Garret Zastoupil is focused on understanding how rural communities organize to have power in their social, economic, and environmental futures by working alongside organizers, residents, and coalitions. He is interested in exploring the different manifestations of community power and the processes through which rural people organize to build more democratic economic and community institutions. Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, with settler ancestors who occupied Lakota Territory in western North Dakota through the Homestead Act, Garret centers his work in the contemporary Great Plains and American West. As a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil Society and Community Research, he is completing a community-based research dissertation project working with a grassroots environmental organization in North Dakota examining the local response to the declining coal industry. He draws from interdisciplinary training combining research and theory from sociology, geography, education, community psychology, and social work. Garret’s professional experience has focused on formal and informal learning environments in higher education such as student activities, university honors programs, and access and equity programs. He also has a breadth of experience in service-learning and public engagement in university environments.