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Launch of the Difficult Dialogues initiative, fall 2006
The State of Our Democracy, spring 2007
Race and Ethnicity, spring 2007
Religion and Tolerance, fall 2007
Power, fall 2007
Climate Change, spring 2008
Reclaiming the common wealth, fall 2008
Where do we go from Here? Race in the Era of Obama, spring 2009
Current Symposium
Simply put, we live in a time of unprecedented change. The financial crisis of the
last year is just one of many disruptions and challenges to existing social constructs –
the economy, governance, technology, media, and education – and to the environment.
These challenges ask that we radically reassess the nature and scale of human activity
on the planet; the possibilities for moving forward with creativity and wisdom are great,
and the stakes are high. This fall, we “vision the new” together, in local forms of
governance, agriculture, energy, green economy, the health of neighborhoods.
We also consider the processes by which we can move toward those more resilient
ways of life – through collaboration, democratic workplaces and dialogue.
Oscillating Topographies exhibition opening & artist talk
Continua gallery exhibition
Carbon and Energy Neutrality in Buildings: A Practical Proposition?
Visioning the New Film Series
Moving Beyond Fear seminar with Paige Marrs
Contemplating a Steady-State Economy Peter Victor
Considering the Second Coming Steve Levin
Envisioning Resilient Communities The Transition Towns Initiative
Visioning Peace in Worcester *cancelled
Shaping a Local Green Economy a dialogue for Worcester's future
Dialogue as Effective Practice *rescheduled
Difficult Dialogues through the Movies student-led film series
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 Oscillating Topographies
artist talk
In her densely layered abstract paintings,
Sarah Walker insets intricate patterns and evocative structures within what seem to be sinking archipelagos and dissolving perspectival systems. A succession of spaces emerge, transform and decay; each state remaining visible in the final painting. With this strategy Walker proposes that the capacity to envision and experience simultaneous, contradictory spaces and states of being is a necessary next step in human perception.
Tuesday, September 15 @ 4pm
Exhibition opening @ 5pm
 Continua
gallery exhibition
In this exhibition of new paintings on paper by
Sarah Walker, the viewer is invited to operate in the space between building and unbuilding, erosion and accumulation, serenity and super-saturation. These works come about through a process where all layers are interwoven and a series of cancellations and resurrections offer a way of thinking about complex realities where multiple narratives of destruction and regeneration operate through and across one another.
September 15 through December 10
Opening Reception September 15 @ 5pm
Dana Commons, second floor
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Carbon and Energy Neutrality in Buildings: A Practical Proposition?
Cathal Stephens is an architect who has spent 25 years designing major academic buildings throughout the US. He has now designed a renovation/addition to his own house in North West Ireland to be carbon neutral and to generate surplus renewable energy. In his presentation, he will describe this project and its sustainable design features in relation to the climate and to European and Irish energy policy. He will also discuss lessons that can be learned from this small project and whether they might be applied to larger buildings.
Monday, September 21 @ 4pm
Jonas Clark Hall, room 206
Presented by the Environmental Science and Policy Speaker Series / The Department of International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
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Visioning the New Film Series
In this film series, we look at the specific challenges of peak oil, and visions for more resilient communities with local economies and alternative energy. All screenings in Dana Commons, second floor.
 Escape from Suburbia (2007)
In Escape From Suburbia, director Greg Greene once again takes us “through the looking glass” on a journey of discovery – a sobering yet vital and ultimately positive exploration of what the second half of the Oil Age has in store for us. Through personal stories and interviews, we examine how declining world oil production has already begun to affect modern life in North America. Expert scientific opinion is balanced with “on the street” portraits from an emerging global movement of citizen’s groups who are confronting the challenges of Peak Oil in extraordinary ways.
Wednesday, September 23 @ 7:30pm
Dana Commons, second floor
 A Farm for the Future (2009)
Wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. Realizing that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she explores ways of farming without it. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.
Wednesday, September 30 @ 7:30pm
Dana Commons, second floor
 In Transition (2009)
A film about change and about hope, ‘In Transition’ shows a practical vision for creating a post-consumer society, where ordinary
people make a difference. It is the story of the Transition Movement, a vibrant, international grassroots effort to build community resilience in response to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis.
Tuesday, October 6 @ 7:30pm
Dana Commons, second floor
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 Moving Beyond Fear – Creating Clarity and Dialogue in Difficult Times
In the face of great change, fear can (and has) become a prominent player in our lives. Feelings of trepidation, uncertainty, and confusion are a given in our current environment. We want to respond creatively and positively, but we can’t do that if we are quietly (or openly) quaking in our boots!
This seminar, led by Paige Marrs, draws on the neurosciences and cutting-edge communication theory to offer fresh perspectives on neutralizing the unwitting presence and influence of fear. You’ll gain actionable insights for creating clarity and dialogue in difficult times. Marrs is a founding member of the Transforming Communication Project, an international consortium of scholars and practitioners dedicated to reducing conflict and creating better social worlds through transformed communication, and is on the Board of Directors of the Public Dialogue Consortium. Paige holds a doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University, and lives in Los Angeles.
Thursday, October 15 @ noon
Dana Commons, second floor
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 Contemplating a Steady-State Economy
At certain times a steady state economy has been at the forefront of issues examined by economists; mostly it has received limited attention in the economics literature and curricula. With the world’s economies struggling to grow and natural systems coming under increasing pressure from human activities, the prospect of a steady state economy has again emerged as something to consider as we move further into the 21st century.
Following a short history of the steady-state economy, Professor Peter Victor will present and discuss a long term simulation of a steady-state economy in the USA, focusing on energy, and a more comprehensive and detailed simulation of transition to a steady state in the Canadian economy. Peter Victor is an economist and has worked on environmental issues for 40 years as an academic, public servant and consultant. He is Professor in Environmental Studies at York University. His formal training in economics was at the University of Birmingham (U.K.) and the University of British Columbia. He considers himself an ecological economist, identifying with many others who have come to understand economies as subsystems of the biosphere.
Thursday, October 15 @ 4pm
Grace Conference Room, Higgins University Center
This is a George Perkins Marsh Institute Distinguished Lecture, in conjunction with a conference on sustainable consumption.
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 Considering the Second Coming
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” wrote W.B. Yeats after WW I. The famous poem The Second Coming by Yeats holds haunting images of unraveling and uncertainty in the face of massive change. Professor Steve Levin of the English Department will facilitate an informal conversation about the poem, the context in which it was written, and what it stirs for us in our contemporary circumstances.
Wednesday, October 21 @ 4pm
Dana Commons, second floor
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 Envisioning Resilient Communities –
The Transition Towns Initiative
How can we increase our community resiliency in the face of the triple challenges of Energy, Climate Change and Economic Instability? Learn about the coming changes to our society and what these communities are doing to increase their sustainability, both in process and action. We will see a brief video by founder Rob Hopkins, hear from Tina Clarke and Transition Towns organizers in New England, and then join them in a conversation about the resiliency issue.
Tina Clarke is a Transitions Initiative trainer, and a consultant with the Sustainability Institute. She has been an advocate, educator, consultant, and director of nonprofit programs since 1985. Recently, as a Campaign Director for Clean Water Action, she initiated and helped lead coalitions on environmental justice, toxins and energy.
Wednesday, October 21 @ 7:30pm
Dana Commons, second floor
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 Visioning Peace in Worcester –
a public forum
How can we envision and achieve peace in Worcester? Too often a cycle of violence damages lives within our community. Citizens of Worcester and members of the Clark community are invited to envision a peaceful city in a daylong forum. Community groups will come together to vision collectively, create conversations, and strategize around creating a culture of peace in the city of Worcester. Participants will learn skills and leave the workshop with a knowledge of action steps. Facilitated by Virginia Swain, founder of the Institute for Global Leadership and Tina Chery, founder of the Louis D. Brown Institute for Peace, and co-organized with Women Together and the Human Rights Office of the City of Worcester.
*cancelled
This event, originaly scheduled for November 14th, has been cancelled.
For more information, please contact Lisa Gillingham, 508 793 7479
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Shaping a Local Green Economy –
a dialogue for the future of Worcester
What can and will a local, green economy look like? Many social change organizations, institutions and individuals in Worcester are committed to creating a green economy here. Concerns include the importance of green job creation and the potential for environmental work to promote social equity and a more dependable economic system; the application of research models for energy innovation; and the economic and political benefits of Worcester and central Massachusetts as a green cluster.
Members of various local initiatives will share their perspectives in a conversation about the common goal of shaping a local green economy here in Worcester. Visionary entrepreneur Omar Freilla of Green Worker Co-ops in the Bronx (invited) will discuss his work promoting environmental justice and workplace democracy. Comments from Sarah Assefa of the Green Jobs Coalition, members of the new Institute for Energy Innovation and Sustainability (IEIS), and others from government and business will follow. There will be an opportunities for dialogue in small groups, and in the group as a whole, with light food provided.
Wednesday, November 18 @ 7pm
Tilton Hall, Higgins University Center
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 Dialogue as Effective Practice –
Building Creativity and Resilience in Higher Education
Dialogic practices are vital tools in developing genuine civic engagement, and in building resilient new economic and governance models. In addition, dialogue fosters critical thinking, attentive listening, and effective collaboration. More than ever, dialogue is a fundamental skill for citizens of the twenty-first century, and thus for our institutions of higher learning. Faculty, staff, students and administrators (from Clark and other institutions) and dialogue practitioners will participate in this conference on the role of dialogue in higher education.
February 4 & 5, 2010
This conference, originally scheduled for December 4, 2009,
will now take place February 4 & 5, 2010.
Attendance is by invitation only (proceedings will be available after the conference).
For more information, please email John Sarrouf.
Co-sponsored by the Public Conversations Project, in Watertown MA
and the Difficult Dialogues Initiative at Clark.
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Difficult Dialogues through Movies
In this series of recent international films, themes of being the “other”, immigration and boundaries, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are considered; conversations about the film will follow each screening. This program is co-sponsored by IDCE (International Development, Community and Environment) and the Higgins School of Humanities. Thanks to Izzet Sengel of IDCE for curating the series.
Open to the Clark community only.
September through December
Monday nights @ 7pm
Dana Commons, second floor lounge
 BEING “THE OTHER”
September 7, Quinceanera (2006)
September 14, Go West (2005)
September 21, Va, vis et deviens (2005)
September 28, Unknown Code
 THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
October 5, Etz Limon (2008)
October 19, Vals Im Bashir (2008)
October 26, Strangers (2007)
November 2, Paradise Now (2005)
 IMMIGRATION
November 9, Reise der Hoffnung (1990)
November 16, Sin Nombre (2009)
November 23, God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan (2006)
November 30, It’s a Free World... (2007)
 BOUNDARIES
December 7, No Man’s Land (2001)
December 14, Propaganda (1999)
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