Event Information:

Date:

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Location:

Parents Hall, Olmsted Center at Drake University

Live Stream on The Harkin Institute YouTube channel.

Registration:

This event is free, but registration is required. Your registration includes lunch. If you are unable to attend, please email harkininstitute@drake.edu, or cancel through Eventbrite to help us minimize food waste.

Accomodations:

American Sign Language (ASL) and live captioning (CART) will be provided for all main stage content, in-person and virtually. ASL for in-person breakout sessions available upon request. Those requests, as well as any additional accommodation requests can be made by emailing harkininsititute@drake.edu.

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Event Summary:

The 2025 Harkin On Wellness Symposium will take place on April 16, 2025, focusing on the Future of Clean Water. This year’s theme was chosen to highlight and synthesize the progress being made around the country in protecting and improving water quality through community engagement, environmental education, watershed protection, water conservation initiatives, and innovative water quality monitoring programs.

Clean water is fundamental to public health and environmental sustainability and is increasingly under threat from climate change and other human-caused risks. Community-based initiatives that protect and improve water quality have been shown to have lasting, positive impacts on both human and environmental health. Furthermore, programs that engage communities in hands-on water quality improvement and conservation can foster environmental stewardship that benefits current and future generations.

This year’s event will recognize groups working to preserve clean water, including nonprofit organizations, environmental groups, and community organizations, for the tremendous role they play in protecting this vital resource.

Agenda

Time	Session	Speakers
9:00 a.m.	Welcome Remarks	Adam Shriver, Director of Wellness and Nutrition Policy, The Harkin Institute
9:10 a.m.	Morning Keynote: The Right to Clean Water	Jim Larew, Driftless Water Defenders
10:00 a.m.	Break
10:10 a.m.	Panel 1: Agriculture, Water, and Public Health Across the United States	TBA
11:30 a.m.	Lunch
12:20 p.m.	Harkin on Wellness Designee Award Ceremony
12:30 p.m.	Afternoon Keynote	Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank
1:20 p.m.	Break
1:30 p.m.	Designee Presentations	TBA
2:15 p.m.	Break
2:30 p.m.	Panel 2: Agriculture, Water, and Public Health in Iowa	TBA
3:50 p.m.	Announcing the Understanding Cancer in Iowa Project with Iowa Environmental Council
4:30 p.m.	Closing Remarks

Speakers

Danielle Nierenberg

President & Co-Founder, Food Tank

Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker, and advocate on all issues relating to our food system and agriculture. In 2013, Danielle Nierenberg co-founded Food Tank (foodtank.com) with Bernard Pollack, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Food Tank is a global convener, thought leadership organization, and unbiased creator of original research impacting the food system.

Danielle has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. Danielle is the recipient of the 2020 Julia Child Award.

Jim Larew

Registered agent, Driftless Water Defenders and Attorney at law

For more than thirty years, Attorney Jim Larew has had the privilege of providing legal services to Iowans throughout the state. As an honors graduate of both Harvard University and the University of Iowa College of Law, Jim practices law over a broad range of civil and criminal matters including employment, civil rights, family law, environmental law, and property law. Jim tried many cases in state and federal courthouses in Iowa and Illinois and argued appeals before the Iowa Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits.

From 2007-2011, Jim was called to serve as General Counsel to Iowa Governor Chet Culver and also served as Policy Director and Chief of Staff in the Office of Governor. Upon his return to private practice, Jim expanded his general law practice in Iowa City to include an office in Des Moines. He broadened the focus of his law practice to include advocating for the interest of Iowa policy holders against insurance companies who acted in bad faith; against environmental polluters; and against owners of nursing homes and care facilities who injured residents through indifference or neglect.