Join us October 18th for AASHE: the Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education

For the third year in a row, the University of Kentucky is proud to announce that it will serve as a host institution for the Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education. The virtual conference will take place on three days: October 18, October 26, and November 3 and will be available to all University faculty, staff, and students for FREE.

The Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education brings together sustainability leaders from around the world in a virtual format to share effective models, policies, research, collaborations, and transformative actions that advance sustainability in higher education and surrounding communities. Click HERE for the conference website.

For the first time ever, the University of Kentucky will be hosting an in-person live viewing of the Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education on October 18th from 9am-6pm in the Healthy Kentucky Research Building (HKRB) Atrium, featuring 3 keynote speakers and multiple networking opportunities throughout the day. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for UK Students.

The event will begin at 9 am with a Student Networking Breakfast, followed by the first keynote address (TBD). A networking lunch will be served between 1-2 pm, followed by keynote speaker Peter Kalmus, a Data Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Beginning at 5 pm, hear from the third keynote speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Pop Berman. Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Berman. Stop by anytime between 9am-6pm or stay and enjoy the whole day!

Immediately after the live viewing, join UK’s leaders in sustainability at the annual Sustainability Showcase on Tuesday, October 18th from 5:30-7:30 pm, also held in the HKRB atrium. Click HERE to learn more about the Sustainability Showcase.

With a theme of “The Urgency of Now,” this year’s Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education is a clarion call for transformative sustainability solutions that match the speed and scale of the challenges we face.

According to AASHE’s website, “The theme takes inspiration from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who in his 1963 I Have A Dream speech remarked: ‘We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.’ He uttered the phrase again in his 1967 speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence when he said, ‘We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.’ Those five powerful words are just as poignant today as they were in 1963 and 1967.  On climate change as well as on matters of social justice, there is such a thing as being ‘too late,” as he famously noted.”

To learn more about the announcement of the conference schedule and the full list of keynote speakers, visit https://www.aashe.org/conference/.

Registering for the Conference

Per AASHE requirements, free registration is open to currently enrolled students and currently employed staff and faculty. Alumni and professors emeriti are not eligible. AASHE offers 3 full days of live content and networking, plus eighty days of on-demand access (through December 31). As a Host Institution, we have unlimited registration passes for our campus only, as well as unique opportunities to be recognized for our commitment to sustainability. Registration closes at 11:59 pm on November 3, 2022. 

Sign up using the instructions below to gain free access to this great event:

1. Click HERE to register (select Attendee).
   If you are a Presenter or Student Presenter, use the Presenter Access Code provided in your acceptance email.  You will need to add a ticket to your registration first to be prompted for your Presenter Access Code.
   
2. Fill out all the relevant fields.
   Use your institutional email address only. The Discount Code is linked to your institution’s email domain (@uky.edu). Other email addresses (such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo) will not work with the Discount Code and will be deleted.
   
3. After entering your ticket, but before clicking Checkout, enter the following Promotional Code and hit Apply: UNIKY150922
   This will drop your total to $0.00.
   
4. Complete your registration.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Valerie Verty at vverty@uky.edu.

We hope you will be able to join us as we explore, reexamine, and re-envision sustainability in higher education!

Originally posted September 22nd, 2022