Justin J. Kastner

Headshot of Dr. Justin kastner.Professor

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

Mosier P-203
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 minister, 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 (FFT) 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 range of domains: the global food system and trade policy, economic history, the history of public health, veterinary history, globalization and cross-border cooperation, environmental health, 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).

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 superintended $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 (FFT) model, pioneered with Dr. Jason Ackleson (Virginia), is operationalized in these trainings and, most notably, in several student-centered excursions.

Indeed, many students have uniquely fed their intellectual curiosity through participation in memorable FFTs—to international trade ports of entry, private-sector firms, policymaking offices, libraries, and museums from coast to coast. FFTs typically feature skill-development activities in interdisciplinary thinking, problem solving, and writing; opportunities to connect with fellow students and mentors; and, supremely, a refreshing chance to (re)discover the joy of scholarship. Recognizing that the present is rooted in the past, FFTs often include archival research, creative re-enactments of key public health events, and other history-themed activities focused on the agriculture and food system. Past FFTs have involved visits to California to learn about the history and management of critical water infrastructure, as well as creative mystery-themed reenactments of historically significant foodborne and waterborne outbreaks. One of the most recent FFTs (the 43rd in the history of the program) involved travel to the National Library of Medicine, where public health and pre-med students found some remarkable primary source documents—including one authored by a medical professor who was an inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes!

Dr. Kastner currently serves as a member of the College of Veterinary Medicine caucus in K-State’s Faculty Senate. Separate from his K-State duties, the Rev. Dr. Kastner is an ordained priest (Anglican Church in North America, diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others), and routinely gives talks related to faith and life purpose.

Justin is married to Susie Kastner; together, they are proud parents of Ian and Sally.

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)
  • DAS 195 Exploring Scientific Research (Fall 2024 – present)
  • VAP 888 History of Veterinary Medicine (Fall 2024 - present)

Selected publications

  • Robin A.J. Nicholas and Justin J. Kastner, Lung Plague: Origins, Impact and Epidemiology of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK: CABI (2025), https://doi.org/10.1079/9781800627536.0000
  • Christopher A. Carter, Ellyn R. Mulcahy, Thomas Platt, and Justin Kastner, “The health-related consequences of drought in the Po and Colorado River Basins,” Journal of Environmental Health, Vol. 87, no. 10 (2025), pp.8-18, https://doi.org/10.70387/001c.140440
  • Justin Kastner and Robin Nicholas, “Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: a tale of two countries,” Veterinary History, Vol. 22, no. 1 (2024), pp. 12-37.
  • Andrew Wefald and Justin Kastner (2023). “Reflecting on the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) tour of United Arab Emirates,” The Loop (K-State Staley School of Leadership Studies), webposted 31 January 2023, https://blogs.k-state.edu/leadership/2023/01/31/reflecting-on-the-kansas-agriculture-and-rural-leadership-karl-tour-of-united-arab-emirates/
  • Jayden McCall and Justin Kastner, with files from Anne Straily. “Resourcefulness, resources, and the CCDM: An essential for practitioners of veterinary public health,” One Health Newsletter, Vol. 14, no. 1 (2022), https://olathe.k-state.edu/research/one-health-newsletter/issues/vol14-iss1/CCDM.html
  • 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), https://olathe.k-state.edu/research/one-health-newsletter/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), https://olathe.k-state.edu/research/one-health-newsletter/issues/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).
  • Jason Ackleson and Justin Kastner. “The Frontier Field Trip: An Innovative Extracurricular Mentoring Model,” The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, Vol. 2, no. 1 (2018), pp.195-98.
  • 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,” for the CIP Report, George Mason University Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (webposted January 2018 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.
  • Justin Kastner, Allyson Lister, Antoinette Cutler, and McNeil Dolliver. “Leveraging insights from psychology for pedagogical innovation,” Honors in Higher Education, Vol. 1 (2016). https://journals.psu.edu/hhe/article/view/60066/59885
  • Andrew Long, Justin Kastner, and Raymond Kassatly, “Is Food Security the New Tariff? Explaining Changes in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations by World Trade Organization Members,” Global Economy Journal, Vol. 13, no. 1 (2013), pp. 25-46. https://doi.org/10.1515/gej-2012-0025
  • Shweta Gopalakrishnan, Colleen Cochran, Danny Unruh, and Justin Kastner. “The Multiplicity of Actors Involved in Securing America’s Food Imports,” Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Vol. 9, no. 1 (July 2012): article 25. https://doi.org/10.1515/1547-7355.1845
  • Edward Nyambok and Justin Kastner. “United States Import Safety, Environmental Health, and Food Safety Regulation in China,” Journal of Environmental Health, Vol. 74, No. 6 (2012), pp. 28-34, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26329341