Thinking globally, writing locally

Students, faculty, staff and visitors are being invited to consider global issues of poverty and development and react — pen in hand, on the spot — to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on display at the UW-Green Bay campus.

Last year, three students in the Global Politics and Society course taught by Assistant Prof. Dallas Blaney raised more than $1,000 to build and install the poster display. It is located along the below-ground concourse (“tunnel” in student-speak) that connects the Garden Café area of the Cofrin Library with the Instructional Services Building.

There are four posters in all. One half of each poster provides a description of two Millennium Development Goals and the other half provides a space where anyone can write in books, movies, organizations and ideas related to the Goals.

The Millennium Development Goals originated in 1990 as a UN pledge to pursue concrete, measurable improvements in poverty rates, health, education and other social issues, especially in the developing world, over the following quarter century. As the Goals “expire” in 2015, the initiative can track major progress on some indicators and slow progress at best on others.

Blaney, of the Public and Environmental Affairs faculty, says the students were inspired by artist Candy Chang’s keynote presentation for the 2012 UW-Green Bay Common Theme, “Creativity, Innovation & Vision.” Chang is known for using street art to engage current events and make urban areas more contemplative and comfortable.