Building Bridges Conference

You are invited to the First Annual Building Bridges Conference held February 11th-13th at Florida State University. The Conference, organized by Florida State University's Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural  Dialogue and the Global Peace Exchange invites engaged youth from all over the country to network, brainstorm and share experiences.

The Alliance of Civilizations is a UN proposal that originated from a concern over cultural and religious intolerance and has made a commitment to take steps toward relieving such gaps. It is an action based initiative that seeks to improve these relations in order to create international stability. The Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural Dialogue and the Alliance of Civilizations hope to spread this message within the realms of business, government and academia. 

Florida State University, as the co-coordinator of the Alliance Association of Colleges and Universities has embarked on the mission of bringing intercultural dialogue to other educational institutions worldwide. The purpose of this conference is to provide an opportunity for intercultural dialogue and youth engagement in UNAOC initiatives, since knowledge is the way to achieve understanding and tolerance. The conference will include workshops, panels and outstanding speakers that will be interacting with attendees. Some of the workshops included in the conference will focus of a wide array of topics, such as: "Utilizing University Resources for projects of Global Engagement", "Transcending Borders", and a plethora of others. The Panels will highlight the importance of Inter-Religious Dialogue, Youth Engagement and The UNAOC, while exploring new solutions for today’s world.

What separates this conference from others, however, is the stress on action and engagement. Building Bridges targets not only global actors, but engaged youth as well. Rather than seek to simply discuss the idea of intercultural engagement, we hope to foster a hunger for action. With specially grouped workshops, panels and events, Building Bridges hopes to equip students with the tools and networks necessary to change our world.

By attending this conference, you will be able to interact with some of the most influential policy makers in the world and learn how to better the world we live in. Some of the possible facilitators and speakers include: Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core, Deputy Director of Alliance of Civilizations Shamil Idriss, Author Michael Oren, and Saudi Ambassador Abdel A. Al-Jubeir. These panels and discussions will highlight the importance of intercultural dialogue. It is our hope here at Florida State University that by bringing together the most proactive and engaged social entrepreneurs at the University level, we will solidify ideas that can be transformed into activism and create a global network for humanitarian change and intercultural tolerance.

Applications are due December 7, 2007 and can be downloaded from the '2008 Conference' page of our website.