Hello, St. Louis Badgers! Your local WAA chapter invites you to celebrate Founders’ Day at one of the best music venues in the St. Louis area. Join us for food, an open bar, a UW faculty guest speaker, and socializing with other area Badgers. Looking forward to seeing you there. On, Wisconsin!
The cost is $50 per person or $35 for recent graduates. This includes a buffet of heavy appetizers and an open bar.
Register by May 7.
About the Program
Enjoy a special presentation:
Transforming School Food: Building a Just, Sustainable, and Caring Future
What if school meals weren’t just about feeding children, but also about building a more just and sustainable society? Jennifer Gaddis, associate professor of civil society and community studies at UW–Madison, invites you to rethink the role of school food programs in supporting children’s health, agricultural sustainability, and community economies. Drawing from her research and advocacy, she will discuss how everyday people — from parents, cafeteria workers, policymakers, and activists — are successfully transforming school food programs in ways that advance education, health, justice, food sovereignty, and sustainability. Whether you’re passionate about public policy, food justice, or education, this conversation will inspire you to see school meals as a powerful tool for systemic change.
Event Schedule
Schedule of Events
6:00 p.m. Networking and heavy apps served buffet style and open bar.
7:00 p.m. Awards presentations
7:30 p.m. Dr. Gaddis’s presentation
8:30 p.m. Desserts and socializing
10:00 p.m. Event Concludes
Speaker Information
About the Speaker
Jennifer Gaddis is an associate professor of human ecology at UW–Madison. She is an international expert on school food politics and systems change. Gaddis earned her PhD in environmental studies at Yale University in 2014. She authored the award-winning book, The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools (University of California Press, 2019) and is a principal investigator of a $1.5 million USDA-funded study of the school food workforce. She is the coeditor with Sarah A. Robert of Transforming School Food Politics Around the World (MIT Press, 2024). Gaddis has also published articles in multiple journals, including Feminist Economics, Agriculture and Human Values, Appetite, and the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.
Awardee Information
John JB Lasater, Lifetime Achievement Award, 1988.
John served as treasurer of our local chapter for over 15 years and was instrumental in our small chapter achieving Bascom status ten years in a row. He managed our chapter’s general and scholarship funds during this time. He helped organize annual Founders’ Day events and was a presence at our game watches and other programs. Circuit Judge Division 15, is currently assigned to Circuit Civil and Criminal for the County of Saint Louis, MO.]
Additional Information
Free parking at the venue is plentiful.
When you register, please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or require accessibility accommodations.
