Nov. 5, 2009

DWU Professor to Premier Film at Harvard Medical School

MITCHELL — Dr. Simmons goes to Harvard.

Donald Simmons, associate professor of leadership and public service at Dakota Wesleyan University, will lecture and premier the documentary film, “Hungry for Green: Feeding the World Sustainably,” on Nov. 13 at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment.

“Hungry for Green: Feeding the World Sustainably” was produced by the McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service at Dakota Wesleyan University and directed by Matthew Barr of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

“We are excited by the opportunity to share the McGovern Center’s work with the faculty, staff and students at Harvard,” Simmons said. “It is great to see DWU get such recognition.”

The film uses the 2008 McGovern Conference as a jumping-off point for a discussion on the challenge of feeding the world’s ever expanding world population sustainably, as well as the future of agriculture in America and abroad.

“This is an important film that underscores the urgency of achieving agricultural sustainability to help alleviate hunger and protect our natural environment,” said Ken Burns, a documentary film maker who has been nominated for two Academy Awards and is a winner of seven Emmys for his work.

The Harvard University lecture and presentation by Simmons will be followed two days later by the film’s television premier on South Dakota Public Broadcasting on Sunday, Nov. 15, during National Hunger and Homeless Week. The film will be aired by select public broadcasting affiliates outside of South Dakota in 2010.

“Hungry for Green” is narrated by Sen. George McGovern who, along with Sen. Bob Dole, was the 2008 co-recipient of the World Food Prize for his work fighting world hunger. Shot almost entirely in Mitchell and surrounding communities, the film features interviews with a number of South Dakotans, including Dusty Johnson, public utilities commissioner and adjunct professor for the McGovern Center.