Recordings & Schedule
Recordings
Morning Sessions
Afternoon Sessions
Schedule
10:00 a.m.
Welcome Session
Oyate Hall, Student Center
Emcee: Tane Danger, Danger Boat Productions
Tane’s the co-founder of Danger Boat Productions and host of its nationally renowned civics-inspired improv comedy show, The Theater of Public Policy. At each show, he interviews newsmakers, policy-wonks, and big thinkers on issues ranging from race in education to the farm bill. Then the show’s cast of improvisers takes everything that’s been said and turns it into entirely unscripted improv comedy theater. The result is what the Star Tribune described as “C-SPAN invaded by the cast of SNL.”
10:15 a.m.
Panel: State of the SDGs
National, State, and Regional Perspectives
Oyate Hall, Student Center
Speakers: Tony Pipa, Mark Ritchie, and Anna Wasescha
Tony Pipa is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. Tony launched and leads the Reimagining Rural Policy initiative, which seeks to modernize and transform U.S. policy to better enable equitable and sustainable development across rural America. He also launched and leads the Local Leadership on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative, which explores the approach cities and local institutions are taking to solve local problems while driving progress on global policy and transnational issues.
Mark Ritchie is the former Minnesota Secretary of State and serves as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for Minnesota. Over the past decade, Mark led the public-private partnership working to bring a World’s Fair focused on the Sustainable Development Goals to Minnesota.
Anna Wasescha has served as president of West Central Initiative, headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, since 2017. Prior to that, she held leadership positions in higher education, most recently as president of Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Connecticut, and provost of Minnesota State Community & Technical College in Fergus Falls. During her time in higher education, she led efforts to deepen relationships with communities and develop programs focused on workforce needs. Her work at West Central Initiative has led the organization to center its work on creating a more sustainable, equitable, and vibrant region.
11:00 a.m.
Panel: Momentum on the Ground
Youth, Native Nations’, and Higher Education Perspectives
Oyate Hall, Student Center
Speakers: Jacob McArthur, Paisley Sierra, Troy Goodnough
Jacob McArthur serves in a dual role at the University of Minnesota Crookston: Associate Director of the Veden Center for Rural Development, where he promotes economic development in rural and tribal communities in northwest Minnesota, and Director of the EDA University Center, working to promote economic development throughout the state of Minnesota. He is a member of White Earth Nation and has been appointed the Vice-Chair of the White Earth Tribal Utility Commission.
Paisley Sierra is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation and grew up in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Paisley recently graduated from the University of Minnesota Morris, studying Environmental and Native American Indigenous Studies. In Morris, she worked with the Intercultural Sustainable Leaders cohort on campus, the Native American Student Garden, and as an intern for the Office of Sustainability. Paisley’s work revolves mostly around Indigenous representation in sustainability and how we can begin to decolonize and deconstruct colonial ideologies to pave the way for acknowledging diverse perspectives and Indigenous place-based histories.
As the first Sustainability Director at the University of Minnesota Morris, Troy Goodnough has laid the foundation for a program that works to model Morris as an example of sustainability principles, practices, and excellence. Troy thinks about how our actions affect people around him, ones he doesn’t know, future generations and the ecosystems that give life to all living things.
11:45 a.m.
17 Rooms – Setting the Intention
Oyate Hall, Student Center
Speaker: Jacob Taylor, Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institution
Jacob Taylor is a fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development. He is a core secretariat member of the 17 Rooms initiative, a new approach to catalyzing action for the Sustainable Development Goals. His research focuses on mechanisms for advancing collaboration and collective intelligence for global-scale sustainable development challenges across disciplines, sectors, and geographies.
Noon
Break
12:30 p.m.
17 Rooms Convene
Participants gather in SDG breakout rooms for discussion guided by room leaders. Each room identifies 1 to 3 viable actions to implement in the next 12 to 18 months.
2:00 p.m.
Cross Room Exchange
Rooms share their ideas with others to encourage collaborative actions and insights.
2:30 p.m.
Break
3:00 p.m.
Rapid Report Out
Oyate Hall, Student Center
During this fast-paced, high-energy session, rooms share key insights and actions with all participants.
3:30 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Oyate Hall, Student Center
Speaker: Nathan Meyer, PhD, Interim Director of the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership
Nathan (Nate) Meyer is the Interim Director of the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership. He serves with the Director and leadership team to propel the strategic vision for a groundbreaking national climate Extension and research partnership. He has over twenty years of experience with the research-based design and leadership of environment-focused Extension programs emphasizing community engagement, collaboration and innovation, effective learning strategies, and high-quality information. His research is focused on facilitating and supporting communities in navigating transformative, innovative efforts to manage sustainability challenges and complex problems like climate change.
4:00 p.m.
Networking Reception
Oyate Hall, Student Center