21st Century Heroes: Toolkit for Change in an Interconnected World
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2011 World Affairs Conference! Over the past 28 years, WAC has grown to become a major international conference with over 750 participants. This year we will celebrate this success as we prepare for a truly memorable and meaningful conference.
The dawn of the 21st century has brought with it many pressing issues and raised many crucial questions. Indeed, it would be trite to remind you of these concerns. Instead, we should look towards the future for hope. Ever since the 1990’s, people have said that humanity needs new solutions, that it has entered a transition state. But now that the global economy is recovering and people are demanding peace, the world seems to have turned a new chapter in its history. This new era will be unable to advance with the economic and social frameworks that were created in the 20th century as they currently exist. The future rests in our hands and calls upon innovative ideas and strong characters to grapple with the state of world affairs.
This year’s conference will bring renowned and inspiring speakers from across the globe. Our goal is simple. We want to create heroes and heroines that will be capable of leading the world in a new direction towards peace and economic prosperity. On behalf of the team, I thank you and look forward to our future success.
—Shahab Fadavi,
UCC Conference Chair
As students ourselves, we know that it can be especially easy to limit our knowledge of world affairs to the pages of our daily newspapers. Although such resources are of undoubted value, it is important to understand that sometimes we are not always allowed a full view of the world's most pressing issues. The World Affairs Conference recognizes this complexity and the inherent multiplicity of perspectives that a single global issue can entail.
For this reason, the conference makes it a priority to bring together a diversity of perspectives so that students may gain a broader understanding of global affairs. This conference does not aim to influence its delegates into thinking a certain way but aims to provide them with a diversity of information, so they may formulate informed opinions. The necessity to view global issues through an interdisciplinary lens is also a vital aspect that the World Affairs Conference wishes to promote. The ability to realize that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not mutually exclusive to its historical turmoil or that scientific theory of Global Warming is not independent of its debilitating social and economic repercussions, is a vital component of living in our interconnected world.
We hope that through this conference, we can help to create a new generation of knowledgeable and articulate global citizens.
—Madison Miller & Fiona Martyn,
Branksome Conference Chairs
The dawn of the 21st century has brought with it many pressing issues and raised many crucial questions. Indeed, it would be trite to remind you of these concerns. Instead, we should look towards the future for hope. Ever since the 1990’s, people have said that humanity needs new solutions, that it has entered a transition state. But now that the global economy is recovering and people are demanding peace, the world seems to have turned a new chapter in its history. This new era will be unable to advance with the economic and social frameworks that were created in the 20th century as they currently exist. The future rests in our hands and calls upon innovative ideas and strong characters to grapple with the state of world affairs.
This year’s conference will bring renowned and inspiring speakers from across the globe. Our goal is simple. We want to create heroes and heroines that will be capable of leading the world in a new direction towards peace and economic prosperity. On behalf of the team, I thank you and look forward to our future success.
—Shahab Fadavi,
UCC Conference Chair
As students ourselves, we know that it can be especially easy to limit our knowledge of world affairs to the pages of our daily newspapers. Although such resources are of undoubted value, it is important to understand that sometimes we are not always allowed a full view of the world's most pressing issues. The World Affairs Conference recognizes this complexity and the inherent multiplicity of perspectives that a single global issue can entail.
For this reason, the conference makes it a priority to bring together a diversity of perspectives so that students may gain a broader understanding of global affairs. This conference does not aim to influence its delegates into thinking a certain way but aims to provide them with a diversity of information, so they may formulate informed opinions. The necessity to view global issues through an interdisciplinary lens is also a vital aspect that the World Affairs Conference wishes to promote. The ability to realize that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not mutually exclusive to its historical turmoil or that scientific theory of Global Warming is not independent of its debilitating social and economic repercussions, is a vital component of living in our interconnected world.
We hope that through this conference, we can help to create a new generation of knowledgeable and articulate global citizens.
—Madison Miller & Fiona Martyn,
Branksome Conference Chairs