Greetings Bison Family,
Welcome to a new academic year! I will spare you all the words we have become used to hearing about how unusual this year has been…you are well aware! Despite the unusual start to the year, the Bunche Center Team has continued to work all summer to make sure that we can bring you engaging programs and other opportunities even though we are not physically together on campus. September 21, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations. The namesake of our Center, Ralph J. Bunche, was heavily involved in the establishment of the United Nations having served on the Preparatory Commission for the UN and worked as Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations from 1946-1971. In honor of the 75th Anniversary of the UN and the role Ralph J. Bunche played in its creation, we will spend this academic year focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). The 17 goals were developed to address the challenges of poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice and we felt that this would be an ideal year to delve into them and explore ways that we can work toward achieving them collectively. We will launch the series next Wednesday, September 16th at 1pm. We are thrilled that the Howard University Chapter of the United Nations Association will be co-sponsoring the series with us.
2020 has shown us exactly how interconnected we are around the world. It has also shown us where we have more work to do. The SDG’s can serve as a guide as we address the areas that need strengthening, improvement, and support. Join us throughout the year for these dynamic conversations with experts on the ground doing the work, scholars who will help us analyze, journalists who are telling the stories and others.
As always, we will have many other great events and programming throughout the year, as well, so make sure you follow us on social media and visit our website for details on all that we have planned. Wishing you a healthy, safe, productive, and global academic year!!
