Sharing global perspectives
The E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series features internationally known speakers addressing issues related to agriculture, food, the environment and natural resources. The series was established in the Auburn University College of Agriculture in 1981 through a gift from E.T. and Vam Cardwell York. The Yorks are both are native Alabamians and Auburn University graduates.
E.T. York served as director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System from 1959 to 1962. He then went on to head the USDA’s Federal Extension Service in Washington, D.C. Later, he served as provost and vice president for agriculture at the University of Florida and then as chancellor of the State University System of Florida until his retirement in 1980.
The E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series is free and open to the public.
Dr. Molly Jahn, plant breeder and senior advisor to the chief strategy officer for the under secretary of war for research and engineering, U.S. Department of Defense
Dr. Frank Mitloehner, professor and air quality extension specialist at the University of California, Davis, Department of Animal Science
Dr. Walter Hill, professor and vice provost of Tuskegee University
The Future of Food
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 | 4 P.M.
The Hotel at Auburn University & Dixon Conference Center | Auditorium
Molly Jahn is a professor of agronomy, former dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and current Senior Advisor to the Chief Strategy Officer for the Under Secretary of War (Research & Engineering). Trained as a plant breeder, she has led major initiatives at the intersection of plant genetics, food systems, and national security.
Jahn began her faculty career at Cornell University, where she developed dozens of vegetable varieties now grown on six continents, including well-known market leaders like delicata and honey nut squash. She later served as Deputy and Acting Under Secretary of Agriculture, overseeing USDA research and statistical agencies with budgets exceeding $2 billion, and then DARPA Program Manager.
Upon returning to academia, she pioneered a new field focused on risks and threats to U.S. and global food systems, producing landmark analyses linking agriculture to economic and national security. She has also led large public-private partnerships that trained hundreds of scientists and agricultural professionals worldwide. Altogether, her work has helped shape how the world thinks about the future of food.
