Patrick Fleming ’04 is the Next Speaker in Campus Kitchen’s Just Food Series Fleming's Nov. 12 lecture is titled “Farming as a Liberal Art: Growing Food with Freedom and Intention."

By Emily Innes Stanley
September 12, 2025

Join the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee (CKWL) for the 2025-26 Just Food event series. The program examines the intersection of food systems and social justice, offering valuable opportunities for W&L students, the campus community and the wider Lexington-Rockbridge community to explore how food interplays with cultural development.

This year’s series is rooted in collaboration across academic departments and campus organizations and will feature two alumni as guest speakers: Leah Gose ’15, a postdoctoral fellow in sociology at the University of Southern California, and Patrick Fleming ’04, associate professor of economics and public policy at Franklin and Marshall University.

“I am extremely excited to announce the Campus Kitchen’s Just Food series this fall,” said Ryan Brink, assistant director of the Shepherd Program and CKWL coordinator. “We have worked with faculty and staff across campus to identify speakers and programming that bring unique perspectives on the variety of ways in which food systems interact with issues of poverty and justice. This collaboration is an exciting reminder of the growing interest in food systems and of the different lenses through which we can analyze those systems.”

To learn more about the events listed below and to stay up to date on programming, visit the Campus Kitchen webpage.

“A Place at the Table” Screening
Monday, Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m. | Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons
Campus Kitchen presents a screening of “A Place at the Table,” a 2013 documentary that explores food insecurity in the United States through the lens of three individuals. Directed by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush, the film is a call to action for making food and nutrition programs more accessible to the 50 million Americans (including 17 million children) who are considered “food insecure,” meaning they do not always have the resources to buy the food they need.

Feeding Americans with Leah Gose ’15
Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. | Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library
Join CKWL for a presentation by Leah Gose ’15, a Provost Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Southern California’s Department of Sociology. The talk is titled “Feeding Americans: How Food Pantries Fuel Civic Life in the USA.” Gose’s research focuses on the role of community organizations as vital aspects of the social safety net, in how they shape access to resources, provide opportunities for community building and engagement, and respond to governmental policies and funding influences. Her scholarship is rooted in studies of organizations and inequality and poverty, and engages with urban sociology, political sociology, social policy and social networks.

“We are so excited to welcome an outstanding alumna, Leah Gose, back to campus for this lecture and related activities,” said Jon Eastwood, head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at W&L. “Students, faculty and staff, and community members will learn a lot from listening to her talk about her research on food pantries and civic life. And from a professor’s point of view, there’s nothing better than seeing your former students go on and become experts in the field, so I’m looking forward to learning from her as well.”

Gose’s lecture is presented by the 1963 Scholars in Residence Program, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Shepherd Program and Campus Kitchen.

Farming as a Liberal Art with Patrick Fleming ’04
Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. | Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons
Join CKWL for a presentation by Patrick Fleming ’04, associate professor of economics and public policy at Franklin and Marshall College. The talk is titled “Farming as a Liberal Art: Growing Food with Freedom and Intention.” An environmental and agricultural economist, Fleming studies water quality, agricultural sustainability and the evaluation of public policies intended to achieve these goals. His recent scholarship examines farm environmental policies and their effects on the Chesapeake Bay, behavioral science, legacy pollution, and survey design in the context of household environmental investments.

“Pat Fleming brings great insights to us as an academic with training in agricultural economics and ethics, and a practicing farmer,” said Art Goldsmith, the Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Economics at W&L. “He understands the challenges of improving both the quality of our nation’s food supply and its equitable distribution — along with ways to improve each.”

Fleming’s lecture is presented by the 1963 Scholars in Residence Program, the Department of Economics, the Office of Alumni Engagement and Campus Kitchen.

Fifth Annual Indigenous Community Meal
Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. | Evans Hall
Presented by CKWL, the Native American Student Organization and the Native American and Indigenous Cohort, the evening will feature a menu that highlights indigenous ingredients and recipes and include guided discussions around the influence of indigenous wisdom and foodways and the impact of the modern Thanksgiving narrative.