Approximately 1,000 Students To Attend CGI U Meeting, Which Will Take Place at the University of California, San Diego, April 1-3
President Bill Clinton announced the program of the fourth annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting, which will be held at the University of California, San Diego from April 1-3, 2011.
“Since 2008, CGI U has brought together more than 2,500 students from 575 schools in 99 countries, all of them dedicated to addressing the great global challenges of our time,” President Clinton said. “Their work has improved the lives of thousands of people around the world. I am looking forward to convening the next generation of global leaders once again, so they can learn from each other and gain practical skills that will help them turn their ideas into real change.”
Building on the successful model of the Clinton Global Initiative, CGI U brings together approximately 1,000 students from all over the world, along with non-profit leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities engaged in efforts to create positive change. Each student makes a Commitment to Action – a detailed plan for improving lives within one of CGI U’s focus areas: education, environment & climate change, peace & human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health.
Since 2008, through their Commitments to Action, CGI U members have:
- Made more than $1.3 million in infrastructure improvements to schools and libraries in countries including the U.S., Rwanda, Nigeria, and Laos;
- Reached more than 74,000 students, faculty, and staff with educational efforts and outreach about clean energy and sustainability;
- Placed more than 3,800 new recycling containers on college campuses and in surrounding communities;
- Engaged 2,700 people in workshops on conflict resolution, diplomacy, and peace;
- Established and maintained more than 90,000 square feet of community gardens;
- Introduced more than 3,000 bicycles on college campuses in the U.S., Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, and China and much more.
The 2011 CGI U meeting will include large plenary sessions where CGI U participants can learn about innovative approaches to solving global issues, along with smaller working sessions focused on skills such as fundraising and marketing, and a large-scale service project at the San Diego Food Bank. Sessions will include:
- Financial Aid: Innovation for Affordability, developed with MTV and mtvU, will focus on addressing the prohibitive cost of higher education;
- LGBT Rights in the U.S. and Beyond, which will examine efforts to fight bullying and other infringements on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people;
- On the Edge: Poverty Along the U.S.-Mexico Border, which will address challenges such as violence and high unemployment; and
- The Urban Planet: Solutions for a Crowded World, which will examine the ongoing challenges and opportunities created by rapid urbanization.
Program participants will include: Mark Arnoldy, founder, NepalNUTrition; Michele Barry, senior associate dean of global health, Stanford University; Nnimmo Bassey, chair, Friends of the Earth International; Raquel “Rocsi” Diaz, TV personality, RocStar Rebuilds; Jose Reyes Ferriz, former mayor of Ciudad Juarez; Lorena Garcia, executive chef, restaurateur, and judge on NBC’s “America’s Next Great Restaurant”; Marye Anne Fox, chancellor, University of California, San Diego; Shirley Ann Jackson, president, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Van Jones, distinguished visiting fellow, Princeton University; Peggy Liu, chairperson, Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy; Jessica O. Matthews, co-founder, sOccket Inc.; Mandy Moore, ambassador, Population Services International; Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California; Deogratias Niyizonkiza, founder, Village Health Works; Eduardo Padrón, president, Miami Dade College; Sean Penn, humanitarian and actor; Nan Shi, secretary general, Urban Planning Society of China; Richard Socarides, president, Equality Matters; Anu Sridharan, co-founder, NextDrop; Kate Stohr, managing director, Architecture for Humanity; and Kevin Surace, chief executive officer, Serious Materials.
On Sunday, April 3, the program will culminate in a service project, in which CGI U attendees and volunteers will work alongside 100 local veterans at the San Diego Food Bank. The San Diego Food Bank provides food to over 340,000 individuals monthly, while also advocating for the hungry and educating the public about hunger-related issues. Participants will sort, inspect, package, and distribute food for low-income military and non-military families, and help with beautification projects. In total, they will contribute more than 2,500 hours of service for the Food Bank.
UC San Diego, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has been recognized widely for its local impact, national influence, and global reach. In 2009, Washington Monthly named UC San Diego number one in its rankings, which measure “what colleges are doing for the country.” The school has also been named one of the top ten public universities by U.S. News & World Report.
The full agenda can be found at http://www.cgiu.org/meetings/2011/agenda.asp. The meeting will be webcast live at http://www.cgiu.org. On Twitter, follow CGI U (@cgiu) or the Clinton Global Initiative (@ClintonGlobal). CGI U is also on Facebook at Facebook.com/CGIUniversity.
Upon receiving the award Maria said “I am so honored to be recognized by the Academy for my work on the Guadalajara 2011 Opening Ceremony. My goal was to represent the rich culture of my country and I would like to thank everyone involved in bringing this amazing show together.”
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