Gaia and the War of the Giants, c.5th BC

Gaia and the War of the Giants, c.5th BC

The Winona State University Sustainability Committee will host a faculty and staff retreat as part of the 2014-2015 University Theme “Sustainable Futures” from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, at the Winona Arts Center, 228 East Fifth Street.

The frame of the retreat is the “Anthropocene,” which challenges the Colleges of Science and Engineering, Liberal Arts, Nursing and Health Sciences, Education, and Business to rethink many of their basic assumptions and practices as well as their relationship to each other. It acknowledges that humans have become a geological force capable of altering the earth’s systems.

Keynote speaker Nate Hagens, former president of Sanctuary Asset management and vice president at the Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers, is a nationally-known speaker on resource depletion and biophysical economics.

An informal dinner and facilitated discussion will follow the keynote address. The discussion will be aimed at inspiring topics for next year’s CLASP talks on “Sustainable Futures,” forming alliances for cross-disciplinary projects and exploring other ways WSU might meet the challenges of Anthropocene.

The retreat is to spur curricular development, foster interdisciplinary projects and encourage a community response to the multiplying crises of the coming decades.

The retreat is open to all faculty and staff of Winona State and Saint Mary’s University.

For more information or to register, contact James Armstrong at JArmstrong@winona.edu.