Owen Roberts, director of agricultural communications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is working with a team to establish the James F. Evans Global Center for Food and Agricultural Communications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The university requires $5 million to create a center, and an anonymous donor has already made a sizeable donation to kickstart the fundraising process. The Evans Center will focus on closing communication gaps in food and agriculture.

“We’ve seen a communication gap between urban and rural residents everywhere,” Roberts said. “Agriculture is a fundamental sector of the economy, and it isn’t good if the public has misconceptions about it.”

The center will provide resources for students in the agricultural communications program at the University of Illinois.

“We talked with potential stakeholders to determine how our undergraduate program and the Evans Center should function and what skills people need more help with,” Roberts said. “The priorities will include professional development, skills training, visiting global journalist programs, unbiased media research, and executive seminars. It will all be based on the three pillars of our agricultural communications program: skill development, critical thinking, and global awareness.”

The goal is to build on the education students receive in the agricultural communications program.

“Through the center, we hope to offer certificate courses, public speaking education, and global research,” Roberts said. “We also want to bring professional agricultural journalists to speak to our students and others.”

The Evans Center received its name to honor a trailblazer in the agricultural communications industry.

“Dr. James Evans is renowned in our field. He is in the NAFB Hall of Fame and well-recognized at the University of Illinois and beyond as a pioneer in global agricultural communications,” Roberts said.