“The Revitalization and Technological Transformations of Rural Communities: Agricultural Extension, Rural Development, and Agrarian Change in the Developing World” was held in Shanghai June 24-25. This international conference was hosted by the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Shanghai Academy; co-organized by the Center for Rural Environmental and Social Studies, Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Colorado State University Office of Engagement, and CSU’s Department of Sociology; with support from Shanghai University.

CSU Sociology faculty members were among the many presenters.

Lou Swanson: Introductory and Closing Remarks

Michael Carolan: “Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide in the United States Through Food Systems Based Rural Development”

KuoRay Mao: Social Sustainability and Community Development

Lynn Hempel: Social Sustainability: A Process-based Model

Jeni Cross: Fulfilling Community Development Needs through Teaching Community-Based Research Courses

Pete Taylor: Multi-stakeholder Water Governance in an Era of Uncertainty: Barriers and Opportunities for Collaboration for Agricultural Water Conservation

KuoRay Mao: Centralized Environmental Governance and Collaborative Rural Governance: A Case Study of Medical Waste Management in Rural Northwestern China

On June 27, Sociology faculty presented again to a smaller meeting of faculty from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

On June 28, KuoRay Mao and Pete Taylor met with faculty and researchers at the Beijing Forestry University. Taylor presented “Environmental Flow Governance on the U.S. Upper Colorado River: A Polycentric Approach to Managing Water for Multiple Purposes.”

The Shanghai conference and Beijing meetings grew out of the CSU Vice President for Engagement Office’s efforts over the last several years to build institutional ties between CSU and Chinese universities and government agencies around sharing of the US experience of outreach and engagement in extension. KuoRay Mao has provided key support over the last couple of years in developing institutional ties between CSU and universities in China. He is a co-organizer of the Shanghai and Beijing meetings with his Chinese colleague Dr. Zhang Qian.