Leah works with colleagues and community partners to translate Wendell Berry’s visions for thriving farming communities into hands-on, interdisciplinary, new agrarian education. She teaches in and leads the Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College, calling on her research in agrarian literature, history, and culture as well as her service to a number of central Kentucky nonprofits: The Berry Center, Plowshares Farm Center, New Pioneers for a Sustainable Future, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Boyle County Farmers’ Market. Leah lives on family land near Danville, Kentucky, with her partner, Bruce Bryant, a cabinetmaker and part-time teacher, and their son, Burley.

Profile

Award	Institution
PhD in English	University of Kentucky
MA in English	Eastern Kentucky University
BA in English	Eastern Kentucky University

Presentations
“The Real Name of the Ecosphere.” Ecosphere Studies Conference. The Land Institute. Salina, Kansas. July 2018.
“Shantyboat Home Place: The Ebb and Flow of Ecospheric Agrarianism.” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). Wayne State University. Detroit, Michigan. June 2017.
“A Major in Homecoming: Getting Down to the Genius of the Place” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). University of Idaho. Moscow, Idaho. June 2015.
“‘Turned Toward the Wonder of the Equinoxes’: Elizabeth Madox Roberts’s and Wendell Berry’s Agrarian Marvels.”Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society Conference. St. Catharine College. St. Catharine, Kentucky. April 2015.
“Locavores and Congregations: Coming Together for Good.” Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. Louisville, Kentucky, June 2013.
“Shit Is Happening: Compost as Dwelling in American Farming Texts.” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). University of Kansas. Lawrence, Kansas. May 2013.
“Berry Farming and Ecological Agrarianism Program: Crafting a ‘Major in Homecoming.’” Education for Homecoming roundtable discussion with Wes Jackson (The Land Institute), Norman Wirzba (Duke), Mark Bomford (Yale), Ellen Davis (Duke), Michael Bomford (Kentucky State). Resettling of America Conference, Louisville, Kentucky. April 2013.
“Consilience of Ecological Agrarianism.” Keynote address for English Graduate Student Organization Conference. University of Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky. March 2013.
“Crossing Wires and Making Connections: Excursions into Interdisciplinary Living-Learning Terrain.” College English Association (CEA). University of Richmond. Richmond, Virginia. March 2012.
“Farming Native Place Attachment: Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and the Idiom of Indigeneity.” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). University of Indiana. Bloomington, Indiana. June 2011.
“(Re)Claiming the Dirt: Frederick Douglass’ Democratic Agrarian Vision.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA). Rutgers University. New Brunswick, New Jersey. April 2011.
“Jamaica Kincaid and Frederick Douglass: An Anti-Imperial, Agricultural Lineage.” College English Association (CEA). San Antonio, Texas. March 2010.
“Feminized Cultivations: Gendered Sustainable Agriculture Strategies in American Fiction.” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). University of Victoria. Victoria, British Columbia. June 2009.
“The Wide Wide World and Its ‘Backwoods’ Specimens.” Bryan Chair Prize Plenary Session with response from Dr. Donald Pease. University of Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky. Spring 2008.
“Losing the Mountain: Narratives of Loss and Reclamation in Mountaintop Removal Discourse.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA). University of Buffalo. Buffalo, New York. April 2008.
“‘I betook myself to the field’: Writing Nature in African American Literature.” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). Wofford College. Spartanburg, South Carolina. June 2007.
“Country Estates, Foxhunting, and The Eustace Diamonds.” Midwest Conference on British Studies. University of Dayton. Dayton, Ohio. September 2007.
“Ecocriticism and the Practice of Reading,” roundtable discussion. Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA). University of Boston. Boston, Massachusetts. March 2005.

Publications
“‘The living live in the absence / of all who once were here’: Wendell Berry and the 'Land' 'Marks' of History.” What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? Ed. John Hausdoerffer. U of Chicago P. Forthcoming, Spring 2019.
“‘Putting First Things First’: Obligation and Affection in Ecological Agrarian Education,” Social Justice and Education Reader: Working for Social Justice Education Inside and Outside the Classroom. Social Justice Across Contexts Education Series. Eds. sj Miller, Leslie David Burns, Nancye McCrary. Peter Lang. June 2015.
“The Death of the Double-Minded Man, or Thinking Like a Mountain: Evangelicalism, Counter-Culture Jive, and Strip-Mining in Divine Right’s Trip.” Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2005.
“Rotten English Major (No Angela Lansbury).”Aurora, 2004.
“Hen of the Woods.” Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2002.
“‘A Way of Thought Based on Land’: Institutionalizing Agrarian Thought.” The Whole Horse Project: An Editorial Collective. Ed. Danny Mayer. February 2016. http://www.wholehorseproject.org/?p=465
“Nine Musings.” The Notebook: A Journal for Rural Women and Girls. January 2014.

Interests:

gardening, running (or loping along with friends), potluck supper orchestration

Accomplishments

Awards & Fellowships

Professional
Faculty Member of the Year
St. Catharine College, 2013-2014

Writing
Bryan Chair Literature Essay Prize
Department of English, University of Kentucky, 2008
“The Wide Wide World and Its ‘Backwoods’ Specimens”

Women’s Studies Program Essay Award
Eastern Kentucky University, 2004
“Ecofeminism: Revising Feminist (Literary) Tactics”

Graduate Literature Essay Award
Department of English, Eastern Kentucky University, 2003
“Olaudah Equiano: Master of Western Discourses”

Agatha Graduate Poetry Award
Department of English, Eastern Kentucky University, 2004
“Rotten English Major (No Angela Lansbury)”

Academic
Daniel R. Reedy Quality Achievement Award Fellowship
University of Kentucky, 2005-2008

Benjamin Whalen Black Prize for Outstanding Performance by a Graduate Student
University of Kentucky, 2009

Futures of American Studies Institute Fellowship
Dartmouth College, 2009

Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship
Eastern Kentucky University, Fall 2002

Graduate Teaching Assistantships
University of Kentucky, Fall 2005-Spring 2011
Eastern Kentucky University, Fall 2002-Spring 2004

Graduate Assistant Fellowship
Eastern Kentucky University, 2002-2003

Presidential Fellowship nominee
University of Kentucky, Spring 2009
Instruction
Teachers Who Made a Difference Award
University of Kentucky, 2009

Ken Freedman Outstanding Adviser Award nominee
University of Kentucky, 2010

Three Books You Recommend?

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
My Garden by Jamaica Kincaid
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Leah's Recent Blog Posts

Meet Rachel Hampton

Posted December 28, 2020 by Leah Bayens read more

Good Work Is Membership

Posted January 14, 2019 by Leah Bayens read more

Dig In!

Thoughts on student life from Jax Hughes

Jax Hughes Ethereal musician, compassionate thinker, evidence-based farmer Cincinnati, OHIO | born & raised We sat down with Jax over a warm cup of coffee and reveled in his story…

What's Cooking @ Sterling: Hearty Potato Leek Bacon Soup

Here is a lovely and satisfying soup recipe for the deep winter months. It’s always welcomed by the community here at Sterling when the temperature drops for extended periods of…

Sterling College to Hold Winter Open House on Saturday, February 8

Sterling College to Hold Winter Open House on February 8 Sterling College, Vermont’s cornerstone institution addressing the climate emergency, is offering an opportunity for prospective students and their families to…

Leah Bayens