Reading, Pa.- Richard Benfield, Ph.D., professor of geography at Central Connecticut State University, will present two lectures on Monday, October 25, 2010, in Klein Lecture Hall, Center for the Arts. Both programs are free and open to the public.
- 4 p.m. - “Ecuador, Globalization and Floriculture: the Cutthroat Business of Blooms” - Benfield will track the cutthroat global business of flowers from its humble beginnings, being produced for local markets, to how it became a thriving $700 billion industry marked by global production and distribution. This lecture will illustrate the status and possible demise of the Ecuadorian and Colombian flower industry as production moves from South America to East Africa.
- 7 p.m. - “Places of the Heart: Sary Chat Zapovednik and the Snow Leopards of the Northern Himalayas of Kyrgystan” - This presentation will focus on large feline predators including the mythical snow leopard in the Northern Himalayas of Kyrgystan.
Richard Benfield is a professor at Central Connecticut State University where he teaches courses in tourism geography and planning and world regional geography. He is currently working on the evolving tourism industry in the post-Soviet Republics. Prior to university teaching Benfield was a marketing professional in the tourism industry. He worked in the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S. for clients such as ski resorts, the Banff-Lake Louise Chamber of Commerce, motor coach companies and Alberta’s tourism department.
The Center for the Arts is located on the Albright College campus at 13th and Bern Streets, Reading, Pa. For more information or disabled assistance please call College Relations at 610-921-7526.
Founded in 1856, Albright College is a nationally ranked, private college with a rigorous liberal arts curriculum with an interdisciplinary focus. The College’s hallmarks are connecting fields of learning, collaborative teaching and learning, and a flexible curriculum that allows students to create an individualized education. Albright College enrolls more than 1,670 undergraduates in traditional programs, another 500 adult students in accelerated degree programs, and 100 students in the master’s program in education. Albright College is located in Reading, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia.
