Forum On Global Engagement to Feature Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Activist/Historian Julian Bond

June 2, 2010: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the United States' first female supreme court justice and civil rights leader Julian Bond will join a group of notable historians, activists, and global thought leaders to address some of today's most critical issues as part of the Forum on Global Engagement, Semester at Sea's dynamic four-day voyage examining international issues.

Joining Justice O'Connor and Bond will be former Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles and British education policy expert Sir Christopher Ball. Together with invited participants, these thought leaders will explore today's most pressing global challenges including education, human rights, social justice, health, and sustainability.

The Forum's theme is "Exploring Insights and Challenges in the New Decade". The event will take place aboard the MV Explorer, the state-of-the-art ship that serves as the floating campus for the Semester at Sea global study program. The MV Explorer provides an ideal setting for discussing world issues. Each year, it circumnavigates the globe with hundreds of college students, exposing them to cultures, histories and politics of countries throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. The Forum also gives participants a first-hand view into the Semester at Sea experience and life aboard a floating university, complete with a library, computer center, common hall and nine classrooms.

"One of the core missions of the Semester at Sea program is to educate individuals with the global understanding necessary to address the challenges of our interdependent world," said Institute for Shipboard Education and Semester at Sea President Les McCabe. "The Forum on Global Engagement exemplifies this mission in an intensive and thought-provoking environment of concerned citizens."

During the Forum, which runs from June 10-14, participants will sail along the Atlantic from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Nova Scotia, Canada, and will have the rare opportunity for one-on-one discussions with these distinguished leaders.

"In an era of globalization is it enough to prepare students to be good citizens of our country or good citizens of the world?" asks Sir Christopher Ball. "This is a challenge we must consider: to think about educating not just good Americans, but good human beings. This forum and the program in general provides such an opportunity for exploration and that approach to education."

Previous Forums have hosted such luminaries as Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and KIVA co-founder and Semester at Sea alumna Jessica Jackley.

Learn more about Forum on Global Engagement

Read speaker, presenter, and panelist bios and see a schedule of events on the FGE website.