ScheduleNobel Conference 46, 2010

All events and times are tentative and subject to change.

Tuesday, October 5

Time Presenter
9:15 a.m.

Prelude

The Gustavus Wind Orchestra
Douglas Nimmo, D.M.A., Conductor

9:30 a.m.

Academic Procession and Opening Ceremony

Processional
The Gustavus Wind Orchestra
Invocation
Brian Johnson, M.Div., S.T.M., College Chaplain
Welcome
Jack R. Ohle, D.D., President of the College
Conference Introduction
Chuck Niederriter, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Director, Nobel Conference
10 a.m.
Marion Nestle

Marion Nestle
First Lecture: "Food Politics: Personal Responsibility vs. Social Responsibility."

Ph.D., M.P.H., Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, and professor of sociology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University

Introduction

Michele Koomen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education

11 a.m.

Q&A Session

Moderated by Chuck Niederriter, Director, Nobel Conference, or Lisa Heldke, Chair, Nobel Conference 46

11:30 a.m.

Lunch Break

12:45 p.m.

Prelude

The Vasa Wind Orchestra
Douglas Nimmo, Conductor

1 p.m.
Cary Fowler

Cary Fowler
Second Lecture: "Saving the World's Genetic Plant Heritage"

Ph.D., executive director, Global Crop Diversity Trust, Rome, Italy

Introduction

Pamela Kittelson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology

2 p.m.

Q&A Session

2:30 p.m.

Break

3 p.m.
Jeffrey M. Friedman

Jeffrey M. Friedman
Third Lecture: "Leptin and the Biologic Basis of Obesity"

M.D., Ph.D., Marilyn M. Simpson Professor and HHMI investigator, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, and director, Starr Center for Human Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York

Introduction

Michael Ferragamo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology

4 p.m.

Q&A Session

5 p.m.

Dinner Break

5:30 p.m.

Screening of Farming Forward

Farming Forward, a documentary film produced by Martin Lang, assistant professor of communication studies, and junior student Ethan Marxhausen, brings together people from a number of Minnesota farms to examine the role of sustainability in the future of farming. Lang and Marxhausen pursued the project with the assistance of a Presidential Faculty/Student Collaboration Grant and additional support from the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota, the St. Peter Food Cooperative, and the Nicollet County Historical Society.

6 p.m.

Art at the Nobel Conference

Reception, 6–8 p.m.
Hillstrom Museum of Art, Jackson Campus Center (No ticket required)

Nobel Conference attendees will want to seek out a special project mounted in the Hillstrom Museum of Art along with its current exhibitions. An oil painting titled Autumn Still Life, by American artist Henry Varnum Poor (1887–1970), is the subject of the latest of the Hillstrom Museum’s FOCUS IN/ON projects, in which a single work from the Hillstrom Collection is analyzed in depth through a collaboration between the museum director and a faculty colleague from across the disciplines. Poor’s painting is exhibited along with an essay co-written by Museum director Donald Myers and philosophy professor Lisa Heldke, who is chair of the 2010 Nobel Conference, “Making Food Good.” Their essay considers Poor, his career, and the still-life elements in his painting, tying them to contemporary movements in locally grown and organic food.

Swedish images figure prominently in the art exhibitions featured in the Hillstrom Museum of Art during the Nobel Conference. Running concurrently are two shows—Voices: Contemporary Ceramic Art from Sweden and Ennesbo, a multi-media installation by artist Sandra Binion focusing on Swedish sites associated with her family.

An opening reception for the concurrent exhibitions and the FOCUS IN/ON project, which are on view at the College through November 7, 2010, is scheduled for Tuesday evening during the conference, 6–8 p.m. in the museum. The event is open to the public, and Nobel Conference guests are specially invited.

6:30 p.m.

Minnesota Food Forum
"Building a Food-Secure Minnesota: Proposals from the Front"

(No ticket required)

The Community Food Security Coalition defines food security as “a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.” How will we work together to ensure access to safe, affordable, delicious, culturally appropriate food for all residents of our state? What do we need to do as producers, consumers, and food citizens to ensure this future? Our panelists will offer, from the vantage point of their niche in the food system, some proposals for a food-secure future.

Panelists
  • Margo O'Brien, General Manager, Saint Peter Food Coop
  • Thomas Nuessmeier, Farmer, Triple River Producers, Mankato
  • Jeff Larson, V.P., Merchandising and Marketing, Sysco Minnesota, St. Paul
  • Mitch Davis, V.P., Research and Development, Davisco Foods International, Inc., Le Sueur
8 p.m.

The Nobel Conference Concert
"Making Food Good: Courses of a Culinary Cabaret"

Christ Chapel (No ticket required)

This year’s Nobel Conference concert samples the fruits of a long and often-colorful relationship that composers have had with food, spices, beverages, and imaginative combinations thereof! Tonight’s six-course program presents a diverse palate of styles and timbres—from Renaissance to Disney to sacred to scintillating—and features music and texts by Garrison Keillor, Bill Holm, John Rutter, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom, and others.

Some dishes of note—warmly prepared and served by ensembles of Gustavus faculty and students—include a set of hors d’oeuvres from Johann Schein’s Musical Banquet, a toast to the “Coffee Cantata” of J. S. Bach, a sorbet of Messiaen, and for dessert, some highly coveted Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise.

Wednesday, October 6

Time Presenter
9:30 a.m.

Opening Music and Welcome

The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra
Ruth Lu Lin, D.M.A., Conductor

10 a.m.
Bina Agarwal

Bina Agarwal
Fourth Lecture: "Can We Make Food Good for All?"

Ph.D., professor of economics and director, Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, India

Introduction

Jeffrey Owen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics and Management

11 a.m.

Q&A Session

11:30 a.m.

Lunch Break

12:45 p.m.

Prelude

The Gustavus Jazz Lab Band
Steve Wright, D.M.A., Director

1 p.m.
Linda Bartoshuk

Linda Bartoshuk
Fifth Lecture: "Variation in sensation and affect: We live in 'different taste worlds'"

Ph.D., Presidential Endowed Professor of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, University of Florida, Gainesville

Introduction

Kyle Chambers, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology

2 p.m.

Q&A Session

2:30 p.m.

Break

3 p.m.
Paul B. Thompson

Paul B. Thompson
Sixth Lecture: "What Is Good Food? An Argument with My Wife"

Ph.D., W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics, Michigan State University, East Lansing

Introduction

James Dontje, Ph.D., Director of the Johnson Center for Environmental Innovation

4 p.m.

Q&A Session

6:30 p.m.

The Nobel Conference Banquet

Evelyn Young Dining Room, Jackson Campus Center

ca. 8 p.m.
Frances Moore Lappé

Frances Moore Lappé
Closing Lecture: "Getting a Grip—Gaining Clarity, Creativity, and Courage for the World We Really Want"

author and co-founder of the Small Planet Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Introduction

Deborah Downs-Miers, Associate Professor of English

Evelyn Young Dining Room, Jackson Campus Center* (Separate ticket required)

(*Audience not attending banquet may view simulcast of lecture in the Jackson Campus Center's Heritage Room.)

All events are held in Lund Center Arena unless otherwise indicated.
The Nobel Conference is officially authorized by the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden.