Departing students make a sustainable contribution to DePaul

June 6, 2011
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While most college seniors are busy focusing on finals and future job prospects, three soon-to-be-DePaul-alumni were busy creating a symposium on sustainability in the Midwest that they hope will be a lasting tradition.

Geography major Brad Nosan, political science major Peter Murphy and religious studies major Daniel Brown conceived and organized the day-long May 28 conference that drew dozens of participants from Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland and elsewhere to share stories and strategies on growing economies in green fashion.  The program, held at the DePaul Center, was supported by several academic departments.

“We created the symposium to bring together practitioners from all over the Midwest who are making a difference by incorporating entrepreneurship, food justice and sustainable policy initiatives in university settings so they could engage with students and academics alike,” said Nosan.  “The symposium was a big success, and we have been asked by our participants and audience members to do it again in coming years.”

DePaul faculty members, including keynote speaker Harry Wray, professor of political science, and community development leaders addressed the imperative to shift global economic and social paradigms into more sustainable models.

Nosan said he and his colleagues are exploring the creation of a non-profit to support the conference in future years and that they hope to stage it in additional “rust belt” cities around the Midwest.