History meets sustainability for unique perspective on farming
Call for facilitators
Volunteer faculty and staff discussion facilitators are still needed to make the Summer Reading Program discussions a meaningful experience for new students.
Facilitators have flexibility in the format of the discussion sessions but are encouraged to focus on activities that require student input.
There will be a facilitator workshop at 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in 322 McGuffey Hall.
For more information or to sign up as a facilitator, visit the Summer Reading Program site.
Each year, the office of liberal education awards the “Outstanding Interdisciplinary Perspective in Teaching” award to a faculty member engaged in bringing together several areas of research and teaching.
This year, two faculty were presented the award: Peggy Shaffer, professor of history and global and intercultural studies, and Jonathan Levy, associate professor of geology and environmental earth science and director of the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.
Peggy Shaffer, professor of history and global and intercultural studies, and Jonathan Levy, associate professor of geology and environmental earth science and director of the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.
Shaffer and Levy designed a one-day workshop for the Miami Bound first-year student program that invited students to explore the interdisciplinary opportunities of Miami’s Institute for Food.
“We know that this generation of students wants to engage with the community and enact principles of environmental sustainability,” Shaffer said. “The Institute for Food is an interdisciplinary, hands-on approach that provides them with multiple and meaningful ways to work toward a more sustainable future.
Simultaneously, the Summer Reading Committee chose a book for the Summer Reading Program with identical themes.
The reading program – led by a committee of faculty, staff and students – selects a transformative book for incoming freshman to read and discuss.
This year, the group chose Stephanie Anderson’s One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl's Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture. A personal story of her journey throughout America’s farming communities, Anderson studies and reports on the efforts to adapt our current food production to more sustainable, climate friendly and healthy practices.
The office of liberal education and the Summer Reading Program will hold a special event for students enrolled in “Miami Bound: A Day at the Farm” to meet with Anderson before her speech during Miami’s Convocation at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, in Millett Hall.
All incoming students, parents and community members are invited to attend Convocation.
