Serving as Student Representative on SAEA’s Steering Council and the External Advisory Board of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis, Andrew K. Baskin pioneered original research as a McNair Scholar with departmental honors while earning his B.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. The UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Dean’s Circle along with USDA-NIFA have awarded Baskin funding to speak at conferences nationwide (UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Harvard, North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, etc.) Painfully aware that our institutions of higher education perpetuate systemic oppression, Baskin gratefully acknowledges his privilege to access these networks and work to bridge this divide. By prioritizing solutions-focused leverage points for systemic change that elevate collective health, justice and sustainability in the dimensions of agroecology, food systems, and cooperative economics, Baskin cultivates a praxis of values-based systems thinking rooted in the pursuit of economic autonomy and cultural healing.