Foodie Feature: I Am Angus - Creating Connections with Consumers

Connections between consumers and producers is what Food For Thought is always striving to create. A great example of this is the connection that the I Am Angus series, produced by the American Angus Association, is creating.

For your information, Angus is a breed of cattle largely used in the beef industry. Angus cattle are black hided and commonly associated with high quality carcass characteristics. Different breeds form associations to connect breeders from across the country. Breed associations are built on the premise that registered cattle are worth more, the benefits trickle down through the system to the individual producers.

I Am Angus is an hour-long show that airs on RFD-TV. All of the videos are posted on YouTube as well. This February 28th at 7 p.m., the program will feature several people in the industry with highlights including one of our own Food For Thought members, Chelsea Good, and world-renowned animal behaviorist, Dr. Temple Grandin. Tune in on RFD-TV or catch the segment on YouTube because you won't want to miss this touching video connecting consumers and producers by telling the story of agriculture.

Here is the preview that you can access today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6j14NdR10.

My best,

Tera Rooney

Extra Extra Read All About It!!!

Hot off the press is the new issue of Lifelines, a publication put out by the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and featured front page is the Upson Lecture Series that our group founded.

The coolest part of the new Lifelines feature is that there is an online video interview about the Temple Grandin Lecture and more information about Food For Thought. Go check it out!!!

http://www.vet.k-state.edu/depts/development/lifelines/1012.htm#Upson

What was Dr. Temple Grandin up to?

If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you are well aware that we hosted Dr. Temple Grandin on campus at Kansas State University recently. The main lecture, which you can view online here, was given to an overflow crowd in Forum Hall at the Student Union. So overfilled, in fact, that people were filed into the food court and Grand Ballroom to watch the lecture via projection screens.

Besides the main lecture being so full, I feel that Dr. Grandin's impact on campus was very widespread at the multitude of activities we had planned for her. Here are some pictures of what she was up to while visiting Kansas State University. I believe this is a testament to Food For Thought really making the most of our Diversity Programming Committee grant that we received to help facilitate Dr. Grandin's interactions with students and community members of the K-State family! To the best of our ability, we tried to keep track of all the people in attendance at the various lectures and forums. The grand total?

2,451!

That doesn't count the numerous amounts of people who will be viewing the lecture online. Our website crashed the night of the main lecture as over 1000 people tried to log on to view the live feed. We now have the video posted here for your viewing pleasure. Speaking of viewing pleasure...check out these photos!!!

Standing ovation that the crowd gave Dr. Temple Grandin following the first official Upson Lecture in our Food For Thought Upson Lecture Series.

Dr. Grandin being swarmed by a crowd of people. She stuck around after the lecture to visit with people and sign autographs. One young man exclaimed to me, "This was better than any Christmas, she thinks like I do!"

Here is a look inside the overflow Grand Ballroom during the main lecture.

Dr. Grandin even took time to have lunch with our Food For Thought group. We enjoyed the opportunity to discuss our group's goals with such a proactive member of the agriculture industry. We each took a lot out of this session and the food was great too!

If you have ever had a chance to interact with Dr. Grandin, you'll agree with what this photo captured! She has an uncanny sense of humor and we enjoyed it!

Dr. Grandin spoke to a group of architecture students who are working on building plans for an autistism center in the community. She offered insight on different aesthetics in a room or building that can make it more comfortable for people with autism.

The following two pictures are from the open forum held with parents, educators and members in the community interested primarily in speaking with Dr. Grandin about the challenges that autism presents. There were 90 people in attendance at this question and answer session. In the first picture, Miss C, a girl with autism who attended the forum, was talking to Dr. Grandin and getting her advice on learning how to drive.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Pictured below (Back, L-R): Hyatt Frobose, Dr. Dan Thomson, DJ Rezac, Miles Theurer, Garrett Stewart. (Front, L-R): Brandi Buzzard, Dr. Temple Grandin, Tawnya Roenbaugh, Chelsea Good, Tera Rooney, Kiley Stinson. All of our photos were taken by Wrenn Pacheco. Wrenn works at the Beef Cattle Institue with Dr. Dan Thomson and she is an amazing photographer. Go check out her work at www.wrennbirdphotography.com!

If you are interested in contributing to our cause, we have launched a 500 for $500 Campaign to help fund our Upson Lecture Series. We are going to use this series to bring relevant and crowd-gathering speakers to campus. Whenever we have a speaker we will provide a live feed to the internet or DVD copies will be made available to those interested in watching the lectures.

Thanks for checking out our photos of the events!

Tera Rooney

Upson Lecture Series: Dr. Temple Grandin

FFT Upson Lecture Series Announced

Food for Thought announced last week the beginning of a new lecture series named in honor of Dr. Dan Upson. FFT advisor Dr. Dan Thomson (they go by "old Dan" and "young Dan" when we're talking about both of our Dr. Dans) made the announcement about the new lecture series before the Temple Grandin lecture Tuesday night. Young Dan played a video of Old Dan teaching and we were honored to have Dr. Upson there with us to come to the stage and introduce Dr. Temple Grandin as the first Upson Lecture Series speaker. The press release about the new lecture series is below. It's also available on K-State's website here.

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010

FOOD FOR THOUGHT LECTURE SERIES HONORS DAN UPSON

MANHATTAN -- Food for Thought, a student group at Kansas State University, is launching a new lecture series in honor of Dan Upson, K-State professor emeritus of anatomy and physiology.

The lecture series will focus on bringing information about agriculture and food production to a broad audience, said Chelsea Good, a member of the group.

The new lecture series was announced prior to the Nov. 9 presentation at K-State by Temple Grandin, a world-renowned animal behaviorist and a person with high-functioning autism. Grandin was introduced as the first Upson Lecture speaker.

Upson taught at K-State's College of Veterinary medicine for 35 years before retiring with in 1994. He received numerous awards for his dedication to classroom teaching and the veterinary profession.

"When a person thinks of K-State's history in agriculture and veterinary medicine, nobody has had a bigger impact on teaching students than Dr. Dan Upson," said Dan Thomson, director of K-State's Beef Cattle Institute and Food for Thought faculty adviser. "Dr. Upson has made numerous contributions teaching on our campus and continues to work with the beef industry and veterinary profession in the state and beyond.

"As I travel across our state, almost always someone asks, 'How is Dr. Upson getting along? You know, I thought he was the best teacher. Give him my regards.' That is what it is all about as an educator: motivation for lifelong learning," Thomson said.

Upson was Food for Thoughts' first speaker in February, addressing a standing-room only crowd in the College of Veterinary Medicine's Frick Auditorium about efficient use of the earth's resources, and providing food for the world's people.

Food for Thought also is launching a 500 for $500 fundraising campaign to ensure the growth of the Upson Lecture series. Donations may be sent to Food for Thought, Trotter 1D, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.

Food for Thought is a grassroots group of K-Staters who seek to bridge the gap between agriculture and consumers. The group includes undergraduate, graduate and veterinary students, as well as young alumni. More information about Food For Thought is available at the group's blog, http://bloggingfoodforthogh.blogspot.com; on Facebook; or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/fftgroup.

Temple Grandin day 2

We were lucky to have Wrenn Pacheco, project coordinator at K-State's Beef Cattle Institute and owner of Wrenn Bird Photography taking pictures for us again today.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Best,

Chelsea

Temple Grandin day 1

A couple images from Temple's events yesterday:

Thanks to Wrenn Pacheco of the Beef Cattle Institute and Wrenn Bird Photography for sharing these images with us!

Grandin Webcast/DVD Update

We apologize to anyone who had issues accessing Dr. Grandin's live webcast last night. We will defiantly be making DVD's of the event and hope to also post the lecture online. Stay tuned for details!

Temple Grandin Responses

We'd love your feedback on the Temple Grandin event. Please comment to this post so that we may review it.

Also stay tuned for more information about a recording of the lecture for those of you who were unable to log on to the live feed. Overflow of traffic caused the system to go down - what a great problem to have. We will let you know as soon as we do on the status of a recording. Thanks for your understanding!

Live Temple Webcast Issue

We just received word there is an issue with the live broadcast. DVDs of the lecture will be available. We apologize for the inconvenience. You can contact me at chelsgood@gmail.com to order a DVD.

Open Forum with Autism Educators and Community

This afternoon from 2:00 until 4:00 PM, Food For Thought hosted an open forum for educators and members of the autism community. 90 people were in attendance for the audience-based session with Dr. Temple Grandin. She was able to give insight to teachers, professionals and parents of students on the autism spectrum.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this open forum please contact me, as we were able to record the session and will have DVDs available.

My Best,

Tera Rooney

trooney@ksu.edu

Today is the Day

Temple Grandin speaks tonight on campus at Kansas State University in Forum Hall at the Student Union. The event begins at 7 pm CST. We are very fortunate, as students at Kansas State University, for the dedication of funds known as the Diversity Programs Council funds to bring events that promote diversity to campus. It is because of a grant we received from this organization that we can expose our community, campus and beyond to Dr. Grandin's expertise in animal handling and personal account of a life dealing with autism.

I urge you to attend or log on to our live webcast of the lecture. You won't want to miss this opportunity.

If you are on campus here are Temple's scheduled events for the day that are open to the public:

• 2:00-4:00 PM - Open Forum for Autism Community and Educators
• Little Theater in the K-State Student Union
• Audience-based forum, open to all

• 7:00-9:00 PM - Main Lecture "Animals and Autism"
• Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union
• Formal lecture, open to all

My Best,

Tera Rooney

Coming to Town!

If you haven't gotten the impression that we are beyond excited for this coming week, you have been missing out on all things Food For Thought.

TEMPLE GRANDIN IS COMING TO TOWN!

We have a busy schedule for Dr. Grandin while she is in Manhattan and on campus at Kansas State University. There are many opportunities for her to have a huge impact on the people in attendance at the open forums, luncheons and lectures. Please plan on logging on to our live feed of the lecture at 7pm on Tuesday evening if you can't make it to campus!

http://ome.ksu.edu/webcast/bci/blog/index.html

I'll keep the blog updated with all of the happenings with Dr. Grandin while she is in town.

Tera

Temple Grandin Lecture is a week away

We're a week away from Temple Grandin's lecture next Tuesday November 9 at 7 PM in Forum Hall of the K-State Union. The lecture is open to all. Please plan to arrive early as seating will be limited. The lecture will also be available online at http://ome.ksu.edu/webcast/bci/blog/index.html.

Best,

Chelsea

Link to watch Temple lecture online

Temple Grandin's K-State lecture will be broadcast live online!

As you may already know, Temple Grandin is speaking in Forum Hall of the K-State Union at 7 PM on November 9th. We'd love to have anyone who can come join us for the lecture. Plan on arrive early as seating will be limited. For those who can't make the trip to Manhattan, you can also watch the lecture live at this link: http://ome.ksu.edu/webcast/bci/blog/index.html. Feel free to spread the word and share this link with others who might be interested in watching the lecture.

Best,

Chelsea

Temple Grandin coming to K-State

Food For Thought is bringing Dr. Temple Grandin to Kansas State next month and I can hardly wait!!!

Temple will be speaking to a campus and community wide audience on November 9^th at 7 PM in the Union. Everyone is welcome. This is an especially exciting time to be hosting Temple because an HBO movie on her life recently won 7 Emmy Awards.

Temple didn't talk until she was three and a half years old. In 1950, she was diagnosed with autism and her parents were told she should be institutionalized. Instead she developed her ability to think in pictures and see situations through the perspective of animals into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer. She has now designed the facilities in which half the cattle are handled in the United States. Her first book, “Emergence: Labeled Autistic” stunned the world because, until its publication, most professionals and parents assumed that an autism diagnosis was virtually a death sentence to achievement or productivity in life.

Temple speaks around the world on both autism and cattle handling. At every Future Horizons conference on autism, the audience rates her presentation as 10+. Temple’s current bestselling book on autism is “The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s.” In addition to publishing 7 books Dr. Grandin has authored more than 400 articles in scientific journals and livestock periodicals.

Best,

Chelsea

Temple Grandin

Receiving 15 Emmy nominations is a great accomplishment.

Receiving an Emmy is even bigger.

Receiving several Emmys - AMAZING!

I congratulate Temple Grandin on a lifetime full of achievement and influence. I commend HBO for fitting the bill. I think Claire Danes played the perfect role that was so true to life. It is great to see such a great movie be awarded and the people who worked on it to see their efforts and talents paid off. I'm also proud to be a part of the animal agriculture industry in which Temple has had such a strong influence on.

If you haven't seen the movie or want more information on it please visit the HBO website.

Temple has made a huge impact on the animal agriculture industry in the realm of animal welfare and well-being. She is a pioneer in animal handling systems that reduce stress. If you would like more information on Temple's work with animals and autism check out these sites.

Also, if you are keeping up with Food For Thought events. We will be hosting Dr. Temple Grandin on the campus of Kansas State University in November. Keep up with our facebook page, twitter and this blog to get more information as the big event approaches. Temple will be addressing our student body over her two day visit planned for November 10th and 11th.

My best,

Tera Rooney