President Coleman Keynotes 63rd Annual Conference on World Affairs
President Coleman delivered a keynote address on "What Matters" this week to kick off the 63rd annual Conference on World Affairs, a five-day event at the University of Colorado Boulder that draws nearly 100,000 people from around the country each year.
"Several years ago, I realized that business as usual was no longer an option in my work as the leader of a liberal arts college noted for its innovative history," President Coleman told attendees. "My hope is that there will be some resonance between what it meant for me to rethink my world, and what matters to you in yours."
Calling attention to several "escalating crises in the most vital areas of our public life," including the failures of the education and health care systems, the potential of global warming, and the uses of unilateral military force, President Coleman concluded that "we have scarcely begun to tap into the range and depth of our intellectual, imaginative, and ethical resourcefulness."
"Imagine what will happen if we do," she urged. "Imagine what will happen if we do not."
Past CWA keynote speakers include Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Kissinger, Arthur Miller, Charles Krauthammer, and Richard Rodriguez.
Originally founded as a forum on international affairs, the Conference has since expanded to encompass the arts, media, science, diplomacy, technology, environment, spirituality, politics, business, medicine, human rights, and so on. For more information, see the Conference on World Affairs.