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The World Food Prize Foundation announced today that Morgan Day has joined its staff as the new Director of Planning for the organization.
As Director of Planning at the World Food Prize Foundation, Ms. Day will be primarily responsible for coordinating and implementing major substantive programs and activities directly related to global food security that the World Food Prize holds, including the annual Laureate Announcement Ceremony and the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium.
Ambassador Quinn expressed his great personal pleasure in having Ms. Day return to occupy a full-time position as a staff member. "Having worked directly with Morgan when she was a World Food Prize George Washington Carver college intern, I am well aware of the impressive skills and intellect that she brings to this position. Morgan’s academic preparation as well as her on the ground practical experience in dealing with issues of food insecurity at home and abroad will allow her to step in immediately in filling this critical role on our staff.”
Since 2012, Ms. Day has been involved in many endeavors at the World Food Prize Foundation. As a George Washington Carver Intern, she worked directly with the Youth Programs team at the Foundation and then served as Special Assistant to the Foundation President during the 2012 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium. During this past year Ms. Day returned as a Symposium logistics consultant for the 30th Anniversary of the World Food Prize.
For the past two years, Ms. Day has devoted her energy to food security issues. She has worked as the Office Manager of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and as a political consultant and policy coordinator at the local and state levels tackling issues in agriculture, food, nutrition and health. As the Coordinator for the Santa Fe City & County Advisory Council on Food Policy, she worked to create a more sustainable, affordable, secure and fair food system. At the state level, Ms. Day was a Policy Specialist with the New Mexico Food & Agriculture Policy Council, where she advocated at the state legislature with food and agriculture stakeholders from across the state, as well as with Navajo and Pueblo tribal partners. Ms. Day was also active in the New Mexico Grown Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for School Meals Steering Committee as the Chair of the Public Policy Committee.
In 2013, Ms. Day earned a Master of Arts in International Development and a concentration in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Policy from the Josef Korbel School for International Studies at the University of Denver. She graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee in Political Science and French in 2010.
Ms. Day takes over for Ms. Catherine Swoboda who has accepted a faculty position in the Global Resource Systems program within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. Ms. Swoboda has worked in agronomic field research and food security throughout Iowa and abroad. She has been involved for over a decade with the World Food Prize Foundation, first as a Borlaug-Ruan high school intern in Brazil, then as a USDA Wallace-Carver College Fellow and then serving as the first Director of Iowa and Midwest Youth Education programs from 2011-2013 prior to taking on her current role as Director of Planning for the Foundation.
Ambassador Quinn expressed his enormous personal gratitude to Ms. Swoboda for her dedicated service, both in building our Iowa Youth Institute from its inaugural year and most particularly for her recent work in shaping the annual Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, including our 30th Anniversary conference in 2016. "Catherine has been my invaluable partner in launching the first Iowa Youth Institute and then in the last three years, providing a dynamic substantive focus to our International Symposium that has garnered international praise,” Quinn said. “Catherine has represented the World Food Prize at UN meetings in Rome, on field trips in Africa and in meetings with senior leaders across America, reflecting my great confidence in her.”
You may contact Ms. Day at mday@worldfoodprize.org
Press Contact:
Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events
515-2 45-3735 or by email at nbarreca@worldfoodprize.org
ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. Thirty-nine laureates have been recognized from Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Israel, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Nations and the United States. The World Food Prize also annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium, and several youth education programs including State Youth Institutes, the Global Youth Institute, the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship, and the USDA Wallace-Carver Internship to inspire the next generation to explore careers in agriculture and fighting hunger.
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