Justin J. Kastner

 kastner photoProfessor

PhD 2003, University of Guelph
PgDip 2000, University of Edinburgh
MSc 2000, London South Bank University
BS & minor 1998, Kansas State University

Mosier P-216
Phone (785) 532-4820
Fax (785) 532-4039
jkastner@ksu.edu

Interests and responsibilities

A professor at Kansas State University (KSU), past honors program director (2013-2016), and ordained priest, Justin Kastner helps others in their academic, career, and life development. Dr. Kastner leads activities for several academic units at KSU, offers holistic perspectives on pedagogical innovation, and provides experiential learning through the Frontier Field Trip model.

Dr. Kastner holds graduate degrees from the United Kingdom and Canada (PhD, University of Guelph; PgDip, University of Edinburgh; MSc, London South Bank University) and teaches and publishes in a multidisciplinary range of domains: the global food system and trade policy, economic history, the history of public health, globalization and cross-border cooperation, multidisciplinary thinking and writing, and the theory and practice of interdisciplinary scholarship. He has designed, pioneered, and taught several graduate and undergraduate courses on the main KSU campus (in the College of Veterinary Medicine as well as the University Honors Program), the KSU Olathe (Kansas City) campus (in the School of Applied and Interdisciplinary Studies), and online (through KSU’s Global Campus): AAI 801 Interdisciplinary Process; DMP 314 Environmental and Public Health; DMP 815 Multidisciplinary Thought and Presentation; DMP 888 Globalization, Cooperation, & the Food Trade; DMP 816 Trade and Agricultural Health; UHP 189 Introduction to the University Honors Program; UHP 189 Discovering the Heart of Scholarship; and UHP 189 Human & Veterinary Public Health in the Age of Sherlock Holmes.

A Truman (1997), Fulbright (1998-1999), and Rotary (1999-2000) scholar with experience in local government (city commissioner, 1995-97, in Manhattan, Kansas) and global governance (World Trade Organization, Geneva, 2000), Dr. Kastner is committed to public service. He has led $2.5M in STEM (e.g., U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture) and capacity-building (USDA Cochran program) training-grant programs for foreign governments (Egypt, Thailand, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Paraguay). The Frontier Field Trip model, pioneered with Dr. Jason Ackleson (Virginia), is operationalized in these trainings and other student-centered excursions. Hundreds of Dr. Kastner’s mentees have fed their curiosities and grown in scholarly skills through memorable Frontier Field Trips—to international trade ports of entry, private-sector firms, policymaking offices, libraries, and museums. These trips’ workshops and archival-research activities foster multidisciplinary breadth in and amongst Dr. Kastner’s mentees; the most recent trip, and the 39th in the history of Frontier, is described here.

Separate from his K-State occupation and duties, the Rev. Dr. Kastner is also an ordained priest (Anglican Church in North America, diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others), often speaking on life-purpose themes.

Courses Taught

  • DMP 815 Multidisciplinary Thought and Presentation (2004 – present)
  • DMP 816 Trade and Agricultural Health (2007 – present)
  • DMP 888 Globalization, Cooperation, and the Food Trade (2011 – present)
  • AAI 801 Interdisciplinary Process (2016-2018)
  • UHP 189 Discovering the Heart of Scholarship (2013 – present)
  • UHP 189 Human and Veterinary Public Health in the Age of Sherlock Holmes (2019 – present)
  • DMP 314 Environmental and Public Health (2021 – present)

Selected publications

Kate Lewis, Peter Maier, and Justin Kastner (2022). “For the common good: a lesson in public health leadership from Eyam,” The Loop (K-State Staley School of Leadership Studies), published 27 January 2002, https://blogs.k-state.edu/leadership/2022/01/27/for-the-common-good-a-lesson-in-public-health-leadership-from-eyam/.

Justin Kastner and Kate Schoenberg, “Veterinary Public Health as ‘Ratiocination,’” Veterinary Heritage, Vol. 44, no. 1 (2021), pp. 22-26.

Justin Kastner, Megan Eppler, Valerie Jojola-Mount, Ellyn Mulcahy, Phutsadee Sanwisate, and Kate Schoenberg, “Fighting the Spread of Disease With…Words?,” One Health Newsletter, Vol. 12, no. 2 (2020), webposted at https://www.vet.k-state.edu/about/news-events-publications/OneHealth/Previous_Issues/Vol12-Iss2/fighting_spread.html.

Justin Kastner and Josh Haynes, “Physicians welcome a veterinarian to problem-solve on tuberculosis: One Health meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1888,” One Health Newsletter, Vol. 11, no. 1 (2019), webposted at https://www.vet.k-state.edu/OneHealth/Vol11-Iss1/edinburgh.html.

Jason Ackleson, Sara Gragg, Justin Kastner, Ellyn Mulcahy, and Daniel Unruh. “Chapter 12: Developing primary laws and secondary regulations for food safety: The case of FSMA and its attendant rules,” In Master of Public Health Competencies: A Case Study Approach (Anthony Santella, Ed.), Burlington, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Learning, pp. 95-102 (2019).

Danny Unruh, Sara Gragg, Abbey Nutsch, Jason Ackleson, and Justin Kastner. “Enhancing Food-System Resilience and Ensuring Consumer Confidence in the Aftermath of a Food-Supply Catastrophe,” special November/December 2017 issue of the CIP Report, George Mason University Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, webposted at https://cip.gmu.edu/2017/12/20/enhancing-food-system-resilience-ensuring-consumer-confidence-aftermath-food-supply-catastrophe/).

Clara Wicoff, Danny Unruh, Sarah Jones, and Justin Kastner (2017), “Who was Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine?,” QR-code-connected web essay prepared at the request of the Kansas Health Institute, for Topeka-based pocket park honoring public health pioneer Samuel Crumbine, October 2017, webposted at http://www.khi.org/park/who-was-dr.-samuel-j.-crumbine.

Danny Unruh, Clara Wicoff, Sarah Jones, and Justin Kastner (2017), “Flies and Infectious Disease,” QR-code-connected web essay prepared at the request of the Kansas Health Institute, for Topeka-based pocket park honoring public health pioneer Samuel Crumbine, October 2017, webposted at http://www.khi.org/park/flies-and-infectious-disease.

Clara Wicoff, Danny Unruh, Kaitlyn Barnes, Sarah Jones, and Justin Kastner (2017), “Water and Food Safety,” QR-code-connected web essay prepared at the request of the Kansas Health Institute, for Topeka-based pocket park honoring public health pioneer Samuel Crumbine, October 2017, webposted at http://www.khi.org/park/water-and-food-safety.

Kaitlyn Barnes, Kellen Liebsch, Sarah Jones, Clara Wicoff, Danny Unruh, and Justin Kastner. “Frontier research in the archives: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in historical and economic context.” Poster and abstract for the USDA STEC CAP conference, Lincoln, Nebraska, June 2017.

Justin Kastner, Allyson Lister, Antoinette Cutler, and McNeil Dolliver. “Leveraging insights from psychology for pedagogical innovation,” Honors in Higher Education, Vol. 1 (2016).

Danny Unruh, Sara Gragg, and Justin Kastner. “Commentary: The Politics of Food Safety Regulations,” Food Quality and Safety, 24 October 2016, webposted at http://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/commentary-politics-food-safety-regulations/

Textbook: Food and Agriculture Security: An Historical, Multidisciplinary Approach (Justin Kastner, Ed). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO and Praeger Security International (2010).