University of Maryland Eastern Shore will host a lecture on “Opportunities and Challenges in International Agriculture Development” on April 5 as part of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences Lecture Series. The 11 a.m. talk focuses on “The Case for a Stronger Role for 1862 and 1890 Universities.”
Free and open to the campus and the community, this installment in the series features Dr. Jimmy W. Smith, who recently assumed the position of director of international programs in agriculture and natural resources at the University of Maryland, College Park. Smith oversees the college’s international extension and development efforts, along with development of courses with an international component and study abroad opportunities.
Prior to his post at UMD, Smith served as the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute, an international research organization in the family of Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research centers working toward “a food secure world.” ILRI’s work focuses on livestock research for sustainable development.
Smith has also worked in the corporate arena, leading the global livestock portfolio for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. There, he anchored the bank’s investments on sustainable livestock development and mitigating the threat of zoonotic diseases with pandemic potential.
A Guyanese and Canadian citizen, Smith held senior positions at the Canadian International Development Agency and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute and the Livestock Development Company in Guyana.
Smith earned master’s and doctoral degrees in animal sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The lecture will be held in the Richard A. Henson Center at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md. For more information, visit www.umes.edu/sans/sans-seminar-series/ or email aelnabawi@umes.edu for special accommodations.
Gail Stephens, Agricultural Communications and Media Associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, 410-621-3850, gcstephens@umes.edu.
