February 22, 2024 

Media Contacts:  
Joan Qazi, sustainability coordinator, 509-682-6495, jqazi@wvc.edu 
Jennifer Korfiatis, interim public information officer, 509-682-6650, jkorfiatis@wvc.edu 

The Wenatchee Valley College Sustainability Committee will host the first presentation in its new speaker series Climate Solutions and Climate Justice on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m.in The Grove Recital Hall, Music and Art Center, on the Wenatchee campus. This free event is open to the public. 

Chad Kruger, director of both the Washington State University Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, will present “Climate Change and Agriculture in Eastern Washington.” Kruger will discuss how future climate changes might impact agriculture in Eastern Washington and what, if anything, can be done about it.  

Kruger was raised in Washington state and comes from generational farm families. He earned a bachelor’s degree and academic certificate from Northwest College in Kirland, and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also an Au Sable Graduate Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  

Kruger served on the 2007/2008 Washington State Climate Action Team, co-chairing the Agriculture Sector Carbon Market Workgroup, the Washington Department of Natural Resources Expert Council on Climate Change, and the board of the Northwest Ag Business Center, and he was a Commissioner on the Douglas County Water Conservancy Board. Kruger is also the lead author of the multi-agency Washington Soil Health Initiative.  

WVC Sustainability Coordinator Dr. Joan Qazi said that the Climate Solutions and Climate Justice speaker series is “an effort to help our students and local community understand our changing climate and its local impacts, as well as how to build climate resiliency here.”  

To learn more about the WVC Sustainability Committee’s work and events, visit www.wvc.edu/sustainability.  

 

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Wenatchee Valley College enriches North Central Washington by serving educational and cultural needs of communities and residents throughout the service area. The college is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion for all students and employees and provides high-quality transfer, liberal arts, professional/technical, basic skills and continuing education for students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. Visit our website, wvc.edu. 

Wenatchee Valley College is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in employment and student enrollment. All programs are free from discrimination and harassment against any person because of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a service animal by a person with a disability, age, parental status or families with children, marital status, religion, genetic information, honorably discharged veteran or military status or any other prohibited basis per RCW 49.60.030, 040 and other federal and state laws and regulations, or participation in the complaint process. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies and Title IX compliance for both the Wenatchee and Omak campuses: To report discrimination or harassment: Title IX Coordinator, Mish ee twie, 1321A, (509) 682-6716, title9@wvc.edu. To request disability accommodations: Student Access Manager, Wenatchi Hall, 2131, (509) 682-6854, TTY/TTD: dial 711, sas@wvc.edu.