Staff

Mary Summers

Mary Summers is a senior fellow in the Fox Leadership Program and a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches academically based community service seminars on the politics of food and agriculture and the politics of poverty and development in the United States. She directs service-learning projects and speakers' programs in association with these courses. She was the principal investigator for a three-year grant to the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger from the USDA (2001-2004) to study the effectiveness of using student and faith-based volunteers in a food stamp enrollment campaign. Summers' research addresses the interactions between social movements, interest groups, electoral politics, and government institutions with a special focus on agriculture, food and education. She has written articles for The Nation, Urban Affairs Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, Agricultural History and several edited volumes. She has a long history of engagement with issues of social justice, the environment, and health care. She worked for many years as a Physician Assistant and served as a speechwriter for Jesse Jackson, Harriett Woods, Dennis Kucinich, and John Daniels, the first African American mayor of New Haven. She received an M.A. and an M. Phil. in political science from Yale University in 1990.



Our Founder - Robert A. Fox Fox Professors Director's Advisory Group Executive Director Associate Directors Staff Mary Summers Fellows The Students of Fox FAQs Contact Information		Staff Mary Summers Mary Summers is a senior fellow in the Fox Leadership Program and a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches academically based community service seminars on the politics of food and agriculture and the politics of poverty and development in the United States. She directs service-learning projects and speakers' programs in association with these courses. She was the principal investigator for a three-year grant to the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger from the USDA (2001-2004) to study the effectiveness of using student and faith-based volunteers in a food stamp enrollment campaign. Summers' research addresses the interactions between social movements, interest groups, electoral politics, and government institutions with a special focus on agriculture, food and education. She has written articles for The Nation, Urban Affairs Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, Agricultural History and several edited volumes. She has a long history of engagement with issues of social justice, the environment, and health care. She worked for many years as a Physician Assistant and served as a speechwriter for Jesse Jackson, Harriett Woods, Dennis Kucinich, and John Daniels, the first African American mayor of New Haven. She received an M.A. and an M. Phil. in political science from Yale University in 1990.