The Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth at NDSU has announced fall speakers for a new interdisciplinary workshop on Human Progress and Flourishing.
The institute is set to host seven research seminars by internationally-renowned scholars from universities across the country. The series, formerly the IDEAS Research Workshop, focuses on solutions and policies that contribute to opportunity, innovation and individual and societal flourishing.
Seminars are scheduled every other Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at Beckwith Recital Hall in the Challey School of Music. All members of the NDSU community and the public are invited to attend the free events.
“The best solutions to problems are often obtained through interdisciplinary collaboration. Our workshop is an opportunity for the entire campus community – students, faculty and staff – to engage in a conversation to address important issues in an interdisciplinary setting,” said John Bitzan, Menard Family Director of the Challey Institute.
The workshop is available as a one-credit course for undergraduate and graduate students.
“A recent national survey that we conducted at the Challey Institute gave us reason to believe that American college students are not learning about the progress the world has made on big issues such as hunger and poverty,” said Clay Routledge, professor of management and Challey Institute scholar. “This workshop is one piece of a larger strategy we are working on to help our students gain knowledge and cultivate the type of mindset needed to positively contribute to efforts to improve the world and to establish NDSU as a leading academic institution focused on advancing human progress and flourishing.”
The fall speakers include:
• Sept. 3: Bradley Campbell, professor of sociology at California State University, Los Angeles
• Sept. 17: Benjamin Klutsey, director of academic outreach at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University
• Oct. 1: Colleen Haight, professor of economics at San Jose State University
• Oct. 15: Sameeksha Desai, assistant professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University
• Oct. 29: Bradford Wilcox, professor of sociology and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia
• Nov. 12: Carol Graham, Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow at the Brookins Institutions, College Park Professor at the University of Maryland and senior scientist at Gallup
• Dec. 3: Ben Winchester, research fellow for the Extension Center for Community Vitality at the University of Minnesota Extension
The Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth aims to advance understanding in the areas of innovation, trade and institutions to identify policies and solutions for the betterment of society.
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