Contact
Professor, School of Public Health
- mbeckie@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 492-5153
- Address
-
Edmonton Clinic Health Academy
11405 87 Ave NWEdmonton ABT6G 1C9
Overview
About
Dr. Mary Beckie is a Professor and Director of Community Engagement Studies in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.
She holds an interdisciplinary doctorate in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development from the University of Saskatchewan. Current teaching and research focuses on community engagement and sustainable community development, particularly as relates to regenerative, equitable and place-based agri-food systems. Mary’s research is predominantly community-engaged and in partnership with community, and has taken place in western Canada, Cuba, Sri Lanka, India, and the UK.
Mary’s work has been published in a variety of journals dealing with alternative agri-food systems, community development and engaged scholarship including: Agriculture and Human Values; Rural Sociology; Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development; Local Environment; Community Development; and Community Engagement and Scholarship. She is co-editor of Scaling Up: Convergence of Social Economy and Sustainability (2016; Athabasca U Press) and Sustainability Planning and Collaboration in Rural Canada: Taking the Next Steps (2016; U of Alberta Press).
Mary grew up on a farm in south central Saskatchewan. Her first career path focused on the natural sciences and following the completion of a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Molecular Genetics she was involved in teaching and agricultural biotechnology research in post-secondary and federal research institutions. Her interest in alternative agri-food systems and sustainable development led to a career change and her enrolment in the PhD program described above.
Digging in the dirt and growing food is one of Mary’s favorite past-times and when possible she tries to incorporate opportunities to do this while teaching and researching.
Research
- scholarship of engagement
- sustainable development
- social learning, communities of practice, knowledge and power
- regenerative, equitable and place-based agri-food systems
- social movements
- interdisciplinary research
- experiential learning
Teaching
- theory and practice of sustainable community development
- sustainable and localized food systems
- citizen engagement and community capacity building
- alternative learning environments and transformative learning
- Research methods: case-study, Delphi, mixed method, community-based research
Courses
INT D 541 - CBRE Experience
Students will participate in a supervised field experience and demonstrate the integration of concepts, principles and approaches learned in INT D 500 Introduction to Community-Based Research and evaluation. Students will prepare a knowledge-sharing activity appropriate to the field experience setting. Normally students will be expected to complete all of their CBRE Graduate Certificate course requirements prior to enrolling in INT D 541. Open to students in the CBRE Graduate Embedded Certificate only.
MACE 502 - Theoretical Foundations of the Scholarship of Engagement
An examination of the theoretical foundations (e.g., Marxism, Post/Anti-Colonialism, Feminism) that have shaped the study and practice of community engagement. Students will explore this through a broad spectrum of disciplines and themes. A required course for students in the Master of Arts in Community Engagement program; others interested must seek consent of the instructor.
MACE 599A - Directed Capstone Project
A community-engaged (applied) culminating project. Restricted to MACE students in the course-based route.
MACE 599B - Directed Capstone Project
A community-engaged (applied) culminating project. Restricted to MACE students in the course-based route.
Featured Publications
Mike Gismondi, Sean Connelly, Mary Beckie, Sean Markey, Mark Roseland
Book. 2016 January;
Lars Hallstrom, Mary Beckie, Glen Hvenengaard, Karsten Mundel
Book. 2016 January;
Beckie, M. & Bacon, E.
Book chapter.
Gertler, M., Jaffe, J. & Beckie, M.
Beckie, M. & Berezan, R.
Hudson, R., Beckie, M.A., Krogman, N., Gow, G.
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development. 8 (4):137-151
Granzow, M. & Beckie, M.
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development.
Connelly, S. & Beckie, M.
Canadian Journal of Food Studies. 3 (2):pp. 49-69
Braun, J., Beckie, M. & Caine, K.
Agriculture and Human Values.