Overview
This event is part of the Center for Ethics and Human Values' 2025-26 COMPAS Program on the theme of Food.
Further details TBA.
Panelists
Jill Clark (Ohio State, Public Affairs)
Jill Clark’s research focus is agrifood system policy and planning, centering on community and state governance of food systems and public engagement. Clark provides statewide leadership as a steering committee member of the Ohio Food Policy Network; international leadership as the past president of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society; and local leadership as an appointment member of the Columbus & Franklin County Local Food Board. She recently was awarded the 2022 Excellence in Engaged Scholarship from the Engaged Scholarship Consortium.
Before joining the faculty, Clark directed the Center for Farmland Policy Innovation at Ohio State from its opening in 2006 until her departure in 2012. Before coming to Ohio State, she directed the Ohio office of American Farmland Trust, a national nonprofit.
Margot Pollens (Pace University Food Law Center)
Professor Margot Pollans joined the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University faculty in 2015. She is the Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law and the Faculty Director of the Pace Food Law Center. She is also the Joseph P. D’Alessandro Faculty Scholar. Previously, she served as the James D. Hopkins Professor of Law from 2023–2025 and the Shamik and Adrienne Trivedi Faculty Scholar from 2020–2022.
During her time at Pace Haub Law, Professor Pollans has been a leader in building the national reputation of the Pace Food Law Center. She is also part of the Farm Bill Law Enterprise, a national partnership of law school programs working toward a farm bill that reflects the long-term needs of our society, including economic opportunity and stability, public health and nutrition, climate change mitigation and adaptation, public resources stewardship, and racial and socioeconomic justice.
Professor Pollans is an accomplished scholar whose primary research interests lie in the areas of food and agriculture law, administrative law and social justice. Her academic work has appeared in a variety of journals including in the California Law Review, Michigan Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, and the Harvard Environmental Law Review. She is also the co-author of a casebook, Food Law: Cases & Materials. In 2022, she received the Law School’s prestigious Goettel Prize for Faculty Scholarship for her article "Eaters, Powerless by Design." She and co-author Noa Ben-Asher, Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law, were selected as 2025 Dukeminier Awards Winners for their article, "Gender Regrets: Banning Abortion and Gender-Affirming Care." In 2017 she was named “40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Food Policy” by the NYC Food Policy Center.
Manbir Rakkar (Ohio State, Environment and Natural Resources)
Moderator: Martha Belury (Ohio State, Food Science and Technology)
Dr. Belury's research interests are investigating the mechanisms of bioactive lipids in regulating insulin sensitivity in liver, adipose and muscle; and the role of energy balance in cancer prevention.
Accommodations
To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact CEHV Associate Director Aaron Yarmel (yarmel.2@osu.edu). At least two weeks' advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.