Savanna May Lyons

Project focus: The Fellow will examine Extension’s science policy collaborations with local governments that aim to address food security and food system resilience.

Savanna Lyons is a scholar-practitioner whose work explores learning, collective action, participatory democracy, and social change. She combines rigorous community-engaged research with over 15 years of experience helping organizations to strengthen community capacity, build relationships across differences, and amplify collective impact. Throughout her career, Savanna has worked to build up people-powered institutions and movements that leverage learning to advance equity and democracy. Her leadership experience includes directing a statewide local food systems coalition, a civic action organization, a youth organizing fellowship program, learning communities for organizers and social entrepreneurs, and a work-based college degree program in food entrepreneurship. Most recently, she spent five years managing a national association of worker-owned cooperatives, supporting leadership development, training, and policy advocacy to advance racial justice and economic democracy. Savanna’s research examines the intersection of learning, leadership, trust, and collective action. Building on earlier scholarship on cooperation in food systems, her current work explores how people learn to build trust across differences, foster trust within diverse coalitions, and use trust as a resource for equity. Savanna holds an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University, an M.S. in economics and sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University, and a B.S. in environmental science and public policy, cum laude, from Harvard University.