| Wednesday Jan 24, 2018 6:00 PM - Wednesday Jan 24, 2018 7:30 PM | Free - $6.00 |
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Event
Unwrapping the Peanut Butter Cup
Kimberly Weir
associate professor of political science; Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice & Organizational Leadership
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Lecture Description
It would be hard to imagine a candy rack without a stack of peanut butter cups. Like much of our food, we take its abundance for granted. But we also take its sourcing for granted. Like other processed foods, the peanut butter cup has consequences for peoples health but also for the planets health. Its key ingredients (cocoa beans, peanuts and palm oil) are rooted in human rights and environmental abuses. Find out the politics behind food choices by unwrapping this ubiquitous treat.
Kimberly Weir
Once upon a time Kimberly Weir considered attending law school. She quickly changed her mind when she discovered that if she became a professor she could be a student for life. Looking back, she spent a lot of time playing teacher before she actually became one. She played school with her younger sister, gave piano lessons as a teenager for pocket money, and as a high school student taught French to AP elementary school students.
Kimberly loves snow. She grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, and went to Connecticut for graduate school. Snow was abundant. Needless to say, winter storms were not the selling point of NKU for her. She was instead drawn to the university because of its reputation as a teaching institution with mostly first-generation college students. Well more than a decade at NKU, she gets just as excited to teach classes as she did when she taught her very first class, Introduction to International Relations, at the Hartford campus of UCONN in 1999.
The really cool thing about being a professor is getting to learn about whatever she finds interesting. She teaches international political economy every spring because she is fascinated by the intersection of politics and economics. Kimberly developed a course on women in global politics because women account for more than 50% of the worlds population, yet there was no course that focused on them or gender issues. The Politics of Food course she created came about because as a long-time vegetarian (and now vegan) she knew a lot about food and the environment, but was amazed at just how many other international issues popped up when she started researching. Because of that class, she wrote a book, From Jicama to Jackfruit, about the global economy and food that came out in 2014. She has also done a lot of research on pedagogy because of her interest in how she can enhance the learning experience for her students.
In addition to teaching courses for Political Science and International Studies, Kimberly has taught in both the Honors and Study Abroad Programs. Given the opportunity, she will travel just about anywhere (and has, when asked). Her most recent travels have been to numerous countries Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, along with other seemingly random countries around the world. If it were up to her, study abroad would be funded for every student because it is such an amazing experience. In the meantime, she brings her travel experiences into the classroom to help students relate to the world outside of NKU.
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LocationBehringer-Crawford Museum (View)
1600 Montague Road
Covington, KY 41011
United States
Categories
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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