It is no secret that college students love food, so it should be no mystery why Carroll University of Waukesha decided to declare this the “Year of Food” for their campus.

The event will be both educational and fun, said Theresa Barry, Carroll’s dean of students. Barry said the school year will feature events showcasing many aspects of food, which are aimed at energizing students and staff.

The idea, Barry said, came from students and staff who wanted to have a theme for the year, and they settled on the topic of food, based on its influence on things from culture to politics and even religion.

The main goal of the program is to evaluate the choices people make to eat healthy, Barry added.

Barry said some of the events on campus would include a talk by Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation,” a viewing of the documentary “Food, Inc.,” a student Iron Chef contest, prepared international food, food drives and a community garden.

Carroll is not the only university holding a yearlong celebration; the University of Wisconsin is currently celebrating their Year of the Arts.

The arts theme includes celebrating aspects of art such as film, theatre, music, dance, literary, and design arts.

Angela Richardson and Andrew Taylor, the Year of the Arts event coordinators, were both extremely excited about the potential for the year-long occasion.

They hope the event will help show the effect of art on campus, and for students to find ways to connect art with their classes, organizations, and selves, Taylor said.

“There are many ways arts make the campus better,” Taylor added.

Richardson said some of the Year of the Arts events include speeches by UW-Alumnus Rocco Landesman, chairman for National Endowment for the Arts and Broadway producer, Academy-award winning documentarian Errol Morris, and Carl Djerassi, award winning chemist, novelist and playwright.

Year of the Arts receives funding from the City of Madison Arts Commission, called a BLINK grant, which will allow for works of art to be temporally displayed throughout the community, Richardson said.

Madison students are fairly split on which yearlong festivities they would enjoy more. “I’m interested in Year of the Arts,” UW freshman Didi Han said. “I’m pretty interested in any painting or photography that might be involved.”

Other students said they would prefer to have their school year dedicated to food.

“I’m not an artsy type of guy. And I’ve been known to eat food, so you get the idea,” UW sophomore Noland Shepard said. “I love all types of food. The international food would be great.”

When asked about Carroll’s Year of Food, Richardson thought it was a great idea.

“Food is important to life. Art is also important to life,” Richardson said. “Food feeds us. So does art.”

Barry also expressed appreciation for UW’s Year of the Arts program.

“Anything that can get students involved is a great idea,” she said.