IEW 2023: Global Sustainability

Braided Knowledges for a Sustainable Future:
Rivers, Indigenous Communities, Justice

November 13-17, 2023

International Education Week 2023

Pre-week Engagement  •  Daily Programming  •  Week-long Inititatives  •  IEW Fair  •  Faculty/Staff Partners

Each November, in recognition of International Education Week, the UR community "meets in another culture" here on campus. This year, we undertake a week-long summit with shared experiential learning on local-global sustainability topics from perspectives of Richmond partners and colleagues from around the world. The goal is to bring local and global scholars and activists into dialogue, held on a university campus with expertise bridging knowledge sets and worldviews for sustainable change.

Environmental scholar and activist David Orr will attend the full week and serve as rapporteur, giving a summary of the proceedings on the morning of Thursday, November 16. Daniel Wildcat from Haskell Indian Nations University and Māori activist and Professor of Law Jacinta Ruru from the University of Otago will will give plenary addresses. UR Professors David Salisbury and Chris von Rueden have invited Indigenous leaders from the Peruvian, Brazilian, and Bolivian Amazon and UR is inviting indigenous leaders from the James River and Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Mid-week there will be an afternoon poster and StoryMap session featuring the research of UR students, attended also by study abroad partner organizations and UR faculty who integrate sustainability into their courses.

Knowledge-sharing may include lessons learned and effective strategies for managing threats to the political, cultural, and economic autonomy of communities and sustainable management of community resources. The particular historical and contemporary experiences of these leaders and their communities vary, but many of the threats they face have a common grounding in colonialism, illegal resource extraction, and the climate crisis. Given the context and shared threats, the summit seeks to facilitate positive collaboration for sustainability.


Pre-week Engagement Opportunities

Get engaged early -- and often!

 


IE Week Programming Calendar

Monday
November

13

IEW Opening Plenary
9 & 10:30 a.m. International Center
Presentations by Daniel Wildcat and Jacinta Ruru, both followed by brief audience discussion

Tucker Boatwright Festival
4:30 p.m. Humanities Commons
Keynote Address by Kiara Vigil: Indigenous Interventions in Cinema

Consider This
6 p.m. Chaplaincy Dinner (by invitation only)

Tuesday
November

14

Morning Plenary Session
9 a.m. International Center
Addresses by Francisco Piyako (Amazon rainforest) and Central Virginia indigenous leader(s)

Morning Roundtables/Panel
10:30 a.m. International Center
Climate change & sustainability: defenders of the environment, community adaptation, capacity building through education

Wednesday
November

15

Morning Plenary Session - GIS DAY: Empowering Mapping & Justice
9 a.m. International Center
Addresses by Steve DeRoy & the Transboundary Commission of the Juruá/Yurúa River

Morning Roundtables/Panel
10:30 a.m. International Center
Knowledges: education, technology & justice, gender equity & sustainability leadership

IEW Local-Global Sustainability Fair
3:30 - 5 p.m. Alice Haynes Room, THC
Posters, displays, and presentations echoing the themes of rivers, indigenous communities, and justice

International Dinner
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Heilman Dining Center
"Local sourcing, global cuisine"

Thursday
November

16

IEW Closing Plenary
9 a.m. International Center
60-second videos by UR's Green Spiders Abroad; closing summation by David Orr

Tucker Boatwright / Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival
VMFA & VMHC Thurs-Sun

Friday
November

17

IEW Partner Thank You Lunch
(by invitation only)
12:30 p.m. International Center

Tucker Boatwright / Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival
VMFA & VMHC Thurs-Sun


Week-long Programming

Opportunities to engage at your own pace and timeline
  • The sixth annual Ecochallenge (Co-sponsored by the Office for Sustainability)
  • Library Guide - Curated by Boatwright Memorial Library
  • Music Library - Exhibit, playlist, and blog
  • Photo Exhibit "Fragile Interconnectedness: Greenland & the Amazon" - International Center Gallery
  • Dining Hall - Lunch specials on Monday and Tuesday
  • Passport Café Special - TBD
  • RVA Community Refrigerators - International Center/Passport Café
     

Featured Events (coming soon)

IEW Local-Global Sustainability Fair

We anticipate 12 or more presenters and stations for the IEW Fair on Wednesday, November 15, representing a wide variety of community activism toward global sustainability topics. Fair presenters and topics to include:

  • SIT Abroad
  • DIS Abroad
  • University of Otago (New Zealand)
  • Waseda university (Japan)
  • The College of William and Mary
  • University of Virginia
  • Sustainability in study abroad
  • Mapping the Amazon
  • Green Spiders Abroad
  • GIS Day and UR's Spatial Analysis Lab
  • Student posters and Storymaps
  • Global sustainability in children's literature

 

UR Faculty & Staff Involvement

Sarah Adams
Sara Adams

Assistant Director, Community-Engaged Learning

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Rob Andrejewski
Rob Andrejewski

Director of Sustainability

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Dr. Kristine Grayson
Kristine Grayson

Associate Professor of Biology

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Daniel Hart
Daniel Hart

Associate Director of Sustainability and Environmental Justice

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Dr. Patricia Herrera
Patricia Herrera

Interim Associate Dean, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)

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Ms. Angela Leeper
Angela Leeper

Director of Curriculum Materials Center

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Dr. Todd Lookingbill
Todd Lookingbill

Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment

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Derek Miller
Derek Miller

Assistant Director, Community Relationships and Community-Engaged Learning

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Shahan Mufti
Shahan Mufti

Associate Professor of Journalism

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Dr. Kyle Redican
Kyle Redican

Spatial Analysis Lab Director

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Dr. David S. Salisbury
David Salisbury

Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment

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Dr. Christopher R. von Rueden
Chris von Rueden

Associate Professor of Leadership Studies

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Dr. David E. Wilkins
David Wilkins

Professor, E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies

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IEW 2023 Partners

Many thanks to the numerous UR units for their co-sponsorship in IE Week programming:

Bonner Center for Civic Engagement  •  Center for Student Involvement  
Jepson School of Leadership Studies  •  Office of the Chaplaincy 
Office of the Provost  •  School of Arts & Sciences  •  Spatial Analysis Lab