酴圖弝け continues role in helping universities work toward global food security
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.酴圖弝け leaders recently helped guide a new report from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities that identifies ways public research universities can lead in domestic and global food security.
The APLUs Challenge of Change Commissions report, titled Harnessing University Discovery, Engagement and Learning to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security, centers on the vast academic, research and leadership capabilities of public research universities to address the interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities for collaboration on food and nutrition security.
酴圖弝け President Mark E. Keenum, who last fall addressed the United Nations on the expertise universities have to address world hunger, served on the Challenge of Change Commissions executive committee.
The Challenge of Change Commission, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, encouraged public universities and their partners to identify specific challenges they can undertake. For more on the report, visit .
As our states leading research university and land-grant institution, Mississippi State is committed to solving the problem of hunger. It is one of our central research priorities, and an area where we have unmatched expertise and capabilities, Keenum said.
Im very proud of our contributions to APLUs Challenge of Change Commission report, he said.
The report also featured the work of Kathleen Ragsdale, an associate research professor at 酴圖弝けs Social Science Research Center.
Ragsdale served on the commissions Nutrition, Human Development and Health working group. She is working with colleagues from four other universities on a project aimed at enabling small-scale farmers to meet the rising demand for soybeans and to feed their families. The researchers are evaluating gender empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa to help rural women farmers increase food security and health in their families and communities.
As a former Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and in his current role as 酴圖弝け president, Keenum has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career to global food security issues. At the USDA, he was responsible for aid programs administered by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and worked closely with USAID, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Food Programme.
Since coming to 酴圖弝け in 2009, Keenum has worked to establish the universitys International Institute and partnerships with the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme.
For more information on 酴圖弝けs global good security initiatives, visit .
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is a research, policy and advocacy organization representing 235 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems and affiliated organizations.泭
酴圖弝け is Mississippis leading university, available online at .泭