Friends since college, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney are the stars and co-creators of King Corn, the Peabody Award-winning documentary about their year growing one acre of corn and seeing it transformed into high fructose corn syrup and fast-fattened beef. After King Corn, Cheney and Ellis teamed up to create the Truck Farm film and education project, based on a whimsical farm-on-wheels planted in the back of a 1986 Dodge pickup. They are also the co-founders of FoodCorps, a national team of Americorps leaders who connect kids to real food and help them grow up healthy. In 2011, Cheney and Ellis were the youngest recipients ever to receive the prestigious Heinz Award for their work using humor and innovation to engage people about sustainable food. Ellis is currently Executive Director of FoodCorps, and Cheney, a Knight Journalism fellow at MIT, recently directed the feature documentary The Search for General Tso.

Co-presented with the Program in the Environment and with support from the 2014 Goldring Family Distinguished Visiting Lectureship, the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Planet Blue Ambassador Program.


Established with the generous support of alumna Penny W. Stamps, the Speaker Series brings respected emerging and established artists/designers from a broad spectrum of media to the School to conduct a public lecture and engage with students, faculty, and the larger University and Ann Arbor communities. Additional support is provided by series sponsors Michigan Radio, WUOM 91.7 FM and Arts @ Michigan.

Unless otherwise noted, all programs take place on Thursdays at 5:10 pm at the historic Michigan Theater, located at 603 E. Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, and are free of charge and open to the public.