CANR Dean's Update - April 10, 2017

A message from Ron Hendrick, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Colleagues:

I'm pleased to announce that the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources will champion a new initiative starting in April to raise the profile of the cutting-edge work Michigan State University is doing in the area of food. I know that's a very broad topic, and runs quite the gamut but that's much to the point of this effort. MSU has an unrivaled breadth and depth of expertise in food -- from growing it to marketing it, and from enhancing its safety to developing policies around it.

'Our Table. Food @ MSU' is built on the premise that some of life's most meaningful conversations happen around the dinner table. It's about cutting through the social noise and misinformation and supplying consumers with the tools to make better informed decisions on food and health. This initiative will be slowly rolled out over the next year in various phases.

It includes the formation of a new website -- food.msu.edu. There will also be a social media presence on Facebook and eventually, a blog. It will also consist of an actual table that is being made from reclaimed campus wood by MSU Shadows. The table will seat up to eight, and have the Spartan helmet inlaid in the middle.

We will take the table to various places where we will host community roundtable discussions on food. Our host is Sheril Kirshenbaum - a mother, scientist, communicator and author, among various attributes. She will help facilitate discussion between selected scientists, farmers, consumers, policy makers and others at Our Table. The public will be invited to listen and participate.

AgBioResearch sponsored keynote speakers from "Gastropod," podcast. Doug Buhler was on hand to introduce co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. We also had booth at the Science Festival, where we solicited questions about food.

As this project gains momentum, we plan to pick up more departments, colleges, institutes and centers. In the meantime, please feel free to send food content ideas to info@food.msu.edu.

Ron Hendrick
Professor & Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

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