CTAHR hosts inaugural speaker for Dean's Distinguished Lectureship Series

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Robyn Chow-Hoy, (808) 956-8234
Assistant to the Dean, Office of the Dean
Frederika Bain, 808 956-3092
Writer/editor, OCS
Posted: Mar 8, 2013

Dr. Tracy Irani
Dr. Tracy Irani
The first speaker for the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) Dean’s Distinguished Lectureship Series, Dr. Tracy Irani, will be giving a talk to the University community focusing on work conducted by the Center for Public Issues Education at the University of Florida (UF)/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).
 
The talk, entitled “Bridging the Green Divide: The Role of Public Issues Education in Enhancing Public Understanding of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Land Grant System,” will be given on Tuesday, April 2, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Kuykendall room 101, with Q&A to follow. Refreshments will be provided. The talk will also be offered via UH Halawai (Adobe Connect) for UH faculty, staff, and students.
 
The aim of the Dean’s Distinguished Lectureship Series, a new initiative of CTAHR’s Dean Maria Gallo, is to bring outstanding scholars in food and energy systems; urban and natural ecosystems; human, animal, and plant health; and family and consumer vitality to the University to share their expertise in a spirit of collaboration and knowledge building. The Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources, a joint project of UF and IFAS, works to enhance public knowledge of, and investment in, agriculture and natural resources, and to make clear the connections between the two.
 
Irani is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UF in Gainesville, Florida. She is skilled in making complex scientific concepts comprehensible to the general public and developing effective outreach and professional development programs, work which has been funded by the American Lung Association, the National Institutes of Health, the USDA, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is the director of UF’s Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources and co-director of UF’s Scientific Thinking and Educational Partnership Program.