Exploring university partnership and indigenous beekeeping in Kenya

"Exploring Potential University Partnerships and Indigenous Beekeeping in Kenya" is the topic of an upcoming presentation to be held at noon on July 20, in 203 Paterno Library on Penn State's University Park campus. The seminar will be presented by Elliud Muli of the South Eastern University College (SEUCO) and the International Centre of Insect Parisitology and Ecology, in Kenya. The event is open to the public and also will be broadcast online at http://breeze.psu.edu/icik.

In this seminar, Muli will share information on SEUCO's academic programs and discuss potential areas of collaboration with Penn State in the areas of training, research and innovation. SEUCO offers training at certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in dry land agriculture, forestry, mining, energy water and environmental science with emphasis on arid and semi arid lands. The main campus is situated in Kitui County, south east of Nairobi, Kenya.

The second part of the seminar will focus on indigenous beekeeping knowledge. The honeybee is native to Africa and beekeeping has been practiced since time immemorial. Bees and their products are significant to many sectors of the population for income, health and cultural value. Muli, in collaboration with Penn State’s Center for Pollinator Research, received funding through a USDA International Science Education grant in 2009 and an NSF/Gates Foundation BREAD grant in 2010 to study Kenyan honeybees. The long-term goals of these projects are to develop protocols for sustainable, nonchemical beekeeping practices and to minimize threats to this critical ecological and agricultural species.

This presentation is sponsored by the Penn State Social Sciences Library and the Interinstitutional Consortium on Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK), located in the College of Education at Penn State. It is part of an ongoing seminar series that pulls together experts on indigenous knowledge from diverse fields. An archive of past presentations and more information on the series can be at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/socialsciences/icik.html.

For questions about the physical access provided or to make arrangements for special accommodations, call Social Sciences Library Head Helen Sheehy at 814-863-1347 or email hms2@psu.edu.

Native log hives in Kenya. Credit: providedAll Rights Reserved.

Last Updated January 9, 2015