University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Tier2-8: Themed Semester or Year

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Common Theme for the 2009-2010 school year focused on “Realizing our Sustainable Future.” The Common Theme is a yearlong program designed to engage the campus and community in the ideals of a liberal arts education and the UW-Green Bay interdisciplinary mission. It encourages faculty, staff, students and community members to focus on a general theme from multiple perspectives and have a shared experience with open discussion and critical thinking. The “Realizing our Sustainable Future” theme is designed to engage individuals in conversations about the quality of life on Earth. Sustainability requires people to take responsibility and action to be stewards of the planet, Common Theme organizers say. The public and the campus community are invited to participate in a common reading. This year’s book is Red Sky at Morning, by James Gustave Speth. Speth is renowned as a visionary environmentalist leader and warns that, in spite of all international negotiations and agreements of the past 20 years, efforts to protect Earth’s environment are not succeeding, according to his website. “For 20 years, thoughtful people and intelligent leaders should have known that we needed to get busy,” Gustave Speth said in a statement “Precious time has been wasted. And now a new generation has been given a climate problem that is deeper and more difficult.” The public was invited to add to an online blog discussion moderated and updated regularly by UW-Green Bay faculty. Other on-campus events, including classroom sessions, public discussions and other events, incorporatee elements of the Common Theme.