The Norbert O. Schedler Honors College will be hosting the second annual Issues in the Public Square event on Saturday, April 7, 2018. Issues in the Public Square is a symposium-style event held each Spring to provide an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and the broader community to share research that impacts our society. The goal of this event is to begin a meaningful dialogue and to help advance our understanding of issues of public concern. This day-long event showcases both undergraduate scholarship and the work of a scholar who is pointing the way forward on issues pertaining to the selected theme.Each year a theme and keynote speaker is selected to represent a critical issue being faced at present within our society. This year’s theme is Building Sustainable Communities. We will begin exploring issues that relate to creating communities that are thriving economically; are environmentally sensitive; are active, inclusive, and safe; and are socially resilient while meeting the needs of our citizens. We will discuss how we can actively seek to meet these challenges through integrated solutions rather than through approaches that meet one of those goals at the expense of the others. The keynote speaker for this event is Dr. Ivette Perfecto. She will be speaking on building sustainable food systems and will talk about her research in agroecology and the Global South. You can learn more about her here.
