Walden University Holds First Conference on Social Change

Baltimore—October 5, 2005—More than 400 Walden University doctoral students, faculty, alumni and social change leaders will meet for its first Conference on Social Change, on October 21 and 22 at the Tremont Plaza Hotel, Baltimore, Md. The conference will include more than 20 workshops, presentations and discussion groups with local and national experts on a variety of national and global social change topics. The conference will be the culmination of activities celebrating the 35th anniversary of Walden and showcases the university’s commitment to its mission of effecting positive social change.

Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, will deliver the keynote address, Whistleblowers as Social Change Agents, at 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21. Ellsberg will also receive the President’s Award for Leadership in Social Change.

“As an educational institution with a 35-year history in career-oriented graduate programs, this conference is an ideal forum to expose the Walden community to accomplished practitioners and scholars. The presentations will cultivate and nurture the work of our doctoral students as, via their own research, they contribute to the betterment of society,” stated Dr. Paula Peinovich, president and provost of Walden University.

The conference will include practitioners and researchers presenting the latest scholarship and practice in social change across different fields including education, health care, social justice, investing, business ethics, philanthropy and politics.

In addition to Daniel Ellsberg, speakers at the Conference on Social Change will include:

Harold “Bud” Hodgkinson, Director of the Center for Demographic Policy Institute for Education Leadership, American Aging: A Catalyst for Social Change.

David Thornburg, Director of Global Operations for the Thornburg Center, Education, Social Change and the Retribalization of Culture.

Jason Lum, Walden faculty, The Supreme Court and the War on Terror: How the Court Influences Modern American Social Change.

Jeff Zuckerman, Director of Walden University Writing Center, Politics and Junk English: How Personal and Public Hucksterism Are Eroding American Democracy.

Morton Wagenfeld, Walden faculty, Turning an Ocean Liner on a Dime: Social Change in the Healthcare System.

A series of research presentations are being jointly sponsored by Walden University and the Journal of Social Change as the conference showcases peer reviewed papers in collaboration with the journal. Selected papers will be invited for publication in the journal.

A panel with representatives from nonprofit organizations, including Baltimore’s Parks and People and Living Classrooms, will discuss how scholars can help create, identify and measure opportunities for social change in the community. Other panel discussions will focus on topics such as socially responsible investing, charity and social change, and harnessing the power of many.

Conference participants will join a walking tour of Baltimore’s historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood highlighting its history, architecture and residents and how new initiatives have revitalized the area. Paul Warren, President of the Mt. Vernon Community Association, and Johns Hopkins, Jr., Executive Director of Baltimore Preservation, will lead the walking tours.

About Walden University
Since 1970, Walden University has offered working professionals the opportunity to earn advanced degrees through distance learning. Today, this comprehensive, accredited online university offers master’s and doctoral degrees in education, psychology, management, and health and human services, as well as master’s programs in engineering and IT and bachelor’s completion programs in business. For more information, visit www.WaldenU.edu.

Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.hlcommission.org; 1-312-263-0456.