WPCC Fall Speakers Forum to Focus on Health and Wellness Issues

 

Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC) will host the 2016 Fall Speakers Forum/Ervin Constitutional Issues Program Oct. 3 through Oct. 6.  This year's program titled, "Healthy People, Healthy Places: Local and Global Issues," will focus on endeavors designed by entrepreneurs, legal scholars, and conservation specialists to increase health and wellness awareness in individuals and communities. Presentations will be held in WPCC's Leviton Auditorium, and all events are free and open to the public. Receptions will be held after each event.

 

Speakers will address a wide variety of issues ranging from capturing the secrets of the world's longevity hot spots to leading community-based health initiatives to finding new ways to treat drug addiction

The forum will open on Monday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m., with Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life, an engaging presentation about five places around the world where people live the longest and healthiest lives.  Tony Buettner, a national speaker and the senior vice president of business development at Blue Zones, will share his experiences implementing community projects and travelling with his brother,New York Times bestselling author Dan Buettner.  His newest book,The Blue Zones Solution, which investigates the lifestyles of the world's longest living populations, will be available for sale.

 

On Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 11 a.m., Mikki Sager will present "Food, Justice, and the Community Way." Her lecture will provide information about community organizations, faith groups, and leaders of all ages who are growing healthy food, healthy families, and healthy communities for the future.  Sager, who is vice president and director of Resourceful Communities at the Conservation Fund, helps communities engage in sustainable economic development projects and build on their assets - land, history, culture, and people - to feed the hungry, create jobs, and launch new businesses.  Sager's accomplishments have been recognized by the USDA Forest Service and the North Carolina Rural Prosperity and Rural Health Task Forces.

 

On Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., Barbara Fedders, J.D., will close out the 2016 Speakers Forum with her presentation entitled "Beyond the War on Drugs: Why the Criminal Justice System Is the Wrong Way to Address Drug Addiction." She will explore the relationship between over prescription of addictive opiates and the rise in heroin deaths, focus on how the criminal justice system addresses drug addiction and distribution, as well as discuss evidence-based best practices in healthcare and the courts.  Fedders is an assistant professor of law at the University of North Carolina School of Law.  She is actively engaged in community education and was named a Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar.

 

The Fall Speakers Forum/Ervin Constitutional Issues Program has a long history at Western Piedmont Community College with the first forum held in 1967.  It is an annual event and consists of three days during which student, faculty, staff and the local community explore a timely topic and engage in conversation.  The Speaker's Forum is sponsored each year by the Western Piedmont Foundation, the WPCC Student Government Association and the Department of Workforce Development and Continuing Education. Employees from the academic Department of Arts and Sciences plan the event each year which is also supported by additional employee and student volunteers. For more information, please visit www.wpcc.edu/speakers-forum.