Craig A. Hassel, PhD

Graduate Faculty
Hassel_Craig

Contact

Office Phone
612-624-7288
Office Address

164 Food Science and Nutrition Building
1334 Eckless Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108
United States

Links:
Experts@Minnesota Research Profile

Titles

Associate Professor and Extension Nutritionist

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Areas of Interest

  • Exploring food and health with cultural communities holding knowledge that does not correspond with Western science perspectives. This work pivots the culture/science relationship as it repositions scientific inquiry alongside ancient, ancestral and experiential understandings of food and health.
  • Creating models of cross-cultural engagement that reform scientific inquiry to be more respectful of diverse ways of knowing. Examples include: 1) Using principles of Chinese medical theory and contemporary sensory analysis to explicate medicinal herb quality; 2) Using indigenous heirloom crop varieties, including wild rice, to explore Indigenous and biomedical worldviews; 3) Faculty development and cross-cultural symposia that embrace multiple worldview orientations.
  • The University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing
  • The Inter-institutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge at Penn State University
  • The Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis and St. Paul
  • The White Earth Tribal Council

Service

  • Minnesota Extension Service Nutrition & Health - specialist support to Extension Educators focusing on diet/health and vital aging programming
  • Woodlands Wisdom Nutrition Project – work closely with a confederacy of six Tribal Colleges and the University of Minnesota to address chronic health issues in Native American communities through culturally-based food and nutrition programs of teaching, research and community connections
  • Families That Work Outreach – work with urban and rural American Indian Communities to assist with developing nutrition education approaches that honor traditional foods and its relationship to land and human health.
  • Medicinal Herb Network – work closely with this network, founded as partnership effort of small-scale medicinal herb growers and practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to communicate concepts of medicinal herb quality and to encourage locally grown, high quality medicinal herbs.