, and the land and people that grow it. Saskia heads up DCF's academic efforts, including teaching and research collaborations at/with the farm, DCF's interface with campus-wide initiatives including Duke's climate commitment, and guides the strategic direction of the program.