DURHAM, N.H. — The University of New Hampshire has a new professorship devoted to food sustainability issues.

Joanne Burke, clinical associate professor of nutrition, is the first Thomas W. Haas professor in Sustainable Food Systems at UNH.

Her primary responsibility will be to advance the mission of Food Solutions New England. The organization is a regional network dedicated to promoting a sustainable New England food system. Its vision calls for the region to build the capacity to produce up to 70 percent of its food in ways that are environmentally and socially sustainable and promote health by 2060.

Burke has experience in community nutrition and dietetics education with an emphasis on food system sustainability.

The professorship was established earlier this year with a $1 million gift to the Sustainability Institute at UNH from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. It was generated from a fund established by Durham philanthropist Tom Haas.

“Living in a rural community as I do and understanding the important role that agriculture has played in our state and nation, I wanted to help position UNH to lead in the field of sustainable food systems,” Haas said.