Welcome!

Environmentalist Bill McKibben will welcome students to campus as the 2008 William K. Stoffer Lecturer at Opening Convocation September 9. McKibben, who visits at a time when the College is closely examining its environmental impact, will discuss local economies, globalization, and the environment during his keynote address and in meetings with students, administrators, and the greater Albion community.

A frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, and Rolling Stone, McKibben is the author of nine books, including the bestselling “Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future” (2007), which addresses what the author sees as shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions a transition to a more local-scale economy.

“The things he is currently writing and speaking about—globalization, sustainability, and technology, among others—are important issues for the world,” said Mike Frandsen, director of the Carl A. Gerstacker Liberal Arts Institute for Professional Management, a 2008 Stoffer Lecture cosponsor along with the Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Policy and Service, the Institute for the Study of the Environment, and the Foundation for Interdisciplinary Study. “His visit should accelerate efforts on campus to use resources in wise and sustainable ways.”

A scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, McKibben organized Step It Up in 2007, an initiative that inspired 1,400 global warming demonstrations across all 50 states and which has been described as the largest day of protest about climate change in the nation’s history.

This year's Opening Convocation will be held Tuesday, September 9, 2008, at 7 PM in Goodrich Chapel.

For more information, contact the Communications Office at 517/629-0445.