"The Omnivores' Trifecta": Bawden Seminar Announcement

“The Omnivores’ Trifecta”:

Agriculture, Food and Health

and the Systemic Relationships between them

 

Dr. Richard Bawden

Systemic Development Institute, Australia

 

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

 

Reception @ 5:00 pm

Seminar from 5:30 – 6:45 pm

 

338 Natural Resources Building

 

 

RSVP, Jennifer Patterson at patter34@anr.msu.edu by Tuesday noon.

 

More than a dozen years have slipped by since Ernest Boyer called for the academy to become ‘a more vigorous partner in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic and moral problems.’ A major reason for the enduring reluctance of universities to heed that call lies with the inherent messiness, complexity, uncertainty and inter-connectedness of the ‘pressing problems’ of the day. The academic tradition is to reduce issues down to their component parts in ways that reflect disciplinary focuses that ignore systemic investigations into crucial inter-connections between those parts. There are few better examples here than the messy complexity and multi-dimensionality of the inter-relationships between agriculture, food and human health: ‘The Omnivores’ Trifecta.’ There are many issues here that demand urgent and critical attention in all of their systemic messiness. So what to do?

 

Dr. Richard Bawden is a Founding Director and Fellow of the Systemic Development Institute in Australia. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Sydney and currently an adjunct professor at Michigan State University. Between 2000 and 2007 he was a Visiting Distinguished University Professor at Michigan State University. Prior to that appointment he spent 20 years at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, which was incorporated into the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in 1989. From 1978 to 1993 he was Dean of Agriculture and Rural Development and was appointed Professor of Systemic Development in 1989 at the establishment of UWS.

 

This “conversation about our food future” is co-sponsored by

 

Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project

W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Food, Agriculture and Community Ethics

Collage of Agriculture & Natural Resources

 

Food Systems and Public Health

In December 2009, the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition released a
special issue, "Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier
Diets and Healthier Communities." The publication presents papers from the
April 2009 conference of the same name, and includes policy-relevant research
and actionable recommendations. The objectives of the conference were to
convene a multidisciplinary team of experts interested in food systems and
public health, identify research opportunities and foster interdisciplinary
research collaborations. More than 100 leading researchers and practitioners
nationwide from the health, nutrition, obesity and health policy arenas-along
with those from the sustainable agriculture, economics and agriculture policy
sectors-participated in the discussion.

The issue was co-edited by Mary Story, PhD, RD, director of Healthy Eating
Research; Michael Hamm, PhD, Michigan State University; and David Wallinga, MD,
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The 289-page publication is available free online here.

Learning the Lingo: MSU Workshop Series for Academic Writing

Take part in The Michigan State University Writing Center's workshop series! The fall line-up includes:

MSU, the Writing Center, and You: An Introduction to Using the Writing Center (9/24) -Do you want to know more about the Writing Center before you decide to make an appointment? This session will tell you all you need to know about being a Writing Center client and how to be most successful in your sessions.

Grappling with the GRE: Preparing for the Writing Component of the GRE (10/8) - The GRE is stressful, but if you want to get into graduate school, you usually have to take it. This workshop will help you prepare for the written portion of the GRE by showing you what to expect and some strategies on how to excel (or at least survive).

Plan, Research, Write, Repeat: A Workshop on Writing Processes (11/5) - Knowledge of yourself as a writer is essential to successful academic writing. In this interactive workshop, contemplate and share your own writing processes and receive new ideas for ways to approach writing.
The Joys of Citation: An MLA/APA Workshop (11/12) - Learning how to use a citation style can be very confusing.The manuals can be difficult to read and websites can be hard to navigate. This session will help you learn how to decipher these citation styles.

All workshops are scheduled to take place on Thursdays from 4:00-6:00PM in The Writing Center, 300 Bessey Hall. To sign up for one or all of our workshops or if you have questions, please email Elena Adkins at adkinse1@msu.edu. To register for a workshop, please include the subject line "Workshop Series" and include your name as well as the name of the workshop in your message.

More information here: http://bit.ly/7rp1Q1

Seminar: Why Food Laws Matter (Jan. 19)

Professor Neal Fortin will be presenting a seminar, "Why Food Laws Matter," in room 206 Trout FSHN building, Michigan State University, Tuesday, January 19 at 12:40-1:30 PM.