During Interterm 2012, Smith College will collaborate with Oxfam America to host a day-long Advocacy Institute with two panel discussions and workshops to bring students together to learn more about global hunger and to build social justice advocacy skills. Students at the Five Colleges are welcome to register.
Greg White, professor of government and faculty co-director of the Global Studies Center, and Drew Guswa, associate professor of engineering and director of the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability, will each moderate a panel of faculty and Oxfam representatives who will present a multi-disciplinary approach—humanitarian, geopolitical, socioeconomic, agricultural, agroecological— to understanding world hunger and to investigate what the possibilities are for responding to world hunger.
Students will participate in one of two concurrent workshops following the panels, where they will learn how the media shape policy and how to build relationships with local and federal policymakers.
After a welcome by President Carol Christ, the morning panel will address What Causes Hunger. Panelists are:
- Payal Banerjee, Associate Professor of Sociology
- Nola Reinhardt, Professor Economics
- Paul Wetzel, Senior Research Associate, CEEDS
- Sarah Kalloch, Oxfam America, Campaign Alliances Advisor
Students will gather at lunch, discuss the morning panel and prepare questions for the afternoon panel, which will address Responses to the World Hunger Crisis. Afternoon panelists are:
- Mlada Bukovansky, Associate Professor of Government
- Nola Reinhardt, Professor of Economics
- Beth Hooker, Five College Sustainability Programs Coordinator and Research Associate, Mount Holyoke College
- Nancy Delaney, Oxam America, Community Engagement Manager
The plenary session will bring together all participants to discuss how advocates for social change can engage their communities.
The day ends with a reception for students and panelists at the president’s house.
Questions should be directed to either the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability or to the Global Studies Center.
The Advocacy Institute is sponsored by the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability; the Global Studies Center; the Office of the Dean of the College; and Oxfam America.
