Sustainable agriculture practices, access to food and healthful eating focus of fall lecture series

Contact: Deanne Puca

September 4, 2018

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Exploring the way people choose to eat and its impact on the environment, their health and community is the focus of weekly seminars beginning Wednesday, Sept. 12, on the campus of Western Michigan University.

"Food for All: Sustainable Practices, Community Access and Nutrition" is the topic of the speaker series exploring sustainable agriculture practices, access to food and healthful eating. WMU faculty and community members will cover a broad range of topics including the influence of politics on food, intersections of social justice and food access, local food system initiatives and more.

Lyceum lectures are held from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays through Dec. 5 in the Lee Honors College lounge, unless noted.

Sponsored by the Lee Honors College, lectures are free and open to students, staff, faculty and the general public. Lunch is not provided, but the audience is welcome to bring brown bag lunches to the seminars. Co-sponsors include the University Center for the Humanities, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, and WMU Office for Sustainability.

Past Lyceum lectures can be viewed online. Video is not available for all lectures.

For more information, call (269) 387-3230 or email Gary Bischof, dean.

Upcoming presentations

Canceled. Sept. 5: "Nutrition That Really Works: A Quantum Approach from a Doctor of Natural Medicine," Dr. LeAnn Fritz, New Hope Health
Sept. 12: "What is Sustainable Brewing?" Dr. Steven Bertman, WMU professor of environment and sustainability, WMU Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Sept. 19: "How Did Meat Become a Global Food?" Dr. Wilson Warren, WMU chair and professor of history
Sept. 25: 6:30 p.m., keynote presentation at Chenery Auditorium, "Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat," Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard professor, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and professor of sociology at New York University. Lecture will be followed by book signing and reception.
Oct. 3: "Labor and Workforce Development in Our Local Food System," Dale Anderson, chocolatier and founder, Confections with Convictions, and Esbeydy Villegas, outreach advocate, Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan
Oct. 10: "China: Current and Future Food Trends," Dr. Ann Veeck, WMU professor of marketing, and Dr. Gregory Veeck, WMU professor of geography
Oct. 24: "Food Access: Serving Communities in Need," Chef Patrick Mixis, Feed the World Café;Jennifer Johnson, executive director, Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes;Julia Primavera Kuntz, engagement manager and Invisible Need committee member, WMU Invisible Need Project
Oct. 31: "Food Entrepreneurship in Our Community," Lucy Dilley, executive director, Can-Do Kitchen, and Hether Frayer, owner, Fresh Food is Fun and Kaleamazoo Chips
Nov. 7: "Growing a Stronger Kalamazoo with Community Gardening," Linda Whitlock, program coordinator, consumer horticulture and master gardener program, MSU Extension, Kalamazoo County
Nov. 14: "Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Markets: Connections, Initiatives and Impacts," Chris Dilley, general manager, People's Food Co-op; Gaby Gerken, markets manager, People's Food Co-op; and Kelly Vallelunga, owner, Long Valley Farm
Nov. 28: "WMU Permaculture Programming, Practices and Research," WMU Office for Sustainability
Dec. 5: "Nutrition Paradigms of Three World Cultures," panelists to be announced

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.