UN food, agriculture official to urge action against hunger in York lecture Oct. 2

The United Nations food and agriculture agency's top negotiator with the U.S. and Canadian governments will challenge the Auburn campus and community to help eliminate malnutrition, hunger and food insecurity worldwide when he delivers the fall 2017 E.T. York Distinguished Lecture Monday, Oct. 2.

India citizen Vimlendra Sharan, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Liaison Office for North America of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, will present his lecture, "The Greatest Opportunity of Your Generation: Ending Hunger," at 4 p.m. in ballroom B, The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center Marquee.

His presentation, part of the College of Agriculture's E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series, is free and open to all.

Sharan assumed his current position in February 2016, bringing with him 25 years' experience in Indian and international government leadership on issues involving rural development, agricultural development and food security. Before joining the FAO, Sharan served as India's permanent representative to U.N. agencies based in Rome and, while in Rome, also chaired the International Fund for Agricultural Development's evaluation committee and held the office of vice president of the World Food Program's executive board.

The E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series in Auburn's College of Agriculture was established in 1981 by the late E.T. York, an Alabama native and Auburn alumnus who received his bachelor's degree in agricultural science in 1942 and his master's in agronomy and soils in 1946. During his career, he served as a professor, Alabama Cooperative Extension System director, federal Extension Service administrator, University of Florida provost and vice president for agriculture and State University System of Florida chancellor, retiring from that position in 1980. He died in 2011.