Annual Meeting 2006
The 42nd Annual Meeting of
The Association for International Agriculture 
and Rural Development

June 4-6, 2006

Speakers and Panelists

John Vreyens
Director of International Agricultural Programs
College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences
University of Minnesota

John is the Director of International Agricultural Programs, with 22 years of experience planning, facilitating, managing the financial aspects and coordinating educational experiences for adults in the field of agriculture. His major responsibility is managing international programs within the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences building bridges for strong collaborative opportunities for faculty, staff and students. John taught courses in international project development, extension education programs as well as history, philosophy and systems of extension. Currently he serves as the college advisor for the minor in International Agriculture. John served twice as a Peace Corps Volunteer: as a cattle production/veterinary extension agent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and as a rice extension agent in Senegal.

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John has additional overseas experience conducting the evaluation of the DRC Cattle Production Program after the first five years and participating as a member of a team researching gender disaggregated data on the use of credit unions and informal savings groups in Cameroon. He served as Chair of the International Agriculture Section for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges and is Vice President for the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development. As Training Coordinator and Project Manager, Dr. Vreyens created professional development programs for academics, government officials, and other professionals visiting the USA as well as educational programs for farmers at the village level. For five years, he was responsible for education programs within the Office of International Agricultural Programs. Projects under his management included educational, research and economic development activities in Morocco, Senegal, Pakistan, and Germany: He received visitors, coordinated logistics, organized cultural activities, and served as escort and translator, prepared reports-both technical and financial budgeting. He now overseas the effort to develop international experiences for students of agriculture to participate in field studies abroad.