EUGENE, Ore. -- (April 26, 2011) -- A new partnership between the University of Oregon and a world leader in international policy ethics will soon have students and faculty in the thick of analyzing world events as they happen.
Joel Rosenthal, president of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, visits the UO May 2-4 to officially launch the Global Oregon Learning Community, as well as the Global Ethics Network, a joint effort of the UO, Oxford University and the Carnegie Council.
"This initiative helps consolidate the UO's standing as a global leader in education around human rights, conflict resolution and peace," UO and Oxford professor Cheyney Ryan said. Ryan is one of three Oregon faculty who will oversee the collaboration, along with David Frank, dean of the UO's Robert D. Clark Honors College; and Shaul Cohen, co-director of UO's peace studies program and faculty director of the Global Oregon Learning Community.
The residential learning community begins this fall, with 25 students who will live together in a UO residence hall, take related classes and attend special extracurricular events throughout their freshman year. According to Cohen, the program's themes of ethics, war, peace, global social justice and religion in politics resonate with UO students.
"This community will provide a foundation for students to pursue careers of study and work in ethics and international affairs," Cohen said.
The project marks the first time that the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs will work directly with a school to create and deliver an undergraduate program.
Rosenthal became aware of the UO's commitment to exposing students to global ethics after meeting Ryan nearly a decade ago, and the Carnegie Council has noted the national prominence of the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center at the University of Oregon School of Law.
"Despite the caricature of American youth as self-involved, we see many of our students throwing themselves into world issues," Frank said. "They have a hunger to understand other cultures, and to try to help others in the world, not in a superficial way. This partnership with the Carnegie Council will cultivate and expand that trend."
The Global Oregon Learning Community will have Cohen as faculty director, as well as an embedded librarian and the support of university faculty, staff, graduate teaching fellows and peer mentors. As students progress toward degrees, they'll be able to take part in service programs, trips abroad, national and international discussion panels and other projects.
As the learning community gets rolling, its students will also benefit from the UO's participation in the Global Ethics Network, which draws together top minds in international affairs and academics to share research and convene discussions and analysis of emerging issues - both in-person and across the world, via high-tech conferencing and streaming.
UO students will have access to Carnegie's hub through oregoncarnegienetwork.uoregon.edu. The university's commitment to the "Global Oregon" concept will also provide a steady flow of events and experts to address global ethics, such as a return visit to campus next fall by Sister Helen Prejean, or past campus stops by writers Seymour Hersh and Tracy Kidder.
Rosenthal is the special guest at a free, public kickoff workshop on the evening of Tuesday, May 3, to offer a preview of the discussions that will be a part of the new learning community in the fall.
"Global Health and Ethics: A Free Workshop," May 3, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Lawrence Hall Room 115, 1190 Franklin Boulevard, features a discussion panel including Peter Walker, UO professor of geography; Alex Goodell, UO Clark Honors College biology student; Peter Spencer, director of the Global Health Center at Oregon Health and Science University; Melissa Graboyes, UO faculty fellow of history and African studies; and Hannah Carr, Clark Honors College international studies student. The event is sponsored by the Clark Honors College, University Housing, the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The workshop will be streamed live from oregoncarnegienetwork.uoregon.edu.
Along with the UO, the Carnegie Council's Global Ethics Network includes: American University of Beirut, The American University in Cairo, Bard College (Annandale Hudson, N.Y.), Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.), National Chengchi University (Tapei), New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs (New York, N.Y.), Renmin University (Beijing), Shanghai International Studies University (Shanghai), Sophia University (Tokyo), University of Southern California Levan Institute (Los Angeles, Calif.) and World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.).
About the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
The Carnegie Council was founded in New York City in 1914, when Andrew Carnegie assembled a group of leaders in religion, academia, and politics and appointed them trustees of an organization named the Church Peace Union (CPU). Through the CPU, Carnegie hoped to make war obsolete. Today, the Carnegie Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational institution dedicated to increasing understanding of the relationship between ethics and international affairs. The council operates a resource and discussion hub for international affairs professionals, teachers and students, and the public at carnegiecouncil.org.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kelly McIver, UO Housing marketing manager, 541-346-2672, kmciver@uoregon.edu