NextGen Food and Climate Symposium set for Sept. 25, 27
An upcoming symposium offers a chance for NextGen scholars, like Inga Peterson, shown during a 2025 NextGen retreat in Kodiak, to collaborate on ideas and goals.
Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Sept. 16, 2025
The University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service will host a free public symposium on climate change and its effects on regional and global food security.
Nancy Fresco, a climate change researcher at ÃÛÌÒTV’s International Arctic Research Center, will lead the two-part symposium on Zoom. Sessions are set for Sept. 25 and will repeat on Sept. 27.
The symposium supports the NextGen initiative, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program administered by the Cooperative Extension Service. The program aims to build a skilled, diverse workforce for the future of agriculture. In addition to paid internships, the NextGen program offers competitive scholarship opportunities to help students continue their education in the food and agriculture enterprise career field.
During the symposium, NextGen scholars will learn about the science of climate change and meet members of their own cohorts and institutions in Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona and Guam. The public is also invited.
The symposium is divided into two parts. The first hour, Changes and Challenges, will be for new NextGen Scholars and members of the public who are less familiar with climate change science and the NextGen program.
The remaining two hours of student-led exploration are designed for returning scholars. They will divide into small discussion groups centered on different key topics and focus on discovering similarities, differences, common goals and joint solutions.
The symposium is scheduled for 2-5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, () and repeated on Saturday, Sept. 27, also from 2-5 p.m. (). The event is synchronous and highly interactive, and NextGen scholars must attend one of the sessions.
For more information, visit the NextGen symposium website or, or contact Jay Clapeck at jjclapeck@alaska.edu, 907-474-6203.
Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Alda Norris at amnorris@alaska.edu or 907-474-7120. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to individuals with limited English proficiency upon request to amnorris2@alaska.edu.
This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.