Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

Where to Park

We suggest you park in the North Street garage adjacent to the University Place Conference Center. Visitor rates apply (approximately $7-$8).

What to Wear

You will find that some people will be in business casual attire, others will be wearing their favorite IUPUI sweatshirts and jeans. It is Saturday. Be comfortable!

Registration

You can register online or fill out the registration card on the brochure and mail or fax it back to us. Pre-registration is required for this event as seating is limited.

Questions?

For more information, contact Kimberly Helton at 317-274-8905 or by email at kdhelton@iupui.edu. You may also access information online at www.alumni.iupui.edu.

Sponsored by the Central Indiana Chapter of the Indiana University Alumni Association and the alumni associations of the schools of Continuing Studies, Engineering and Technology, Law-Indianapolis, Medicine, Liberal Arts, Public and Environmental Affairs, Physical Education and Tourism Management, Science and the Kelley School of Business.

Schedule | Registration | Brochure | Exhibitor Registration

SCHEDULE

March 06, 2010

7:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast and Screening of the Documentary "Homegrown" from Producer/Director Robert McFalls

"Homegrown" follows the Dervaes family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While “living off the grid”, they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day. The film is an intimate human portrait of what it’s like to live like “Little House on the Prairie” in the 21st Century.

8:30 – 8:40 a.m.

Welcome by David Craig,
School of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Adjunct Faculty in Philanthropic Studies

8:40 – 9:10 a.m. Opening Remarks

Food Connections: Re-learning Community and Sustainability

Richard Wilk
Director, Food Studies Program
Indiana University Bloomington

For thousands of years human beings believed that food was more than material sustenance - it was a sacrament which tied people together into communities, and connected them to nature. Learning where your food came from, and its real cost, was the most fundamental form of education. As eating became entertainment and food just another commodity, we lost the ability to savor those connections, and recognize the limits of nature. Now we have to begin the effort to rebuild and re-localize our food system, and a great university can provide all the resources we need to relearn and rebuild essential food connections.

9:20 – 10:20 a.m. Breakout Sessions

1. More than Beads and Feathers: American Indian Contributions to the World’s Pantry

Johnny Flynn
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and
Director of Native American Programs,
School of Liberal Arts

It is estimated that more than half the world’s foods come from Native American gardens. We know about corn, tomatoes, beans, squash, and other food staples, but the contributions to the world’s pantry is much larger and has had tremendous impact beyond the dinner table.

2. Gardening in an Urban Setting:
What You Should Know Before You Plant

Gabe Filippelli
Professor and Chair of Earth Sciences,
School of Science

Urban soils have been the recipients of decades of human-produced contamination, including potentially toxic metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic. Although food can be grown safely in urban soils, special consideration of the geochemistry of these soils should be taken into account when deciding where to set a plot, what types of plants to grow, and what materials should be used to reduce the amount of soil contaminants in food. This session will provide some simple guidelines so that you can grow nutritious food in urban settings and add to the inherent sustainability of urban living.

3. Supply Chain Strategies and the Business of Food

Mark T. Frohlich
Associate Professor of Operations Management,
Kelley School of Business

The rarely discussed truth is that many organic/sustainable food supply chains are dominated by large distributors and retailers, and as a result it is not easy for most local producers to survive except as hobbybusinesses. This session examines the longitudinal case study of a small but growing Indiana organic dairy farm – Traders Point Creamery – that has successfully challenged the status quo and developed a national reputation based upon 100 percent grass-fed milk, on-the-farm production of unique products, consumer education, and agritourism. Lessons learned range from product positioning and branding to supply chain management and distribution.

*4. Frankenfoods: The Ethics of Bioengineered Food Products

David Orentlicher
Co-Director, Hall Center for Law and Health,
Professor, School of Law-Indianapolis and
School of Medicine

Genetic modification of foods can alleviate malnutrition in poorer countries, lower the cost of food production, and reduce the need for environmentally harmful pesticides. But there are risks as well, and it is difficult to predict how serious they will be. How should society balance the potential benefits of harms of bioengineered foods?

* Will count as one hour of CLE, pending approval.

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Breakout Sessions

1. Food Safety From Farm to Table

David McSwane
Professor, School of Public and
Environmental Affairs

The safety of our food supply has a significant impact on public health in America. There are obvious benefits to purchasing foods from local suppliers. However, buying foods from a local source does not guarantee the food is safe to eat. Consumers must seek out foods that are safe and wholesome and handle these products safely until they are consumed.

2. The Morality of Consumption: The Politics of Shopping

Paul Mullins, Associate Professor and Chair of
Anthropology, School of Liberal Arts

The session will discuss how material consumption is routinely cast in simplistic terms of “good” and “bad,” a maneuver that ignores consumers’ attachment to goods and practices that are dismissed by scholars. The session will use concrete material examples including fast food, toys, and shopping spaces to examine how and why many consumers feel empowered by ideologically problematic goods and how consequential personal politics are invested in consumer culture.

3. Slow Food, Not Fast Food : You are what you eat…

Todd Jameson, President of Slow Food Indy and
Owner of Balanced Harvest Farm & CSA

Food is a common language and a universal right. Slow Food envisions a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who produce it and good for the planet. Learn more about our desire to create a food system that will be provide good, clean, & fair food for everyone.

4. The Future of Sustainable Farming

Jason Hobson, Farm Manager
Trader’s Point Farm

Historically farmers could always guarantee higher yields by adding inputs to the land and/or animals including fertilizers and feed. Given the steadily rising cost of such inputs, coupled with increasing environmental concerns, such practices are becoming less feasible and in the future the most successful conventional and organic farmers are going to be the ones that can maximize their yields based upon sun/solar power. This session will explore this theme of “solar-powered” farming using examples drawn from the dairy and beef industry both here in Indiana and the upper Midwest.

11:40 – 12:40 p.m. Breakout Sessions

1. Genetic Engineering of Food

John Watson, Associate Professor of Biology,
School of Science and Steve Randall, Associate
Professor of Biology, School of Science

This session is a two-part discussion of genetically modified crops. The first part by Dr. Watson involves how genetic engineering of crops is achieved, what the applications are, and the regulatory processes involved. The second presentation by Dr. Randall will focus on the scientific pros and cons of genetically engineered food.

*2. Ethics of Consumption: Taste is Personal, Political or What?

David Craig, Associate Professor of
Religious Studies, Adjunct Faculty in
Philanthropic Studies, School of Liberal Arts

"There is no arguing about taste," or so claims the old maxim. Many Americans view consumption as a realm of individual preference and taste in food as deeply personal. This session explores cultural, political, religious and ethical reasons to see tasty food as a matter of shared concern and common wealth.

* Will count as one hour of CLE, pending approval.

3. Food and Wine as a Destination

Michael Pyle, Associate Faculty, School of
Physical Education and Tourism Management

There are at least four or five ways to view a topic of this title, but at its roots it is a study of culture, and that culture is now weaving itself into the American tapestry – and it’s doing so more with each passing year. All over the world, both food and wine are now offering people widening opportunities of everything from vacation to business enterprise. But interestingly enough, the more we indulge in the culture of food and wine, the more we acculturate ourselves.

4. The Challenges of Buying Local Panel Discussion

Local business owners and/or chefs will speak
about challenges they face when trying to buy
local while competing with chain restaurants.

• Regina Mehallick, Chef/Owner, R Bistro
• Martha Hoover, Chef/Owner, Café Patachou
• Neal Brown, Chef/Owner, Pizzaology
• Brad Royal, Chef/Owner, City Café
• Matthew Jose , Founder/Owner, Big City Farms

12:50 – 2:30 p.m. Lunch

Food and International Culture

David Shalleck, author of
Mediterranean Summer

Taste Memory
The flavor of a location is a timeless reward available to all. It is always at its best in places of origin. After a lengthy sojourn around the western Mediterranean, David will show through many of today’s challenges, a simple desire can inspire pleasurable and memorable time at the table.

http://www.mediterraneansummer.com/
Winner 2008
Cordon d’Or Culinary
Academy Award
Winner 2007
USA Book News Awards

This luncheon is sponsored by: