Distinguished Lecture Series to host Dr. Omar Tesdell Oct. 14

Distinguished Lecture Series to host Dr. Omar Tesdell Oct. 14

Northwest Missouri State University will host Dr. Omar Tesdell, an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Birzeit University in Palestine, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building.

Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the lecture is free and open to the public.

Tesdell will present "Agricultural Innovation in Moments of Crisis: Notes from the Fertile Crescent." His research works to establish more climate-adapted, resilient and proper agricultural landscapes.

"One of the charges of the Distinguished Lecture Series is to give people a global look at what's going on in the world outside of our specific corner of Missouri," Luke Rolfes, the chair of the Distinguished Lecture Series and an assistant professor of English at Northwest, said.

Tesdell founded the Ardeea project, which strives to transform agricultural and community landscapes. He also works with researchers from The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas.

He is the editor of Barari, an open science platform to share community-based knowledge about wild food and plants. He also has edited "Palestinian Wild Food Plants," an Arabic-English guide, as part of a community-based research collective.

Tesdell, a Palestinian-American, grew up in the rural Midwest. He holds a Ph.D in geography and sustainable agriculture from the University of Minnesota and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York.

"I think having that moment where we get to see something totally different - that maybe we haven't thought about and just get a perspective of someone living in an area of conflict trying to do the best they can - can be really interesting for people living in the middle of the country," Rolfes said.

The objective of the Distinguished Lecture Series is to enhance the academic environment through individual discipline and interdisciplinary topics. Supported by the Office of the Provost and the Student Activities Council, the series offers the Northwest campus and surrounding communities with opportunities to hear from extraordinary individuals from throughout the globe. Scholars, world travelers and leaders in their fields visit the Northwest campus to share their wisdom, insight and experiences.