Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> K-State and the College of Veterinary Medicine recently welcomed a very special guest to
campus. On November 9th, Dr. Temple Grandin, a world-renowned animal behaviorist and an
autism self-advocate, spoke at the inaugural Dr. Dan Upson Lecture held at the K-State
Student Union.
>> DR. TEMPLE GRANDIN What I want to get you to think about is different ways of thinking
. . . Truth is usually somewhere in the middle, it's not the horror show that some of the
advocacy groups say it is, but on the other hand, it's not wonderful the way some of the
AG groups say it is. I find that people who never make it out in the field tend to have
the most extreme views.
>> The Upson Lecture Series was organized by Food for Thought -- a grass-roots advocacy
group made up of undergraduate and graduate students from all over the K-State campus,
including the colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, as well as their alumni.
>> DR. DAN THOMSON: The goal of Food for Thought is the students that are from rural backgrounds
and have interest in agriculture basically just teaching their friends that have no understanding
of agriculture about what actually goes on on the farm.
>> The group especially wants to educate consumers about the many aspects of food production.
>> D.J. REZAC: So we see this huge divergence between the people who produce the food and
the people who consume all the food now . . . there’s a need for a group like us because we’re
all going to be professionals in agriculture, we all know about this kind of stuff and its'
really is kind of, I feel, our duty to get the message out there about what food really
is.
>> Food for Thought hosts a blog where group members post news, stories and commentary
with an “ag spin.” The group also uses social media outlets such as Facebook and
Twitter.
>> Looking for a new way to educate others about agriculture, Food for Thought developed
plans to start a new biannual lecture series named for Dr. Dan Upson, professor emeritus
in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The lecture series would focus on bringing nationally
and internationally respected speakers, like Dr. Grandin, to present agriculture-related
talks.
>> TERA ROONEY: We’ve got to speak to a larger audience, we can’t just keep speaking
to college of ag audiences, or college of vet med audiences, because we understand agriculture
and we accept it and we know its importance in food production . . . And our big goal
was if we could get Dr. Grandin in front of a lot of people on campus and she says two
good things about agriculture, we win.
>> With help with funding from the K-State Diversity Programming Council, Dr. Grandin
was able to appear at several events while on campus. In addition to having lunch with
the Food for Thought group, Dr. Grandin participated in an open forum with parents and educators
of persons with autism. She also talked with a group from the College of Architecture,
Planning and Design about autism-friendly designs. At the College of Veterinary Medicine,
Dr. Grandin addressed a SCAVMA meeting about animal handling. Dr. Grandin’s Upson Lecture
received a surprisingly large turnout, thanks in part to the popularity of a recent, Emmy-award-winning
HBO movie about Dr. Grandin’s life
>> D.J. REZAC: We thought we'd have a big crowd but to see the people coming in there
and just packing Forum Hall and then all the overflow rooms full and then having so many
people log onto the live webcast that it crashed the University’s server was, it was amazing
. . . and I think the response was great.
>> TERA ROONEY: It was just really exciting to get Food for Thought's name out there and
get the Upson lecture series kind of kicked off with a ***.
>> The group is planning for the next Upson Lecture by starting a “500 for 500 dollars”
campaign. The effort intends to have 500 people donate 500 dollars to start a 250,000-dollar
endowment to help pay to bring more speakers to campus.
>> To learn more about Food for Thought and Dr. Grandin’s visit to K-State, visit bloggingfoodforthought.blogspot.com.