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St. Olaf to host Globalization conference

By Tom Vogel
February 20, 2006

St. Olaf College will host the 2006 Social Science Globalization and Social Responsibility conference Feb. 23-26. The conference is designed to acquaint participants with the Millennium Goals and to suggest ways that individuals and nations can contribute to fulfilling them. All events are free and open to the public, and no registration is required.

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education -- all by the target year 2015. The goals form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and all the world's leading development institutions.

"These goals are quite critical since they address a global commitment that aims to focus on the ongoing inequality and poverty," says Globalization Committee Co-chair Samiha Sidhom Peterson, the Oscar and Gertrude Boe Overby Distinguished Professor of Sociology at St. Olaf. "The goals are very specific and are a medium for mobilizing local, national and international partners. Focusing on the goals during the conference is important, since they will expose our audience to the goals and provide an opportunity for them to meet with specialists who are working on those goals."

Addressing the goals during the conference also will provide faculty and students a chance to continue their conversations regarding these goals. Non-students who wish to participate also will get a chance to think through some of the relevant issues and address them in their various communities.

Highlights from the conference will include an opening address by Robert Flaten '56, former Ambassador to Rwanda, titled "The U.S. and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals: Introduction and Analysis" on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 11:20 a.m.; Woodrow Wilson Fellow and World Resources Institute Frances Seymour's lecture "Sustainability and the UN Millennium Development Goals," at 3:30 p.m. in Buntrock Commons, Black and Gold Ballroom; and "The Millennium Development Goals and the Future of the World," featuring a panel of speakers on Saturday, Feb. 25 11:20 a.m. in Science Center 280. Other presenters will focus on social action, HIV/AIDS and basic education and their respective relationships to the Millennium Development Goals. A complete schedule of events is available at www.stolaf.edu/events/globalization.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.