Every first Friday of the month, UK College of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Working Group hosts a networking forum for faculty, students, staff, and members of the community, including sustainability advocates, growers, business owners, market managers, chefs, etc. (see http://www2.ca.uky.edu/safs/ for more information). It is our hope that through our speakers, we’ll be able to start some lively discussions and maybe get some project ideas flying. Download the flier.

For this month’s First Friday on November 4, we have invited a panel of 3 A&S faculty members to talk about: “Does Culture Matter in Sustainable Agriculture?” 

First Friday: November 4

7:30 am - 9:30am

E.S. Good Barn

A Panel Discussion: Does Culture Matter in Sustainable Agriculture?

Jeff Rice, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, UK Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media

Ann Kingsolver, Ph.D.

Director, UK Appalachian Center

Doug Slaymaker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Japanese, UK Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

In recent years, "cultural sustainability" has been increasingly emphasized in the literature of sustainable agriculture as the fourth leg of sustainability (three legs are economic, ecological, and social sustainability). Books and documentary films which emphasize the need for localizing food economy and making agriculture more sustainable have become very popular. One can argue the idea of "sustainability " has become part of the lexicon that reflects and shapes our lifeworld and everyday practices. Through a lively debate on the question of “culture”, we hope to inquire the notion of "cultural sustainability" and explore opportunities for collaboration among faculty in Ag and A&S colleges.

A breakfast of locally-produced foods will be served starting at 7:30 a.m. There is no charge for the breakfast, but donations will be accepted gladly to help offset the costs a bit. The program will begin at 8:15 and last until 9:30 a.m. If you need to leave before 9:30, please come anyway.

THE AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

PRESENTS

NED STUCKEY-FRENCH

"BALDWIN, DIDION, DIGITIZATION, AND THE FUTURE"

Thursday, October 6, 2011

4 pm

Niles Gallery

Lucille Little Fine Arts Library

Co-Sponsored by Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Program

Ned Stuckey-French teaches at Florida State University and is book review editor of Fourth Genre. He is the author of The American Essay in the American Century (University of Missouri Press, 2011), co-editor (with Carl Klaus) of Essayists on the Essay: Four Centuries of Commentary (University of Iowa Press, forthcoming 2012), and coauthor (with Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French) of Writing Fic-tion: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Longman, 8th edition). His articles and essays have appeared in journals and magazines such as In These Times, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, Walking Magazine, culturefront, Pinch, Guernica, middlebrow, and American Literature, and have been listed three times among the notable essays of the year in Best American Essays.

Lecture by Dr. Jacqueline Couti, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies

Jacqueline Couti, an assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kentucky, will discuss how the development of "doudou," a Creole term in the French Caribbean, was adopted by 19th century European scholars to rewrite national identity in the  then French colony of Martinique. Martinique is now a department, which is an administrative district of France.

On Thursday December 1, 2011 the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences will host the Kentucky Geological Survey Mapping Symposium in Room 102 of the Mines and Mineral Resources Building from 4:00P.M. - 5:00P.M.

Earth and Environmental Sciences Seminar Series: Graduate Students.

Location & time TBA.

On Thursday November 10, 2011 Dr. Lewis Owen of the Department of Geology of the University of Cincinnati will lead the seminar Himalayan Glaciations and Tectonics. The seminar will take place in Room 102 of the Mines & Mineral Resources Building. Refresments will be served at 3:30P.M and the seminar will begin at 4:00P.M.

On Thursday November 3, 2011 Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute will lead a seminar entitled New Thinking for Water in the 21st Century. The seminar will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Student Center. The seminar begins at 6:30 P.M.