Name: Jayson Otto
Year in program: 6
ABD Y/N: Y
Primary supervisor: Dr. Thomas Summerhill
Major field: American History
Minor fields: Cultural Environmental History, Agricultural History
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Jayson is a cultural environmental historian who came to the history program after a couple of decades studying, teaching, and working in his community. Jayson holds a degree in anthropology from GVSU and a degree in Ecological Food and Farming from MSU’s Community Sustainability department. He studies West Michigan history and has written and spoken on farmers markets, school gardens, and horticulture in popular and academic venues. For example, his most recent article on school gardens and eugenics in progressive era Grand Rapids was printed in the Michigan Historical Review, while he was a keynote speaker at this year’s Michigan Centennial Farm Association. He is currently working on a dissertation looking at the persistence of fruit farming in Southwest Michigan.
Jayson lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Kelly and spends as much time as possible with his daughters and grandkids.