As the Mountain State’s flagship, land-grant institution, West Virginia University is dedicated to improving the lives of West Virginians. At the same time, as a major research institution, WVU’s reach is global, and its faculty travel the world in pursuit of knowledge and discovery.

That global reach will be in the spotlight at an International Research Symposium scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, in room 101 of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy on WVU’s Evansdale Campus.

Sponsored by WVU’s Environmental Research Center, Peace Corps Master’s International program, Office of International Programs and Office of Graduate Education and Life, the symposium will gather scholars from a host of disciplines to share their expertise with colleagues and the public. Topics will range from bird ecology in Kamchatka to free-trade coffee in Nicaragua, and from pulsar timing arrays to cancer screening and treatment.

Faculty from WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center and WVU Extension Service will present at the event.

“A key goal of WVU’s 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future is to promote global engagement and awareness, and this symposium will showcase some of the many ways WVU is realizing that goal,” said Todd Petty, associate professor of wildlife and fisheries resources, one of the event’s organizers.

“Our objective with the symposium is to highlight the diversity of research being conducted by WVU scholars in locations around the world,” Petty added.

Two significant anniversaries also played a role in the conception of the symposium: WVU’s year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act and the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.

“Part of WVU’s role as a land-grant university is to bring the world to our students and our state, and to encourage our faculty, staff, and students to go out into the world and make it better,” Petty said. “That’s also at the core of the mission of the Peace Corps, bringing valuable skill sets to developing communities to improve quality of life and increase opportunity.”

Symposium participants will observe the 50th anniversary of the Corps and meet the first cohort of students in the Peace Corps Master’s International program, which combines graduate education and preparation for service as a Peace Corps volunteer.

The symposium is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Petty at 304-293-2278 or jtpetty@mail.wvu.edu. For a full schedule of symposium speakers, please visit http://peacecorps.davis.wvu.edu/home/symposium.

-WVU-

dw/10/12/11

CONTACT: David Welsh, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
304-293-2394, dwelsh@wvu.edu

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