Undergraduate leaders from 28 universities throughout the Pacific Rim were welcomed to campus by UO President Michael Schill on Monday to the 2019 Association of Pacific Rim Universities Undergraduate Leadership Program.
“The Undergraduate Leadership Program highlights a key strength of our university: experiential learning designed to provide hands-on, research-driven experiences for undergraduate students who will be the global leaders and problem solvers of tomorrow,” Schill said in his remarks.
Facilitated by the Division of Global Engagement and the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success, this is the first time a university in the United States has hosted the program. The 53 participating students will spend the next two weeks thinking about and designing solutions to three global challenges.
“With support from faculty and staff who represent more than a dozen units across campus, you will collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to develop plans to address tangible, real-world problems related to environmental degradation, social inequality and public health,” Schill said.
Over the next two weeks, participants will work alongside local nonprofits, UO faculty members and students to develop actionable solutions for those challenges. Their final ideas will be presented Thursday, July 11, at 10 a.m. in the Gerlinger Lounge. The UO community is invited to attend.
Eric Boggs, director of the Lundquist College of Business honors program, closed the welcoming ceremony by challenging the participants to connect, engage and learn from their peers.
“Our hope is you build community,” Boggs said. “I challenge you to tell your story this week, invite those different perspectives and ask how people see things.”
In addition to developing solutions, the participants will attend a series of workshops facilitated by UO faculty members and staff, and will spend time exploring Oregon. The program has excursions planned to watch a Eugene Emeralds baseball game, see the Freedom Festival fireworks show at Alton Baker Park and visit the Oregon Coast.
The association’s Undergraduate Leadership Program will be on campus July 1-12. For more information about the program, visit the Division of Global Engagement’s website.
—By Jesse Summers, University Communications