College of Veterinary Medicine

Justin J. Kastner

kastner photoProfessor

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

Mosier P-216
Phone (785) 532-4820
Fax (785) 532-4039
jkastner@ksu.edu

Interests and responsibilities

A professor in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology at Kansas State University (KSU), former honors program director (2013-2016), current president for KSU’s chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, and ordained Anglican minister, Justin Kastner enjoys helping others in their ongoing and enduring academic, career, and life development. The Rev. Dr. Kastner brings holistic perspectives to pedagogical innovation and student mentoring, co-directing the interdisciplinary Frontier program (mantra: “crossing disciplinary borders”), superintending scholarly activities for several academic units at KSU, and pastoring an outreach-oriented and purposefully informal Christian community (Trinity Canton Church). He lives in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife Susie, son Ian, and daughter Sally.

Dr. Kastner has served as PI for $2M in federal (e.g., U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture) STEM-related, trade-policy, trade-facilitation, or capacity-building (e.g., USDA Cochran program) training grants, and in 2015-16 he led a State of Kansas funded project providing experiential learning for students exploring global food system careers. The interdisciplinary Frontier program, pioneered with Dr. Jason Ackleson (Director of Strategy for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Policy, and KSU adjunct faculty member), has provided hundreds of students and trainees with experiential learning (via Frontier Field Trips to international trade ports of entry, private firms, nonprofit advocacy groups, policymaking offices, libraries, and museums), inspiring and scholarly skill-development workshops, and exceptional archival research experiences that foster both multidisciplinary breadth and intellectual curiosity in and amongst students who might not otherwise delve into centuries-old historical documents.

A former elected official (city commissioner, 1995-1997, in Manhattan, Kansas), Truman Scholar (1997), Fulbright Scholar (1998-1999), and Rotary Scholar (1999-2000), Dr. Kastner is committed to public service, having worked in international trade policy at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and offering instructional expertise regarding the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. He holds graduate degrees from the United Kingdom and Canada (PhD, University of Guelph; PgDip, University of Edinburgh; MSc, London South Bank University) and conducts scholarly activities in several domains: the global food system and international trade policy, economic history and the history of science, the history of public health, globalization and cross-border cooperation, multidisciplinary thinking and writing, and the theory and practice of interdisciplinary scholarship. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on the main KSU campus (in the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture as well as the honors program), the KSU Olathe (Kansas City metro area) campus (in the School of Applied and Interdisciplinary Studies), and KSU’s Global Campus, whilst frequently guest lecturing to classes, student organizations, and community groups.

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)

Selected publications

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), webposted at https://www.vet.k-state.edu/about/news-events-publications/OneHealth/Previous_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), webposted at https://www.vet.k-state.edu/OneHealth/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).

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,” special November/December 2017 issue of the CIP Report, George Mason University Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, webposted 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.

Kaitlyn Barnes, Kellen Liebsch, Sarah Jones, Clara Wicoff, Danny Unruh, and Justin Kastner. “Frontier research in the archives: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in historical and economic context.” Poster and abstract for the USDA STEC CAP conference, Lincoln, Nebraska, June 2017.

Justin Kastner, Allyson Lister, Antoinette Cutler, and McNeil Dolliver. “Leveraging insights from psychology for pedagogical innovation,” Honors in Higher Education, Vol. 1 (2016).

Danny Unruh, Sara Gragg, and Justin Kastner. “Commentary: The Politics of Food Safety Regulations,” Food Quality and Safety, 24 October 2016, webposted at http://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/commentary-politics-food-safety-regulations/

Textbook: Food and Agriculture Security: An Historical, Multidisciplinary Approach (Justin Kastner, Ed). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO and Praeger Security International (2010).