Symposium Schedule
Gregor Mendel:
From Hybridization to GMOs
8:15-9:15 a.m. | COFFEE AND DANISH
9:15 a.m. | WELCOME
The Rev. Kail Ellis, OSA, PhD
Chair, Mendel Committee;
Dean Emeritus, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences;
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science;
Symposium Director, Villanova University
SESSION I: GMOs and the Food Supply
Moderator: Angela DiBenedetto, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology, Villanova University
9:30-10:30 a.m. | FROM MENDEL TO GENETIC MODIFICATION
- Alan McHughen, PhD | CE Biotechnology Specialist and Geneticist, University of California, Riverside
10:30-11:30 a.m. | PHILOSOPHICAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY, GMOS, AND GENETIC ENGINEERING
- Paul B. Thompson, PhD | W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food & Community Ethics, Michigan State University
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | LUNCH
SESSION II: Food Security, Economics and the Common Good
Moderator: Frank Galgano, PhD
Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment, Villanova University
12:30p.m.-1:30 p.m. | SECURITY, ECONOMICS AND THE COMMON GOOD
- Amy Richmond, PhD | Professor of Geography, United States Military Academy, West Point
SESSION III: Seed Banks - Preserving Biodiversity
Moderator: Kel Wieder, PhD
Professor of Biology, Villanova University
1:30-2:30 p.m. | SEED BANKS - PRESERVING PLANT DIVERSITY AND ENHANCING THE COMMON GOOD
- Tiziana Ulian, PhD | Senior Research Leader of Diversity & Livelihoods, Natural Capital and Plant Health Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
2:30-3:15 p.m. | ROUNTABLE DISCUSSION WITH SPEAKERS AND AUDIENCE
If we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes religion and the language particular to it. The Catholic Church is open to dialogue with philosophical thought; this has enabled her to produce various syntheses between faith and reason. The development of the Church’s social teaching represents such a synthesis with regard to social issues; this teaching is called to be enriched by taking up new challenges.
-Pope Francis
Laudato Siˇ: On Care For Our Common Home (63)