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Water and Survival: from the Platte to the Nile
March 7-8, 2011
Many issues that shape the quality of our lives have an international dimension. Global economic interdependence, the development of appropriate environmental strategies, the resolution of regional conflicts and the enhancement of human rights all require a global perspective. Important aspects of the educational experience include discussion and interaction with people from diverse cultures. Since 1964, Kearney State College, now the University of Nebraska at Kearney, has sponsored an international conference to discuss issues of global importance. In 1988 the name of the conference was changed to honor Professor James E. Smith, its founder.
Given the threat posed by climate change and the importance of environmental sustainability in an era of ever increasing population growth and consumer demand, the theme for this year’s conference is water and is entitled, Water and Survival: from the Platte to the Nile. Authors, poets, activists, government officials, and scholars from the U.S., Canada, Egypt, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, China, and Austria, among other countries, will focus on the critical importance of water to our planet and the human race. Among the topics likely to be addressed are: the commercialization of water, water as a source of interstate and international conflict, water’s role in agriculture, in changing land forms, national disasters associated with water, and the effect of climate change on our planet’s diminishing water resources. As citizens of the world, we must work together to devise creative responses to the challenges we all face and seek to build sustainable development strategies that will provide a better life not only for ourselves, but for future generations.
Through the information provided at this conference, we hope to introduce UNK faculty, students and the broader Kearney community to the critical importance of water, not only to Nebraska but the entire planet, and encourage them to consider how our precious water resources may be preserved over the short and long term. As every year, it is also our hope that at least some members of the audience will be sufficiently inspired by what they hear at the conference to maintain a lifelong interest in international affairs.
March 6, 2011
4:00-7:00 pm Scott D. Morris International Food & Cultural Festival
Health and Sports Center Arena
University of Nebraska at Kearney
March 7, 2011
Ponderosa E James E. Smith Midwest Conference on World Affairs
9:00 am Opening Remarks
Dr. Dallas Kenny, Director
Office of International Education
Ponderosa E
9:05-10:00 am Reflections: the Platte and the Nile
Poetry of Don Welch and Matthew Shenoda
Dr. Don Welch
Reynolds Chair of Poetry Emeritus
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Pr. Matthew Shenoda
Coptic Egyptian Poet
Assistant Provost and Professor
California Institute of the Arts
Introducer: Pr. Allison Hedge Coke, Reynolds Chair
Department of English
Ponderosa A&B
10:10-11:00 am Water Resource Management in the North-Mediterranean
Dr. Alfonso Senatore
Department of Soil Conservation
University of Calabria, Italy
Introducer: Dr. Vijendra Boken
Department of Sociology, Geography & Earth Sciences
Ponderosa C&D
10:10-11:00 am Water Pollution in Rural South Africa
Dr. John Ogony Odiyo
Department of Hydrology and Water Resources
University of Venda, South Africa
Introducer: Ms. Jamie Stroup, Student
UNK Geography Major
Ponderosa A&B
11:15-12:05 pm Water Policy and Management in Europe
Mr. Thomas Schnoell, Consul General
Consulate of Austria – Chicago, IL
Mrs. Almudena Rodriguez Sanchez Beato, Counselor
Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs
Embassy of Spain – Washington D.C.
Moderator: Professor Stan Dart
Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, Geography & Earth Sciences
Ponderosa C&D
11:15-12:05 pm Drought Prevention and Control in China
Professor Yan Nana
Institute of Remote Sensing Applications
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Introducer: Ms. Chuanyao Zheng, Student
UNK Business Administration Major
Nebraskan Atrium
12:05-1:15 pm Take a Delegate to Lunch
Coordinator: Ms. Barbara Amundson, Sr. Lecturer
Department of Health, PE, and Recreation & Leisure Studies
Ponderosa E
1:25-3:00 pm “Flow: for Love of Water” Documentary Film
Introducer: Dr. William Aviles
Department of Political Science
Ponderosa E
3:10 – 3:45 pm “Flow” Roundtable Discussion
MONA
5:00 pm Chancellor’s Reception (By Invitation Only)
MONA
5:30 pm Chancellor’s Dinner (By Invitation Only)
Opening Remarks: John A. Gale, Nebraska Secretary of State
Introducer: Chancellor Douglas A. Kristensen
Drake Theatre
7:30 pm Keynote Address: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming
Battle for the Right to Water
Ms. Maude Barlow
Author/International Activist/Former UN Advisor on Water
National Chairperson, Council of Canadians
Introducer: Dr. Charles Bicak, Senior Vice Chancellor
Academic and Student Affairs
March 8, 2011
Ponderosa A&B
9:30-10:45 am Water and Sustainability in the Platte River Region
Mr. Kevin Rein, Assistant State Engineer
Colorado Division of Water Resources
Dr. Jim Schneider, Deputy Director
Nebraska Department of Natural Resources
Ms. Margaret Fast, Manager of Public Water Supply Planning
Kansas Water Office
Mr. Harry LaBonde, Deputy State Engineer – Water
Office of Wyoming State Engineer
Moderator: Ms. Lori Potter, Agriculture Reporter
Kearney Hub
Ponderosa C&D
9:30-10:45 am Water and Development in Latin America
Mr. Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes, Consul
Consulate of Mexico - Omaha, NE
Mr. Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza, Consul General
Consulate of Venezuela – Chicago, IL
Moderator: Dr. Roger Davis
Department of History
Ponderosa A&B
11:00-12:15 pm Water, Survival and Sustainability
Mr. Chuck Larsen, Co-Founder
Water4Haiti – Kearney, NE
Ms. Rachael Herpel, Water Education/Outreach Specialist
UNL Water for Food Institute – Lincoln, NE
Moderator: Dr. Frank Tenkorang
Department of Economics
Ponderosa C&D
11:00-12:15 pm Water Resources and the Promise of Technology
Dr. John Ogony Odiyo
University of Venda, South Africa
Professor Yan Nana
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dr. Alfonso Senatore
University of Calabria, Italy
Moderator: Dr. Vijendra Boken
Department of Sociology, Geography & Earth Sciences
Chancellors Dining Room
12:30 -1:45 pm Luncheon Address (By Invitation Only)
Dr. Charles Bicak, Senior Vice Chancellor
Academic and Student Affairs
Dr. Dallas Kenny, Director
Office of International Education
Ponderosa E
2:00 – 3:15 pm Crisis in Egypt - Roundtable Discussion
Pr. Matthew Shenoda
Coptic Egyptian Poet
Assistant Provost and Professor
California Institute of the Arts
Dr. Dallas Kenny, Director
Office of International Education
Introducer: Dr. Christopher Stevens
Department of Political Science
Keynote Speaker
Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. Ms. Barlow also chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of ten honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the "Alternative Nobel"), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Award, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of sixteen books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Conference Speakers:
Matthew Shenoda
Coptic Egyptian Poet
California Institute of the Arts
Matthew Shenoda is a Coptic Egyptian writer and educator whose poems and writings have appeared in newspapers, journals, radio programs and anthologies. He has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Shenoda's debut collection of poems, Somewhere Else was named one of 2005's debut books of the year by Poets & Writers Magazine and is the winner of the inaugural Hala Maksoud Award for Emerging Voice, granted by RAWI, as well as a 2006 American Book Award. His latest collection is Seasons of Lotus, Seasons of Bone.
Shenoda is Assistant Provost for Equity & Diversity and Professor in the School of Critical Studies at California Institute of the Arts. He also serves as Director of Poetry for the Planet at the Wangari Maathai Center for Economic, Educational & Environmental Design, where he is developing a curricular initiative that uses poetics as a framework to teach global sustainability issues to urban youth.
Don Welch
Reynolds Chair of Poetry Emeritus
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Don Welch is the Reynolds Chair of Poetry Emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he taught English and Philosophy for 49 years. He is the winner of a number of national prizes in poetry, the most significant being the Neruda Prize. His book of selected poetry, containing almost all of his prize-winning poems, is Inklings (Sandhills Press). His most recent books of verse are Gutter Flowers (Logan House), When Memory Gives Dust a Face (Lewis-Clark Press), and Travels (Finishing Lines Press). He has a forthcoming book in 2011, Deliberations, from Backwaters Press. Welch, his wife Marcia, and all of his children are alumni of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Yan Nana, Assistant Professor
Institute of Remote Sensing Applications
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Professor Yan Nana works in the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (IRSA), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Her area of expertise is agricultural and ecological remote sensing. She has done extensive research on methods of drought monitoring and water resources application using remote sensing.
John Ogony Odiyo, Associate Professor
Department of Hydrology and Water Resources
University of Venda, South Africa
Dr Odiyo is an Associate Professor of hydrology and water resources at the University of Venda in South Africa. He is the Head of the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources and the Vice-Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, specializing in Open Channel Hydraulics, a Master’s in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam and a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Egerton University. Dr Odiyo is involved in research and postgraduate training in hydrology and water resources.
Alfonso Senatore, Professor
Department of Soil Conservation
University of Calabria, Italy
Dr. Alfonso Senatore is a hydrologist. He holds a PhD in Environmental Hydraulic Engineering, and since 2006, has been a research associate at the University of Calabria (Italy), Department of Soil Conservation, where he also is a lecturer and assistant professor in several courses (GIS and Numeric Cartography, Hydraulic Infrastructures). His research is focused on water balance modeling over variable space and time scales, and in drought and water scarcity monitoring, forecasting and management. He has authored 40 journal papers, conference papers and book chapters.
Kevin Rein, Assistant State Engineer
Colorado Division of Water Resources
Kevin Rein is the Assistant State Engineer – Intrastate Water Supply and Litigation, for the Division of Water Resources, also known as the State Engineer’s Office. In addition to providing support to the State Engineer, he manages, and is directly involved with the teams that perform well permitting, subdivision water supply review, substitute water supply plan review, water court activity review, and numerous other items associated with the administration of surface and ground water. Kevin is a native of Colorado, a registered professional engineer in the state, and has worked for the Division of Water Resources in the Water Supply section for 13 years.
Margaret Fast, Manager of Public Water Supply Planning
Kansas Water Office
Margaret Fast has over 30 years of work experience with the State of Kansas in various capacities, all related to water resource planning and management. She has been with the Kansas Water Office since 1984. Margaret is the manager of public water supply planning efforts and supervises the state's water marketing and assurance programs which utilize state-owned storage in Corps reservoirs to meet industrial and municipal needs. She is also involved with the development and implementation of the Kansas Water Plan.
Jim Schneider, Deputy Director
Nebraska Department of Natural Resources
Jim Schneider received a B.S. and a M.S. in geology from Northern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of South Florida. He was hired by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources in 2006 as Senior Groundwater Modeler. In 2008, he was put in charge of the newly formed Integrated Water Management Division. He currently serves as the Deputy Director for the Department.
Harry LaBonde, Deputy State Engineer – Water
Office of Wyoming State Engineer
Harry LaBonde serves as the Deputy State Engineer in the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office. His responsibilities include management of the agency’s water rights permitting and adjudication efforts involving both surface and ground waters. Mr. LaBonde is a graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in civil engineering. Upon graduation, he was employed by a national consulting engineering firm. In 1991, he became the City of Riverton, Wyoming’s Public Works Director. In 1997, he was hired as the City of Laramie, Wyoming’s Public Works Director. He served in this role until 2003 when he accepted his current position with the State of Wyoming.
Rachael Herpel, Education/Outreach Specialist
Water for Food Institute
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rachael Herpel is a water education/outreach specialist for the University of Nebraska Water for Food Institute. Herpel returned to the UNL Water Center after 10 years with the Lincoln-based Groundwater Foundation, where she authored and edited several publications including Protecting Our Water: A Primer for Preventing the Pathogenic Contamination of Drinking Water Sources. Between 1999 and 2006 she facilitated over 100 source water protection workshops in 32 states. Herpel received a B.A. in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from UNL, specializing in water resources and environmental planning.
Chuck Larsen, Co-Founder
Water4Haiti
Kearney, Nebraska
Chuck Larsen, of Minden, Nebraska, is a retired irrigation farmer, cattle feeder, and educator. Since 1984 he has volunteered his time during January and February to work with water projects through the Water for Life Mission of Kalona, Iowa and is a member of the board of that organization. In 2007, he led an effort to start water projects in another area in Haiti. He co-founded the mission Water4Haiti which works on the island of LaGonave and near Montrouis on the mainland, drilling new wells and repairing existing water systems. In December of 2007, Chuck participated as district delegate at the Rotary International Clean Water Summit in Petionville, Haiti.
International Diplomats:
Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza, Consul General
Consulate of Venezuela, Chicago, IL
Mr. Rodriguez-Espinoza, a specialist in international relations, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela in 1996 with an emphasis in international economic law and foreign trade. He has been a governmental officer since 1997, with expertise in the fields of science and technology, planning, and international trade. Before being appointed as Consul General in 2008, he worked as Deputy Consul in Chicago and taught international foreign trade in Venezuela while working as an advisor for the Ministry of Housing and the National Agency for Cooperatives. Since his arrival in Chicago, Mr. Rodriguez-Espinoza has participated in activities oriented to highlight Venezuela and explain the process of democratic and peaceful economic, political and social changes implemented by the people of Venezuela under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez.
Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes, Consul
Consulate of Mexico, Omaha, NE
Mr. Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes holds a degree in International Affairs from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico. He has been a governmental officer since 1982. Until his appointment as Consul of Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas in 2000, he served several roles, such as Department Head of the Legal and Interagency Coordination of the General Office of Protection and Consular Affairs, Sub-Director of Nationalization and Naturalization of the General Office of Legal Affairs, OIC of the Protection Area in the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, and Deputy Consul in the Mexican Consulate of McAllen, Texas. He is now the Consul of Mexico in the Mexican Consulate in Omaha.
Thomas Schnoell, Consul General
Consulate of Austria, Chicago, IL
Thomas Schnoell is a career diplomat and was appointed Consul General of Austria in Chicago in January, 2010. Mr. Schnoell earned a Masters Degree in Law from Johannes Kepler University in Linz before joining the Austrian Foreign Ministry in 1997. From 2007 to 2009 he attended the prestigious French graduate school Ecole national d’administration. His previous postings have included the Austrian Embassy in Paris and the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union in Brussels, as well as Head of Unit for the Western Balkans in Vienna.
Almudena Rodriguez Sanchez Baeto, Counselor
Office of Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs
Embassy of Spain, Washington D.C.
Almudena Rodriguez Sanchez Beato is Counselor for Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs in the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C. She has degrees in Veterinary Science, and Trade and Economics. In 1996, she became an official of the European Commission and in 2006 was appointed as General Director of Agrifood Industry at the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In 2008, she became Head of Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Water and Rural Affairs in the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs. During her tenure there, she was responsible for coordination of activities related to water policy.
James E. Smith Midwest Conference on World Affairs
Executive Planning Committee
Office of International Education
Dallas Kenny, Director
Bonnie Payne, Outreach Coordinator
College of Business and Technology
Stephen Amundson, Sr. Lecturer, Department of Industrial Technology
Bob Young, Professor Emeritus, Department of Accounting and Finance
College of Fine Arts and Humanities
Sonja Kropp, Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages
Mark Wethington, Assistant Professor, Department of Music and Performing Arts
College of Education
Julie Agard, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education
Barbara Amundson, Sr. Lecturer, Department of Health, PE, Recreation & Leisure Studies
College of Natural and Social Sciences
William Aviles, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Carol Lilly, Professor, Department of History
Christopher Stevens, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Community Representatives
Dr. and Mrs. David Wiebe
Special Projects
Ground Transportation
Sherry Morrow, Director, Nebraska Safety Center
Carrie Stithem, Administrative Associate, Center for Rural Research and Development
Take a Delegate to Lunch
Barbara Amundson, Sr. Lecturer, Department of Health, PE, Recreation & Leisure Studies
Classroom Visits
Stephen Amundson, Sr. Lecturer, Department of Industrial Technology
International Food Festival
Ramesh Neupane, President, International Student Association
The James E. Smith Midwest Conference on World Affairs wishes to express appreciation for partial funding and cooperative effort from the following:
Community Sponsors
Morris Press, Cookbooks Division
Cash-wa Distributing
Pepsi-Cola
University of Nebraska at Kearney Sponsors
Faculty Senate Artists and Lecturers Committee
Office of International Education
Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Life
College of Business and Technology
College of Fine Arts and Humanities
College of Education
College of Natural and Social Sciences
Office of Graduate Studies and Research
Office of Multicultural Affairs
Department of English Reynolds Series
Ethnic Studies Program
Office of Communications
American Democracy Project
International Studies Program
Thank you for participating in the 2011 James E. Smith Midwest Conference on World Affairs. If you have comments or suggestions, please call 308-865-8939 or email payneb@unk.edu.
Individuals needing accommodation under ADA must contact the event coordinator or University ADA coordinator prior to the event at 308-865-8655 TTY/Voice.