INTRODUCING YOUR SPEAKER

Kansas Humanities Council

For questions about your program, contact

Leslie Von Holten at KHC

785/357-0359

Your program for today –

Diverse Cultures Help Kansas Communities

Many threads have been interwoven in the fabric of Kansas culture, from the Plains Indians to European homesteaders and African American Exodusters. A number of rural communities have grown in recent years because of Latino and South Asian immigrants who are working and raising their families in Kansas. This presentation highlights real-world examples of people who have used their diverse cultural backgrounds to contribute constructively to Kansas communities.

Please use the following to welcome your speaker along with highlights from bio –

Our program is brought to you by the Kansas Humanities Council, a non-profit organization promoting understanding of the history and ideas that shape our lives and strengthen our sense of community. So we may all enjoy the program, please take a moment to turn off any cell phones.

For publicity and introduction, a biographical sketch of your speaker follows –

Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University. He served as a legislative assistant to Senator Nancy Kassebaum; as a staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; and as vice president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. In 1985, he returned to Kansas and in 1989 became director of the Huck Boyd Institute. Ron produces a weekly radio program and news column called “Kansas Profile” about rural Kansas. He also writes cowboy poetry and lives on a historic family ranch near Manhattan. He joined the KHC Speakers Bureau in 2010.

Ron Wilson

785/532-7690 (w); 785/532-8092 (c)