How every person can play an important role in solutions to local, national and global challenges will be the focus of the first Heuermann series event of the 2015-16 season on Oct. 21.
Howard G. Buffett and Howard W. Buffett will take part in a discussion moderated by Ronnie Green, University of Nebraska vice president, IANR Harlan Vice Chancellor and interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be at 5 p.m. at the Nebraska Innovation Campus auditorium, 2021 Transformation Drive.
The Buffetts will discuss how to find solutions to some of the most challenging problems facing society. Together, they co-authored the New York Times bestseller “40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World,” which examines global agriculture, hunger and food systems challenges.
Howard G. Buffett is chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private charitable foundation working to catalyze transformational change in the most impoverished areas of the world. He oversees three foundation-operated research farms in Illinois, Arizona and South Africa; a family farm in central Illinois; and farms with his son in Nebraska. Buffett serves as the undersheriff in Macon County, Illinois. He has traveled to 139 countries and authored eight books on conservation, wildlife and the human condition. He serves on the corporate boards of Berkshire Hathaway, Lindsay Corporation and the Coca-Cola Company. In 2005, the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications recognized Buffett’s contributions to journalism with the Will Owen Jones Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award.
Howard W. Buffett is a lecturer at UNL and Columbia University, where he teaches on topics related to international and public affairs, philanthropy, and food and agricultural policy. He also serves on the Board of Counselors for the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Buffett resides in Omaha, where he operates a 400-acre farm enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Stewardship Program.
The discussion is in conjunction with the third national Rural Futures Conference, hosted by the Rural Futures Institute. The conference presents opportunities for people to work together to build hope and develop a vision for invigorating rural communities. In addition to Nebraska Innovation Campus, the conference will take place at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis. For more information and to register, visit http://rfc.nebraska.edu.
The Heuermann Lectures are made possible through a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips. The Heuermanns are longtime university supporters with strong commitment to Nebraska’s production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people.
The lectures focus on providing and sustaining enough food, natural resources and renewable energy for the world’s people, and on securing the sustainability of rural communities where the vital work of producing food and renewable energy occurs. Lectures stream live at http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu and are archived at that site soon after the event. They also air on NET2 World at a later date.