VanBuren Lecture - 1996

Dates	April 17-18, 1996
Lecturer	Dr. Steven T. Sonka, Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Dr. Steven T. Sonka is a world-renowned teacher and researcher in farm and agribusiness management. Sonka provides leadership in implementing the Food and Agribusiness Management (FAM) Program and served as its Director until 1996. The FAM program is an innovative effort linking the Colleges of ACES and of Commerce and Business Administration. A comprehensive undertaking, this venture includes initiatives at the undergraduate level, creation of a MBA degree with a food and agribusiness management specialization, and development of linkages at the Ph.D. level.

Dr. Sonka's research emphasizes strategic change and decision making in the food and agribusiness sector. This includes investigations both to improve understanding of decision processes in firms and to discover improved means and tools to enhance the decision making process. Recently, these efforts have focused on the evolution of strategic marketing alternatives in commodity agriculture and information technology and its application in the sector.

The 1996 VanBuren Lecturer participated in the following activities during the two day program:

Group	Activity
Class: Ag Econ 610, Strategic Planning for the Farm Business	Farm Management In The Age Of Information
Agricultural Economics Seminar	InfoAg and the Knowledge Creating Organization
Informal meeting with farm and agribusiness faculty	Discussed teaching, research and outreach activities in Farm Management
Ohio State University Extension In-service Workshop	Information Technologies and their Impact on the Extension-client Relationship
Class: Ag Econ 502, Production Decision Analysis	The Potential of Emerging Technologies for Business Managers
Informal meetings with various College of Agriculture Faculty.

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