Sustainability Speakers Series open to all

Thursday, October 30, 2008

(October 30, 2008  Stillwater, OK) - One OSU course has opened its doors this semester to offer the university and surrounding community the chance to learn without being enrolled.
 
The honors seminar course focuses on how businesses can be green and make profit. The course began with an investigation into climate change--a topic that Dr. John Mowen calls,  “absolutely critical for students to know, so that they can make up their own mind on one of the major issues facing the world today.”
 
Mowen, a Regents Professor of marketing at OSU, teaches the honors course. In the course, ten notable speakers gave presentations, which were opened to the public as part of a “Sustainability Speaker Series.”
 
“Many universities and colleges around the country are beginning to position themselves to focus on sustainable enterprise, but OSU has never had such a course—until now,” Mowen said.
 
Mowen and Jane Talkington, research assistant and sustainability consultant, wanted to take a creative approach. Ms. Talkington arranged for ten experts in sustainable enterprise to speak in a public forum.
“These speakers are individuals who are well known in their fields and are very successful,” Mowen said, “We felt like the entire campus, as well as the Stillwater community, should be exposed to them and it just seemed natural to invite the whole community to share their knowledge.”
 
On days that a guest speaker is scheduled, the class moves to the fourth floor case study room of [Hulsey-Greene, Carrie]  Student Union Edmon Low Library to accommodate all the people who want to attend.
 
Although the Sustainability Speaker Series is half over, it is not too late to catch the last four speakers, starting with Seneca Scott. Mr. Scott is one of the first presidents of the Oklahoma Sustainability network and opened a biofuels manufacturing company in Tulsa. Currently, he is running for the Oklahoma State House of Representatives.  Scott will speak about “The Impact of Oklahoma Sustainability Network” on Thursday Nov. 6, at 9 a.m.

After Seneca Scott, the next three speakers are:
 
November 14. Mary Madden—a nationally recognized urban planner.
November 20. Harlan Hentges—speaking on sustainable government: decisions and processes.
November 25. Nizam Najd—speaking on systems analysis and sustainability.
 
In the Spring Semester, Jane Talkington will be the instructor of the second sustainable enterprise course—Busad 4010—which meets on TTH at 10:30. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to enroll.