Bringing Global Realities into the Classroom

“May you live in interesting times.”  This ancient Chinese saying is certainly true for the youth of today.  How can students today learn about and deal with the realities of our climate crisis and ongoing threat of nuclear war?  How does this affect their hopes, dreams and choices for the future?  Universities and colleges are stepping up and offering courses in these topics as a way to build needed leadership for these future uncertainties. Mitch Wallerstein is President Emeritus of Baruch College of the City University of New York where he teaches both on international security and global climate change.  Adam Fenech is Director of the University of Prince Edward Island’s Climate Research Lab and was one of the authors of the first 1988 IPCC report.  Walter Dorn is Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and the Canadian Forces College (CFC), where he teaches in Canada and 20 other countries specializing in arms control and peace operations. Join us as we explore how educational systems can keep current with our rapidly changing world, and its importance for helping youth navigate through a different future.

Drs. Mitch Wallerstein, Adam Fenech and  Walter Dorn will join Centre for Local Prosperity Host Robert Cervelli for a 1 hour discussion. The Webinar is from 7:00 to 8:00pm Atlantic time.  

Dr. Mitchel Wallerstein is president emeritus of Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and is now appointed as a University Professor at CUNY.  In this capacity, he teaches graduate courses in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College on “International Security and the Liberal World Order” and on “The Policy Implications of Global Climate Change.”  Prior to his appointment as president of Baruch College, Dr. Wallerstein served from 2003-2010 as the Dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. From 1998-2003. Mitchel Wallerstein was Vice President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and directed the foundation’s international programs.  From 1993-1998, he was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counterproliferation Policy and Senior Defense Representative for Trade Security Policy.  He was responsible for formulating US defense policy to counter nuclear, biological and chemical weapons proliferation, as well as national security export controls; and he helped to found and subsequently co-chaired the Senior Defense Group on Proliferation at NATO. Mitchel Wallerstein received his A.B. degree from Dartmouth College, and he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at M.I.T.  He is a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Adam Fenech has worked extensively in the area of climate change since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change First Assessment Report in 1988. He has edited 8 books on climate change, most recently on Global Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainability in the Middle East. Dr. Fenech has worked for Harvard University researching the history of the science/policy interfaces of climate change. He has represented Canada at international climate negotiating sessions; written climate policy speeches for Canadian Environment Ministers; and authored Canadian reports on climate change to the United Nations. Dr. Fenech has taught at the University of Toronto as well as the Smithsonian Institution for over 20 years, and lectures regularly at universities across Canada and around the world. Dr. Fenech shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is presently the Director of the University of Prince Edward Island’s Climate Research Lab that conducts research on the vulnerability, impacts and adaptation to climate change, where his virtual reality depiction of sea level rise has won international awards including one from MIT for communicating coastal science. He maintains the largest fleet of drones at a Canadian university including the largest drone in the country with a four metre wingspan.

Dr. Walter Dorn is Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and the Canadian Forces College (CFC). He teaches officers of rank major to brigadier-general from Canada and about 20 other countries. He specializes in arms control, peace operations, just war theory, international criminal law, treaty verification and enforcement, and the United Nations. As an “operational professor” he participates in field missions and assists international organizations. For instance, he was a UN Electoral Officer for the 1999 referendum in East Timor and a Visiting Professional with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2010. He also served as a consultant with the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, including in 2014 on the Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping. Dr. Dorn previously served as Chair (2008–2013) of Canadian Pugwash, an organization of physical, life and social scientists seeking to reduce the threats to global security. He currently sits on the organization’s Board of Directors. In 2020, during sabbatical leave, Dr. Dorn was with the UN as a “Technology Innovation Expert” exploring technologies for testing, piloting and employing in UN field operations. Dr. Dorn seeks to promote international peace and security through teaching, research and service, including field work. This website offers some of the results of this effort, especially publications.