Dr. Alex Lyon

Alexandra (Alex) Lyon joined KPU in 2020. Her interests in agriculture and the environment developed at an early age during a childhood surrounded by organic and conventional fruit production in Southern California. Her academic training has focused on the intersection of ecology, society, and food production, spanning natural and social sciences. She completed her M.S. in Agroecology and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with a network of farmers and researchers across the United States to improve plant breeding and seed security for organic farming systems. Moving to Canada in 2015 as a Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, Alex continued to lead community-based research to expand the capacity and resilience of regional seed systems.

As a faculty member at KPU, Alex teaches on topics including the history of agriculture, transitions to sustainable food systems, and agroecology as a social movement.  She also supervises students in their independent internships and co-teaches the Agroecosystems Management series at the KPU Farm. She is passionate about engaging students in discovering the importance of seeds and crop diversity in agroecosystems, and awakening students’ capacity to engage in systemic change for sustainable futures. She also works to expand the KPU Seed Program, collaborating with community partners to support BC’s emerging seed sector.