Who should come to Notre Dame's 5th Annual Human Development Conference (HDC)? Just international development studies minors? Only political science majors? No - everyone and anyone who cares about world issues and innovative research to combat these issues.
We are civil engineers who are constructing bridges in Nicaragua. We are pre-professional students who are researching infant health in Bangladesh. We are anthropologists understanding women's role in community development in Uganda. We all have something to contribute to the conversation, whether as an accounting major or as a graphic design student. It is only through collaboration that we come to a greater understanding of how everything intertwines. This is how we develop micro-finance programs for women in post-conflict Rwanda. This is how we combine different mediums to promote youth development. This is how we care for our fellow human beings.
No matter what our diplomas will say, we are all students of international development. Experts in every discipline must work with communities and fellow academics to provide solutions for pervasive global problems, from poverty to corruption to pollution. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how many calculus problems you can solve or how many pages you can pump out during an all-nighter; what matters is ensuring that every individual may enjoy a fulfilling, dignified existence.
The 5th Annual Human Development Conference, sponsored by the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and cosponsored by SIT Study Abroad and the Center for Social Concerns, will take place on Feb. 8 and 9 at the Hesburgh Center for International Studies. Registration begins at 1:15 p.m. on Feb. 8, with panel sessions through the following evening. Please see http://nd.edu/~hdc for a complete schedule of speakers and events.
We hope that you will join the conversation as we seek to understand and aid the developing world. Together, we possess the ability to see the human faces printed on the pages of our textbooks, to hear the hope echoing in quiet places where we least expect to find it.
Margot Morris
senior
McGlinn Hall
Anna Kottkamp
sophomore
Pangborn Hall
