More than 1,000 national and local social change leaders, doctoral students, faculty and alumni will converge in Minneapolis on July 19 and 20 for Walden University's third annual Conference on Social Change: “Sustainability and Social Change: Uncommon Vision for the Common Good.”
Nearly 40 workshops and presentations, hosted by Walden faculty as well as national and community leaders, will address a variety of sustainability issues such as
- New technologies for sustainability
- Sustainable globalization
- Population growth’s effect on the environment
- Sustainable development
- Climate changes’ impact on war and peace
The conference will also feature a documentary film series, performing artists expressing social change issues, and tours of sustainability activities in the Twin Cities.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Author and Environmentalist
Our Environmental Destiny
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet” for his success in helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn more than 125 Waterkeeper organizations across the nation. Among Kennedy's published books are The New York Times best-seller Crimes Against Nature (2004); The Riverkeepers (1997); and Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr: A Biography (1977).
Brian Kelly
Executive Editor, U.S. News & World Report
Media and Coverage of Sustainability Issues
Recently named the editor of U.S. News & World Report, Brian Kelly will discuss the role of the media in covering emerging environmental issues from sustainability to global warming, including how to help readers focus on complex, important subjects while maintaining a healthy skepticism about competing scientific and economic claims. Kelly is co-author of The Last Forest (Random House, 2007), which examines the cultural and economic motives behind the clearing of the last great forest, the Amazon.
Winona LaDuke
Native American Environmentalist
Environmental Justice from the Native Perspective
Winona LaDuke is an Anishinabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg who lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. A highly respected activist for social and environmental issues, LaDuke is program director of Honor the Earth and founding director of White Earth Land Recovery Project. She was awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the BIHA Community Service Award in 1997, the Ann Bancroft Award for Women's Leadership Fellowship in 1997, and the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1989, with which she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project.
Elizabeth Shogren
National Correspondent, National Public Radio
Making the Change: How Wal-Mart and Others Are Greening Our Lives
Elizabeth Shogren, NPR environmental correspondent and special reporter for NPR’s new series Climate Connections, will share her in-depth reporting on hot-button climate change issues ranging from Wal-Mart’s push for florescent bulbs to small entrepreneurs’ quest to turn vegetable oil into biodiesel. Shogren will offer comprehensive insight into how citizens are making a difference through lifestyle choices, new business ventures and grass-roots campaigning.
Jessica and Matt Flannery
Co-founders, KIVA.org
Loans that Change Lives: Global Economic Sustainability
While working for a microfinance organization in Africa, Jessica Flannery was inspired by the impact of small loans to entrepreneurs. Jessica and her new husband, Matt, sought help from those on their wedding invitation list to fund $3,100 in loans to seven businesses in Uganda. Since then, Kiva.org, the microfinance organization that they founded, has attracted more than 40,000 members of the public to fund more than $3 million dollars in low-cost loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Currently, Matt serves as CEO of Kiva.org, and Jessica is pursuing an M.B.A. at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Speakers from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area will include
- Donald Fraser, former congressman and former mayor of Minneapolis
- Arvonne Fraser, senior fellow emerita of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and co-founder and director of the Institute’s Center on Women and Public Policy
- Pam Costain, chair of the Minneapolis Board of Education and training director for Wellstone Action
- Connie Grauds, R.Ph., president of the Association of Natural Medicine Pharmacists
The Conference on Social Change will take place on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and is open to the public. The registration fee is $75. To register, email scconference@waldenu.edu.
For more information about the conference, go to www.WaldenU.edu/conference.
The University of Minnesota is not affiliated in any way with Walden University or the activities conducted by Walden University on the University of Minnesota campus. All classes, lectures and other offerings for the event are the product of Walden University. The relationship between the University of Minnesota and Walden University is solely that of a licensor and licensee.
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