Now more than ever, young people are answering the call to action, whether they are cutting carbon emissions on their campuses or expanding global access to clean water. The opening plenary session will engage a diverse group of leaders on how to take action in CGI U’s five focus areas: education, energy & climate change, global health, peace & human rights, and poverty alleviation. This session will explore the transformative capacity of students and universities to develop and implement innovative, sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

Opening Remarks:
William Powers, President, University of Texas at Austin

Program Participants
William J. Clinton, Founder, The William J. Clinton Foundation; 42nd President of the United States
Paul Bell, Senior Vice President and President, Americas, Dell, Inc.
Mambidzeni Madzivire, Graduate Student, Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Graduate School

Few issues strike at the nerve of our global interdependence as profoundly as food. In the developing world, drought and ineffective agricultural policies have skyrocketed world grain prices and sent many of the world’s poor only deeper into poverty. In the developed world, the quiet epidemics of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes continue to take their toll on even the most advanced health care systems. Meanwhile, global warming and the rapidly increasing demand for biofuels further threaten the planet’s already unstable food supply chains. Most short-term solutions to the food crisis rarely address the longer-term issues of climate change, biodiversity, desertification, and population growth. How can a planet troubled with both obesity and starvation find common solutions? From community gardens on campus to cutting-edge agricultural science research, this panel will explore tangible ways that students and universities can help to create local and global food systems that are both secure and sustainable.

Program Participants
Will Allen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Growing Power, Inc.
Drew Barrymore, Actress; Ambassador Against Hunger, UN World Food Programme
Emma Clippinger, Student, Brown University
Peter McPherson, President, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
Raj Shah, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Morgan Spurlock, Film Director

Program Participants
Paul Begala, President, Hat Creek Enterprises
William Powers, President, University of Texas at Austin
Keshav Rajagopalan, Student Body President, Student Government, the University of Texas at Austin
Keisha Senter, Director, Clinton Global Initiative University, Clinton Global Initiative

How can students and universities prepare for the challenges that the current economic crisis might bring? This plenary will help students prepare for the wide range of potential hurdles ahead, from funding shortages to job insecurity after graduation. Panelists will share their experiences in running grassroots programs on a shoestring budget and detail recent adjustments they have made as a result of the global economic downturn. Most of all, this panel will highlight the opportunities for social and technological innovation that the current market failures might inspire. From increased public transportation to expanded local food production, from low-cost health clinics to community-based microfinance, there are a host of possibilities for a new generation of social entrepreneurs to make a difference where it is needed the most.

Program Participants
Scott Cowen, President, Tulane University
Carlo DiMarco, Vice President, University Relations and Online Strategy, mtvU
Jonny Dorsey, Co-Founder, faceAIDS
Margaret McKenna, President, The Wal-Mart Foundation
Zainab Salbi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Women for Women International

WORKING SESSIONS:

EDUCATION: Visionary Leadership in Education and Social Change
Ballroom G, Austin Convention Center

In the United States, the zip code where a child is born is the single greatest factor in predicting their educational outcomes and life prospects. The 1990s saw a new era of leaders set forth the vision that every child possesses a unique set of intellectual gifts, and these leaders started a grassroots effort to challenge inequities in school districts around the country. Their experience demonstrated the critical importance of young leaders’ deep engagement with students to address challenges as complex as the communities they serve. This panel will share their experiences and lessons critical to the success of future social change agents in education.

Program Participants
Christopher Barbic, Founder, YES Prep Public Schools
Lizzy Dupont, Undergraduate Student, The University of Texas at Austin
Huw Ivor McDonald, Founding Service Leader, City Year South Africa
Ruth Simmons, President, Brown University
Diana Meyer Soliz, Assistant Principal and Director of High School Placement, KIPP Houston

ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE: Targeted Actions with Big Impacts: Seeding Climate Solutions on Campus 
Ballroom F, Austin Convention Center

The world is eagerly anticipating next steps by the United States on climate change. Both the new president and Congress have voiced strong support for carbon cap-and-trade legislation and for a “green” stimulus. These high-level steps can have a far-reaching impact on global warming. However, meaningful action is being taken every day by innovators, entrepreneurs and community organizers. This session will highlight successful student-led projects, and examine the potential to scale-up these efforts for greater impact. From greening campus buildings to jump-starting new clean energy technologies, panelists will examine how every student can take action to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Program Participants
Jessica Bailey, Program Officer Sustainable Development, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc.
Rachel Barge, Executive Director, Campus InPower
Elizabeth Coleman, President, Bennington College
Carlos Rymer, Graduate Student, Columbia University

GLOBAL HEALTH: From Global to Local: How the Environment Impacts Health
Ballroom E, Austin Convention Center

The relationship between human health and the environment is dynamic and rapidly evolving. Much of the future of public health is intertwined with environmental issues in many low-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 35% of the total disease burden is caused by environmental hazards. Yet, many of the 13 million deaths worldwide from environmental hazards can be prevented each year simply by implementing small changes in local communities. Panelists will discuss how to control environmental factors that impact health and identify ways to contribute to the development of health-supportive environments around the world.

Program Participants
Luz Claudio, Chief, Division of International Health, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Yongjun Heo, Undergraduate Student, Swarthmore College
Evan Thomas, Vice-Chairman, Humanitarian Projects; Vice President, Engineering, Manna Energy Foundation
Gary White, Executive Director, Waterpartners

PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS: Raising Hope: Taking Action to Protect and Empower Women
Rooms 18c and 18d, Austin Convention Center

Whether it’s sexual trafficking, forced labor, or rape, women and young girls face grave human rights abuses in both the developing and the developed world. The U.S. Department of State estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 people–mostly women and children–are trafficked across national borders annually. Rape is used as a weapon of war to humiliate, punish, and destroy communities. Women in the developed world still face pay and participation discrimination. Yet women’s rights and empowerment is not a topic for women only. This panel will discuss these abuses and provide tools for student action to end violence and discrimination against women.

Program Participants
Ángel Cabrera, President, Thunderbird School of Global Management
Uzodinma Iweala, Author
Christine Karumba, Country Director, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Women for Women International
Somaly Mam, President, Somaly Mam Foundation; President, Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AEFSIP)
May Yu, Project Manager, 1Well

POVERTY ALLEVIATION: Leveraging Technology to Alleviate Poverty
Rooms 18a and 18b, Austin Convention Center

Access to information has been shown to boost productivity and create economic growth. Yet only five percent of Africans have access to an Internet connection. This panel will examine how we can use the proliferation of new technologies to create opportunities at the base of the pyramid. For example, mobile phones are enabling individuals who have never stepped foot in a bank to receive funds, build savings, and make payments. Student groups are leveraging the foresight, entrepreneurship, and adaptability of early users to reduce poverty and bridge the digital divide between the developed and developing world.

Program Participants
Esra’a Al Shafei, Founder and Director, MideastYouth.com; Founder and Director, FreeKareem.org
Ken Banks, Founder, kiwanja.net
Wenceslao Casares, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Bling Nation
Kamal Quadir, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CellBazaar

SKILL SESSIONS:

BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION
Room 14, Austin Convention Center

This session will be geared towards an audience whose commitments are more developed and ready to be scaled up to the next level. These discussions will address long-term strategy, donor relations, liabilities, fundraising, staffing, and other factors relevant to building and sustaining a long-term commitment or organization.

Program Participants
Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition
Mark Hanis, Executive Director and Founder, Genocide Intervention Network

MEDIA AND MARKETING
Room 19a, Austin Convention Center

This session will explore a wide range of successful media and marketing strategies for CGI U commitment-makers. The two key themes addressed at this session will include traditional marketing and media strategies and successful new media and digital organizing strategies. The session will include hands-on workshops where students will practice how to pitch their commitment to journalists and devise their own outreach plans.

PUTTING YOUR COMMITMENT INTO ACTION
Room 19b, Austin Convention Center

This session will focus on creating a practical, step-by-step strategy to bring CGI U commitments from vision to action. Former CGI U commitment-makers will guide attendees through the process of making a successful commitment, while discussing partnership building, fundraising opportunities, and other relevant resources needed to develop a commitment.

Program Participants: 
Patricia Compas, Graduate Student, California Polytechnic State University
Ryan Pederson, Campus Director, Global Engagement Summer Institute

In order to better engage university presidents and foster cooperation with national youth organizations, this session will highlight the collaborative potential between these two constituencies. Through innovative research, program development, and service initiatives, this session will explore ways that these sectors can work together to develop creative and effective solutions to pressing global challenges.

Program Participants: 
Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami
Verna Fowler, President, College of Menominee Nation
Marvalene Hughes, President, Dillard University
Nathaniel Whittemore, Director, Center for Global Engagement

WORKING SESSIONS:

EDUCATION: Education in Emergencies and Reaching Marginalized Groups
Ballroom G, Austin Convention Center

More than 27 million children and youth affected by armed conflict, including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), do not have access to formal education. If we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, we must reach this largely ignored group of potential students. This panel will share effective strategies for reaching children, youth, and refugee communities affected by conflict and natural disaster. It will also consider how to provide emergency educational resources to institutions that reach children with special needs in conflict settings.

Program Participants: 
Rima Abu Shakra, Program Officer, Zakira
Jason Russell, Co-Founder, Invisible Children

ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE: The University as Laboratory: Towards Carbon Neutral Communities
Ballroom F, Austin Convention Center

Universities are leading incubators for new theory, policy, and technology. Nowhere is this more evident than in efforts to confront global warming. Green buildings, free bike share programs, mixed-use developments, and increased public transit are propelling campuses toward carbon neutrality. This session will look at some of the most powerful examples, and examine how those strategies are being implemented on a larger scale in towns and cities across the globe.

Program Participants: 
Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, Founder, Clean Energy Revolving Fund (CERF)
Ellen Dunham-Jones, Associate Professor, Director of the Architecture Program, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jacqueline Johnson, Chancellor, University of Minnesota, Morris
Dieter Salomon, Lord Mayor, City of Freiburg

GLOBAL HEALTH: From Global to Local: Hidden Successes, Emerging Opportunities: The War Against Infectious Diseases
Ballroom E, Austin Convention Center

Infectious diseases remain the world’s leading cause of death, killing some 17 million people each year. Furthermore, shifting social and environmental conditions threaten many recent gains in the struggle to control them. Yet, there is hope on the horizon: new science and technologies for tackling infectious disease are emerging. Researchers recently announced a promising breakthrough candidate in their quest for a malaria vaccine. Community health workers now use mobile phones to detect disease outbreaks. Low-cost rapid diagnostic tests can quickly identify infections. This session will discuss a number of exciting developments in this field and explore how students can harness their creativity and their universities’ resources to win the war against infectious diseases.

Program Participants:
Ricardo Baruch, Member of the Board, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering and Founding Director, Rice 360˚: Institute for Global Health Technologies, Rice University

PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS: Spotlight on Youth: The Rights of Children
Rooms 18c and 18d, Austin Convention Center

Children have the same basic human rights as adults, but throughout the world, they are frequently denied these rights. They are recruited as child soldiers, denied access to education, and sexually abused. In over 20 nations, an estimated 200,000-300,000 children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in armed conflicts. Across the world, children miss out on an education because they are forced to work, face violence, or don’t have enough money to go to school. This panel will explore effective ways that students and universities can work to restore full human rights to children.

Program Participants:
Beatrice Biira, Graduate Student, University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service
Ishmael Beah, Advisor, Human Rights Watch
Robert A. Corrigan, President, San Francisco State University
Luke Russert, Special Correspondent, NBC News
Mariela Scazziotti,Children’s and Women’s Rights Activist, FOCO-CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

POVERTY ALLEVIATION: Human Development as Urban Development in City Slums
Rooms 18a and 18b, Austin Convention Center

In 2008, the number of people living in cities surpassed the number in rural areas. By 2020, almost half a billion people are expected to live in an urban slum. Although they are hubs of activity and economic resources, inequality in cities is especially stark. Moving forward, we can forge a new path of smart growth that will incorporate environmental standards and improve quality of life. And by supporting entrepreneurship, we can stimulate individual growth. Leading the way, students are pioneering pilot projects and applying their insights to identify solutions in their own communities and beyond.

Program Participants:
Rabiu Farouk Braimah, Executive Director, People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements
Richard Guarasci, President, Wagner College
Fatimah Muhammad, Manager, Welcoming Center West, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians
Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-HABITAT

SKILL SESSIONS:

BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION
Room 14, Austin Convention Center

This session will be geared towards an audience whose commitments are more developed and ready to be scaled up to the next level. These discussions will address long-term strategy, donor relations, liabilities, fundraising, staffing, and other factors relevant to building and sustaining a long-term commitment or organization.

Program Participants: 
Cheryl Dorsey, President, Echoing Green
Victor Roy, Executive Director, GlobeMed

MEDIA AND MARKETING
Room 19a , Austin Convention Center

This session will explore a wide range of successful media and marketing strategies for CGI U commitment-makers. The two key themes addressed at this session will include traditional marketing and media strategies and successful new media and digital organizing strategies. The session will include hands-on workshops where students will practice how to pitch their commitment to journalists and devise their own outreach plans.

Program Participants: 
Courtney Spence, Founder and President, Students of the World

PUTTING YOUR COMMITMENT INTO ACTION
Room 19b, Austin Convention Center

This session will focus on creating a practical, step-by-step strategy to bring CGI U commitments from vision to action. Former CGI U commitment-makers will guide attendees through the process of making a successful commitment, while discussing partnership building, fundraising opportunities, and other relevant resources needed to develop a commitment.

Program Participants: 
Morgan Goodwin, State Organizer, Sierra Student Coalition

Former President Clinton will deliver his closing address while highlighting the accomplishments of the meeting and promoting opportunities for further action.