09/11/2006

World Food Programme Chief to Speak as E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer

AUBURN, Ala. — James T. Morris, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, will speak in Auburn Thursday, Sept. 21, as featured presenter in the Auburn University College of Agriculture’s E.T. York Distinguished Lecture Series.

His lecture, entitled “Auburn, Institutions of Higher Learning and the Fight against Global Hunger,” is set for 7 p.m. in the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center auditorium. The presentation is free and open to the public, as is a reception that precedes the lecture at 5:45 in Ballroom A of the hotel and conference center.

As head of the WFP, Morris oversees the world's largest humanitarian organization, which last year fed 104 million people in 81 countries. WFP reaches out to hungry people who cannot help themselves—victims of war and natural disasters, families affected by HIV/AIDS and orphans who have lost their parents to the pandemic, and school children in poor communities.

In July 2002, Morris was appointed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for humanitarian needs in southern Africa, a region that continues to be gripped by a major food emergency. In 2003, Morris successfully guided the WFP in carrying out the largest humanitarian operation in history: the feeding of 27 million Iraqis.

Auburn University has a strong connection to the World Food Programme. That link began in 2004, when the agency selected Auburn as its lead partner in establishing a model for a student-led War on Hunger campaign to be implemented on college campuses nationwide.

At AU, the campaign is directed by The Committee of 19, a group of Auburn students that derives its name from the 19 cents a day it takes the WFP to feed a hungry child. The Committee of 19 has sponsored many events to draw attention to world hunger, including a World Hunger Summit held in Auburn in February. Representatives from 28 universities across the country attended the summit and agreed to form a loose alliance, Universities Fighting World Hunger, which will work to build strong hunger initiatives on all campuses involved.

For more information on the York lecture, contact College of Agriculture Associate Dean Bill Hardy at 334-844-5620 or hardywe@auburn.edu.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849

334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact: Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu

For immediate release