Expert on rural american demography presenting Adamchak Lecture March 5 at K-State

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Source: Lelah Dushkin, dushkin@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Thursday, February 15, 2007

EXPERT ON RURAL AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHY PRESENTING ADAMCHAK LECTURE MARCH 5 AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- An expert on issues affecting rural America will speak at Kansas State University as part of the Donald J. Adamchak Distinguished Lecture Series in Sociology.

Kenneth M. Johnson, professor of sociology at Loyola University in Chicago, will present "The Changing Face of Rural America" at 7 p.m. Monday, March 5, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. The lecture is free and the public is welcome.

Johnson is a sociologist specializing in demographic trends in the United States. His research focuses on population redistribution, including conditions for the increasing migration to rural areas. He also has examined the well-being of children in the rural United States and found that they are more likely to be poor and have restricted access to health care and other services. Johnson visited various research sites in Kansas with former K-State faculty the late Len Bloomquist and the late Donald J. Adamchak, after whom the Adamchak Lecture Series is named. Adamchak also was interested in researching demographic change in rural America.

Johnson has written a book and more than 100 articles. He also is quoted frequently in the mainstream media. He was named Loyola's Faculty Member of the Year in 2006. He also addressed 300 planners and policy-makers in Washington, D.C., at the 2006 Making Rural America Work conference.

Sponsored by K-State's department of sociology, anthropology and social work, the Donald J. Adamchak Lecture Series honors the memory of Adamchak, who prepared many sociology graduate students for research and teaching in social demography. Adamchak also had an international reputation as a scholar in the area of aging and intergenerational support; fertility and family planning; gender relations and the status of women; and knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.