UN program director returns for talk on global food issues

Ertharin Cousin, UIC alumna, executive director of the United Nation’s World Food Programme (click photo for larger image)

The University of Illinois at Chicago presents Ertharin Cousin, executive director, United Nations World Food Programme, on “Delivering Food Assistance in a Shrinking Humanitarian Space.”

WHEN:
Oct. 11
2 p.m.

WHERE:
UIC Student Center East
Room 302
750 S. Halsted St.

DETAILS:
Cousin heads the UN World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian organization, to meet urgent food needs while championing longer-term solutions to food insecurity and hunger. She was ranked 49th on Forbes Magazine’s 2013 List of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

She received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UIC and has more than 25 years of national and international non-profit, government, and corporate leadership experience focusing on hunger, food, and resilience strategies.

Cousin was named by President Obama in 2009 to the posts of U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture, and head of the U.S. Mission to U.N. Agencies in Rome, Italy.

She has also held top leadership positions in Feeding America; served as White House liaison to the State Department in the Clinton administration; and headed government communications and community affairs for Albertsons and Jewel Food Stores.

The event, presented in partnership with the UIC Institute for the Humanities, is part of the fourth annual lecture and event series presented by UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares and the Chancellor’s Initiative in the Humanities.

Admission is free. Call (312) 996-6354.