Engaged Scholars: Timothy McDermott

June 2023

Engaged Scholars is a series highlighting Ohio State faculty who have made an impact in our communities through their community-engaged research and teaching.

Timothy McDermott
Extension Educator, Assistant Professor
OSU Extension, Franklin County

I engage in agriculture and the opportunities that agriculture has in improving peoples lives. I do this by teaching people how to grow their own food to provide for personal and family food security, by increasing the number of places to grow and by building capacity in community gardens and urban farms. I also engage students and teachers in schools by creating experiential extensions of the classroom indoors and outdoors to normalize agriculture in the classroom for the purpose of workforce development and the opportunities in agriculture as a career. We do not grow students up on farms like we did in the past, our next generation of agricultural professionals needs to come from urban youth at urban schools. My outreach and educational engagement are neighborhood and place-based, provided free of charge, and prioritizes BIPOC, new American, immigrant, and refugee residents in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Why is it important to engage the community in your research and teaching?

Extension serves the land-grant mission of the university by radiating the knowledge and research of Ohio State to our county client-residents to assist them in improving the lives of themselves and their families. As a second career member of Extension, I have experienced first-hand how an agricultural background has positively impacted my life and provided me opportunity and I enjoy the engagement I get to do throughout Franklin County as well as our state-wide campus. Ohio State has tremendous potential to positively impact people's lives through our outreach, research and engagement when we can do that engagement with respect and a willingness to collaborate as partners.

What led you to the path of engaged scholarship? How did you get started?

I joined OSU Extension eight years ago after a 20-year career in veterinary private practice medicine and surgery here in Franklin County. When I joined OSU Extension Franklin County, we had a need for neighborhood and placed based engagement. I wanted to prioritize delivering barrier free engagement to my neighbors in their neighborhoods to positively impact their lives through the opportunities in agriculture. My first project was The Buckeye ISA project, a 2022 High Impact Program, which was a W. K. Kellogg funded project where I created an educational outreach program teaching families with children located in the economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of Franklin County how to grow their own food. This project laid the foundation for my scholarly outreach and resulted in friendships that have lasted past the grant project and continue today.

How has your scholarship benefited from engaging with community partners?

There is unlimited opportunity to engage in Franklin County. My relationships have led to partnerships and collaboration. One passion of mine is to engage in on-farm urban agricultural research with farmers, students and faculty to address challenges faced by increasing urban heat due to global climate change. Finding new ways to grow in the face of this change positively impacts the economic sustainability of these urban producers.

What has been a highlight of your community engagement experience?

Personally, the chance to meet new friends, see people learn how to grow and assist in the construction of a new garden or farm energize me. The chance to go into a school for engagement with students to see how they take to agricultural learning and how much fun they have growing and tasting new things is an amazing experience. Professionally a highlight was being selected as Local Food Champion by the Franklin County Local Food Council, Columbus City Council and the Franklin County Board of Commissioners for Goal A: Enhancing coordination and communication among existing food resources and agencies, a priority goal of my Extension work.

What advice would you give to faculty and students who are interested in engaging the community in their scholarship?

Be respectful and listen. You are a guest in someones neighborhood. Try to be the guest that you would be happy to host at your house, try to be the neighbor that you would be happy to live next to.

Sample engaged scholarship

Growing Franklin - Local Food Production/Urban Agriculture in Franklin County

Extension Today - Strategic marketing partnership with NBC4 WCMH Columbus to highlight Extension and CFAES research and outreach.

The Buckeye ISA -2022 OSU Office of Outreach and Engagement High Impact Program

Publication: "Addressing urban food security through agriculture career awareness" ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1356: XXXI International Horticulture Congress (IHC 2022): International Symposium on Urban Horticulture for Sustainable Food Security, https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1356.2