Sustainability: A New Context for Higher Education
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Conference Theme
Sustainability: A New Context for Higher Education
To share and sustain the gifts of creation - past, present and future - has always been a corollary of the Christian Doctrine of Creation. But in recent decades the abuses caused by global expansion, exploitation, and pollution have given an almost universal credibility to basic principles for good practice of what is now called "sustainability." The simplest and most quoted version comes from UNESCO:
- Sustainable development is seeking to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We have to learn our way out of current social and environmental problems and learn to live sustainably.
- Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses populations, animal and plant species, ecosystems, natural resources, and that integrates concerns such as the fight against poverty, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security, intercultural dialogue, etc.
- Education for sustainable development aims to help people to develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and others, now and in the future, and to act upon these decisions.
How can a university or a college lift up this global concern in everything that it does, in everything that it teaches? How can the graduates of our institutions take leadership in their various fields in approaching all issues that they will face with this fundamental awareness in mind?
For Anglican colleges and universities there is the further question of their own sustainability. Almost all are small or minority institutions within their nation/culture. Almost all have found unique ways to enable them to survive as educationally and economically viable institutions, and also to retain their Christian heritage. But their survival is seldom secure, and most constantly have to pay attention to their own institutional viability. Therefore the Conference will also spend time sharing and discussing ways of operating and sustaining Christian higher education institutions.
This Triennial will be a forum to discuss these questions, using both Resource Persons and "Participant Presentations," where delegates can present their ideas and also report on some other of the programs and projects of their institutions.
Conference Location
The University of the South
The 7th CUAC International Conference will be held at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. This Episcopal university, owned and governed by the 28 southeastern dioceses of ECUSA, has made many environmental and sustainability initiatives. Located atop the Cumberland Plateau between Nashville and Chattanooga, its 13,000-acre campus provides an academic and recreational resource and an unparalleled place in which to study and reflect. The University has an interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program with 12 academic disciplines along with The School of Theology and the Chapel. Even the dining services have adopted green practices, including a local-food purchasing program.
The programming for the conference will utilize the resources of this exquisite location. There will be daily walks in the schedule, giving delegates a real opportunity to appreciate the campus. The program assumes that delegates from Member Institutions will have much to contribute, and there will be a series of "Participant Presentations" where reports can be made on some of the sustainability projects of one's own college or within one's own discipline. There also will be time devoted to issues in Anglican higher education, including styles of leadership. Presentation proposals will be solicited at the time of Registration, and a listing of all proposals will be posted on the CUAC web site before the Conference. Due to numbers, some presentations may have to run concurrently.
Most international flights will come through Atlanta, and it is suggested that delegates arrange their flights to arrive either on Saturday, May 21, or at the latest by noon on Sunday, May 22. For those who have arrived in Atlanta on Saturday, there will be transportation from the airport hotels to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where they will have an opportunity to worship in an African American Episcopal Parish and to share a lunch with some parishioners. Buses will leave the parish and the airport hotels by 2 p.m. (Eastern time) for travel to the University of the South.