Division of Agriculture inks agreement with Sicily’s Kore University
The aim of the agreement is to further “international cooperation in research and education,” including joint research projects, faculty guest lectures, and exchanges of student, faculty and researchers, as well as research reports and other scholarly materials.
By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture
June 10, 2024
Fast facts:
- Agreement with Sicilian university runs five years
- Facilitated by LR Sister Cities Commission member Raimondo
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(Newsrooms: with art)
LITTLE ROCK — In a joyful ceremony at the University of Arkansas System Office, the system’s Division of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding with Kore University of Enna, Sicily.
Kore University, founded in 2005, is a private higher education institution with more than 8,000 students. Kore University offers 21 degree courses in five schools: engineering and architecture; economics and law; human and social sciences; classical, linguistic and educational studies; and medicine and surgery.
The aim of the agreement is to further “international cooperation in research and education,” including joint research projects, faculty guest lectures, and exchanges of student, faculty and researchers, as well as research reports and other scholarly materials.
The agreement runs for five years and involves no financial obligations for either Kore University or the Division of Agriculture. The agreement does say the two institutions will seek financing to support cooperative programs.
Signing the agreement on June 5 were Deacue Fields, head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture; Donald R. Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System; and Giuseppe La Porta, vice mayor of Enna. The agreement will be taken to the head of Kore University for a final signature.
“This will be the first U.S. partnership for Kore University and it’s exciting,” Fields said. “This collaborative effort gives us a chance to look beyond our borders and see something new and potentially bring it back here.”
Fields provided an introduction, not only to agriculture in Arkansas, but also to the Land-Grant mission and how the Division of Agriculture fills that mission by conducting research through the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and taking those discoveries to the public via outreach by the Cooperative Extension Service. Jean-Francois Meullenet, head of the experiment station and John Anderson, director of the extension service, gave specifics about the work being done throughout Arkansas.
Bobbitt said he “looked forward to this opportunity as being educational for us all.
“I wanted you to understand how important these types of relationships are but also how important agriculture is to this particular state,” he said. “Agriculture represents a contribution of $21 billion from the year to the state’s gross domestic product to the economy. So even though I'm president of at the university system, economically, Vice President Fields is probably much more important than me.”
The Sicilian delegation included:
- Giuseppe La Porta, vice mayor of Enna
- Giancarlo Vasco, Enna agricultural councilman
- Paolo Totò Bellone, Enna director and UNESCO international delegate and Kore Sicilia Consortium delegate.
- Liberia La Porta, minister of economic finance, Kore University
- Maria Paola La Caria, director of tourism and culture, Kore University and Kore Sicilia Consortium.
Vasco talked about Enna’s chief agricultural products, grain, olive oil and meats.
Accompanying the delegation was Margie Raimondo, farmer, chef, Emmy-winning documentarian, and owner of Urbana Farmstead in Little Rock. Raimondo is a member of Little Rock’s Sister City Commission.
Raimondo said even though she has Sicilian roots, she didn’t know anything about Enna until she looked at the criteria for a good sister city partnership.
“When I got to understanding the character and potential of Kore University, I thought, ‘this is bigger than just the Little Rock Sister City Commission,” she said. “There was so much potential for agriculture.”
Raimondo invited Ron Rainey, assistant vice president for the Division of Agriculture to join her in Sicily. He initially declined but later, “I agreed to be part of the delegation that went to explore the LR sister city effort.”
Once in Sicily, “I saw first-hand the numerous collaborative opportunities that were win-win opportunities for both the Division of Agriculture and Enna, Sicily,” Rainey said. Some of those areas included further “exploring the Mediterranean diet, ancient grains, uber-local food systems, differentiated marketing, and minimally processed foods, to name a few.”
Following the signing ceremony at the UA System Office, the delegation headed to the Cooperative Extension Service headquarters. There, the delegation heard Anderson give a detailed explanation of the history of extension work as part of the Land-Grant mission. The delegation also heard presentations by Extension Economists Ryan Loy about heirloom grains and Rainey about U.S. food system trends.
Members of the delegation were intrigued by the concept of a university working so closely with the public and peppered Anderson with questions. Loy’s presentation sparked discussions comparing his research and the history of grains in Sicily.
The day before, the City of Little Rock signed a sister city agreement with Enna, a city of about 27,000.
Before Wednesday’s signing, the City of Enna has five sister cities: Spain’s Mancomunidad de las Costa del Sol Occidental; Greece’s Kastoria; Gharb in Malta; Craiova, Romania and the place with the longest name in Wales, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Little Rock had five sister cities: Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Hanam City, South Korea; Changchun in China, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England, and Caxias do Sul, Brazil.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu