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EFFECTING SOCIAL CHANGE
IN THE BORDERLANDS
Grapes at Tucson’s Mission Garden
GARY PAUL NABHAN
W.K. KELLOGG ENDOWED CHAIR IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
by Katy Smith Jacob Chinn photo
ary Paul Nabhan sees access to First Arizona. In addition to the
Ghealthy and affordable food as ‘The student support of the Kellogg endowment,
a basic human right, and he has a he credits the 100 percent student
committed ally in the W.K. Kellogg engagement engagement initiative with bringing
Foundation. program across more students into the UA’s efforts
In 2011, the foundation granted $1.6 to serve the community’s food-
million to name Nabhan as the UA’s the campus has related needs.
first endowed chair in sustainable food been vital to “The student engagement
systems and to help the Southwest program across the campus has
Center understand and address food having students been vital to having students work
insecurity and nutrition-related work on real- on real-world solutions, and we’re
diseases in the region. fortunate that many of them are
In the years since, the Kellogg world solutions.’ attracted to food solutions,” Nabhan
Foundation’s funding has helped says.
Nabhan advance his work and given In order to ensure that food
him the resources to involve UA studies become “mainstreamed into
students more closely. the very identity of our university,”
“I’ve been able to focus on engaging Nabhan’s next goal is to help raise an
students in research teams. We’ve endowment for the UA’s Center for
involved them in looking at farmers Regional Food Studies.
markets and swap meets as sources “We really need Arizona
of food for low-income households. residents to step up and say this is
They’ve also helped track foods moving one of their priorities in practice,
across the entire supply chain from policy and in what kinds of
Mexico into the United States,” he says. organizations they support,” he says.
Students have also helped Nabhan “A third of our community
with outreach efforts such as the struggles, and we need to take that
Arizona Food and Farm Finance seriously.”
Forum, held in conjunction with Local
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