Dr. Elizabeth Ransom

Biography

Elizabeth Ransom is an Associate Professor of International Affairs and a Senior Research Associate at the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Michigan State University and her B.A. from Western Carolina University. Prior to joining Penn State, she served on the Sociology faculty at the University of Richmond and worked as a research associate at the Institute for Theory and Practice in International Relations at the College of William and Mary from 2013 to 2017. Ransom's research focuses on international development, globalization, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and encompasses themes such as gender, the political economy of agriculture and food systems, and social studies of science and technology. She has conducted research in various countries including Australia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, and the United States. At Penn State, Ransom teaches graduate courses centered on international agriculture, food systems, development ethics, and globalization. Her scholarly articles have been published in journals such as Gender & Society and the Journal of Rural Studies, and she has co-edited significant works including "Rural America in a Globalizing World: Problems and Prospects" and "Global Meat: Social and Environmental Consequences of the Expanding Meat Industry."

Research Interests

Experience