Wayne Community College will present a talk on the state of the world’s food supply as its World View talk next week.
Dr. John M. O’Sullivan will speak on “Global Food Issues Present and Future” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27. The free public event will be held in Moffatt Auditorium in the Wayne Learning Center on the college’s main campus in Goldsboro.
O’Sullivan recently retired as professor of Sustainable Agriculture, Local and Community Food Systems at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and co-director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems which is located in Goldsboro.
O’Sullivan’s lecture is provided by the college’s Cultural Diversity/Global Education Task Force and serves as the kickoff to the 2015 Wayne County Reads “Season of Reading.”
A dozen local food producers and agriculture-related organizations and agencies will have samples, information and displays set up in the Atrium outside of the auditorium for a half-hour before the talk and during the reception that will follow it.
The public can also view the “Lexicon of Sustainability,” a show of 24 “information artworks” that illustrate various concepts of sustainable agriculture. The works will be on display at the college Jan. 26-30 then will move to a new location in the county each week in February in this order: Wayne County Public Library in Goldsboro, Wayne County Museum, Gov. Charles B. Aycock Birthplace Historic Site, and Moye Library at the University of Mount Olive.
The book that the community reading program will explore in 2015 is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. Related programs will follow this event every Tuesday in February.
Those events are:
Book discussion with WCC English Instructor Liz Meador and WCC Agriculture Instructor Kathy Pfleger (mid-day) or WCC Agriculture and Natural Resources Department Chair Gabe Mitchell (evening) – Tuesday, Feb. 3, 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., Weil Auditorium, Wayne Co. Public Library (A light lunch will be served at the 11 a.m. event. Participants should bring their own beverage.)
“A Seat at the Table: N.C. Farming and Foodways Then and Now” Panel Discussion with Cheryl Alston, Wayne Food Initiative; Marisa Benzle, Center for Environmental Farming Systems; June Hoyle, Wayne County Master Gardener; Gabe Mitchell, Wayne Community College; Jessica Strickland, Wayne County Cooperative Extension; and moderated by Shorlette Ammons, NC A&T State University/CEFS – Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m., Wayne County Museum
Book Discussion, Brown Bag Book Club – Wednesday, Feb. 11, Noon, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Library
Tuesday Tasting with Ed Cogdell – Local Food in Practice – Tuesday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m., Ed’s Southern Foods and Spirits, Goldsboro (Due to limited space, participants will be chosen by drawings from attendees at earlier events.)
“Exploring the Local FoodScape: An Evening of Agriculture” Panel Discussion featuring Dr. Sandy Maddox, Director of the University of Mount Olive Agri-Business Center, and Ed Olive, Assistant Director of the center – Tuesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Moye Library, University of Mount Olive
Details about the events will be posted under the Wayne County Reads tab at www.wcpl.org.
All Wayne County Reads activities are free and open to the public with no registration required.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has won numerous prizes including the Book Sense Book of the Year Award and the James Beard Award for Writing and Literature. It can be borrowed from local library branches or purchased from the Wayne Community College Bookstore and Books-A-Million.
Since it started in 2004, Wayne County Reads’ selections have included To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Big Fish by Daniel Wallace, Night by Elie Wiesel, Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton, Blood Done Sign My Name by Tim Tyson, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate by Angus Konstam, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time and Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson, The Pleasure Was Mine by Tommy Hays, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien.
The 2015 Wayne County Reads Partners are the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Mount Olive College, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Library, Wayne Community College, Wayne County Extension and Community Association, Wayne County Public Library System, and Wayne County Public Schools.
For more information on the talk or Wayne County Reads, contact Tara Humphries at (919) 739-7002 or tarah@waynecc.edu. Contact Maria Cerra about the WCC Global Education/Cultural Diversity Task Force at (919) 739-6899 or mdcerra@waynecc.edu.
Wayne Community College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing accommodations or have questions about access, please contact the college’s Disability Services Counselor at (919) 739-6729 or lbcowan@waynecc.edu.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, it serves 14,500 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 90 college credit programs.