Dr. Nicole Breazeale is committed to engaged learning experiences that build community capacity, democratize knowledge, and reduce social inequality. Nicole joined the faculty of CLD as an Associate Extension Professor in July of 2019. Before that, she served as a professor of Sociology at Western Kentucky University.  Nicole was a national finalist for the prestigious Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement and is a recipient of a Fulbright to Argentina. She is the founder of Project Breaking Ground: A Sustainable Jail Garden & Food Justice Project. Nicole holds a PhD from UW-Madison in community & environmental sociology, a MA in rural sociology from UK, and a BA in political science and education from Swarthmore College.

About Nicole

Dr. Nicole Breazeale is an Associate Professor of Community Development at the University of Kentucky, where she holds a joint appointment in teaching and Cooperative Extension. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2010. Her work blends academic instruction, community-based research, and public engagement — all focused on strengthening communities across Kentucky and beyond.

At the heart of Dr. Breazeale’s work is a deep belief in the power of story. Too often dismissed as entertainment, storytelling can be a powerful tool for connection, leadership, reflection, and change. She regularly trains others in tools such as story circles, digital storytelling, leadership storytelling, organizational storytelling, and Ripple Effects Mapping. She co-founded the Kentucky Storytelling for Engagement Community of Practice and the national Ripple Effects Mapping Community of Practice, and regularly trains others in how to use these tools in planning, facilitation, evaluation, and team-building efforts.

In her Cooperative Extension role, Dr. Breazeale works with Agents, Specialists, and Faculty across program areas to support community engagement and development. Her work focuses on building strong local partnerships, facilitating group processes, evaluating community programs, and supporting volunteer and leadership development. She emphasizes active participation and relationship-building over traditional lecture-based approaches.

In the classroom, she teaches key courses in the Community and Leadership Development (CLD) undergraduate program, including the department’s introductory course (CLD 260) and senior capstone seminar (CLD 490), as well as the graduate-level Community Engagement course. She also co-designed and co-leads the interdisciplinary graduate course, Perspectives on Sustainable Food Systems, supported by a USDA NIFA National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grant Program.

Her research and practice focus on two primary areas:

1. Local and Sustainable Food Systems – strengthening food networks that support local producers, consumers, and communities.
2. Storytelling-Based Methods for Community Engagement – using narrative tools for learning, evaluation, and collaborative problem-solving.

Dr. Breazeale has provided leadership on a range of grant-funded projects, including the Food, Farming, and Community curriculum for middle school agricultural educators and Extension Agents, and the Extension Recovery Garden Toolkit, which supports gardening and nutrition programming in substance use recovery centers statewide. She also serves on a Grand Challenge grant team focused on improving health partnerships between Cooperative Extension and other University of Kentucky entities.

She actively mentors undergraduate and graduate students, guiding research projects and applied work in the field, and maintains long-standing partnerships with organizations such as Civic Lex, FoodChain, Grow Appalachia, and the Brushy Fork Institute.

Her commitment to community engagement and education has earned national recognition. She received the 2022 Outstanding Community Development Educator Award from the Community Development Society and was a finalist for the national Lynton Award for Scholarship of Engagement for Early Career Faculty. While at Western Kentucky University, she founded Project Breaking Ground, a jail-based garden initiative focused on food access and community connection. She has also served as a Fulbright fellow in Argentina.

Outside of work, Nicole enjoys fly fishing, gardening, cooking, reading, and watching butterflies. She is the proud mother (and step-mother) of three boys.