Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan and Michael Lundquist

Lots Brewing for College's 'Coffee Maven'

Posted on March 14, 2008 - Permalink
Audiences: HomePage

Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan's love of coffee is well known, and as an associate professor of geography he has been able to put that passion to work in the classroom.

From his Geography of Coffee course held in Nicaragua, to lessons about fair trade and other issues in his Second-Year Seminar on coffee, there are many lessons to be learned from that morning cup of Joe, he said.

"As a geographer, I like things that express something about place," Dr. Hayes-Bohanan recently said in a front-page story in The Enterprise about his coffee-related endeavors. "Coffee helps me establish connections to places and makes it a little more interesting."

To that end, he recently invited to speak to his class BSC graduate alumnus Michael Lundquist, chief executive officer of The Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, a Massachusetts-based organization (and fellow lover of fine coffee). The talk focused on Nicaragua and surrounding countries, where the riches of coffee economy are scarcedly evident. Here, poverty reigns, and the worst cases are often people left disabled by the dangerous ways in which they are forced to make a living.

The Polus Center provides wheelchairs and prosthetics for landmine victims and others, helps people start businesses, and generally find ways to enable people with disabilities and without to live and work within their community.

"It's very important that we help people build their own capacity," Mr. Lundquist said.

During a break in the talk, students got to taste some coffee from Massachusetts roaster Dean's Beans, before Dr. Hayes-Bohanan and Mr. Lundquist led a discussion about ideas to work with the people of these countries.

His interest in all coffee-related matters has led to his recent appointment as an affiliated scholar with the Vanderbilt University Institute for Coffee Studies. "It is a way to become connected to scholars in this field," he said. Also, Dr. Hayes-Bohanan will be featured in the April issue of Glimpse Magazine. The article will also include the first published photograph by his daughter, Paloma. (John Winters, Office of Institutional Communications)