Johnson County Community College
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College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Associate Vice President, Marketing Communications, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

3/27/09
Story by Peggy Graham

JCCC scholar sees food as root of sustainability

Stu Shafer

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.— Stu Shafer, professor, sociology, Johnson County Community College, knows a lot about sustainable agriculture. He researches it, teaches it and has followed its principles as a market farmer for more than 30 years.

Shafer is the fourth and last scholar for the  2008-2009 JCCC College Scholars program. As a scholar he will give two public lectures:

• Sustenance: Food and the Roots of Sustainability, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, Hudson Auditorium of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JCCC.
• What Does Sustenance Mean to JCCC?, 11 a.m. Thursday, April 23, 2009, Craig Community Auditorium, on the second floor of the General Education Building, JCCC.

In the evening presentation, Shafer will talk about how the human species will deal with serious questions about sustainability in the 21st century.

“This is a question not only of whether and how much we eat, but what we eat and how we produce it,” Shafer said.  “How we address those questions affects not only our personal health and well-being, but the health and well-being of the planet.”

In his daytime lecture, Shafer will bring sustainability efforts to the home front  – raising our collective conscience about the possibilities of offering more locally grown food in dining services, linking culinary students with local food producers and recycling food wastes.

Shafer has a bachelor’s degree in English and environmental studies from Western Michigan University, a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Kansas and an ABD (all but dissertation) in sociology from the University of California, San Diego.

Hands-on experience includes more than 30 years in cooperative groceries, homesteading and the organic farming movement, as well as 10 years of experience in the community-supported agriculture movement. During most of his adult life, he has maintained two careers — one as a certified organic farmer of fruits and vegetables and one as a JCCC professor.

As social movements around food and sustainability have emerged, Shafer proves the ideal scholar to talk about their convergence in two scholarly presentations.