Photo credit: Charlie Samuels
GENESEO, N.Y. -- The State University of New York at Geneseo will host the fifth annual Front Porch Republic conference, “Sustainable Localism: Sages, Prophets, and Jesters,” Saturday, Oct. 3 in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom.
Noted author and social critic James Howard Kunstler, whose many books include “The Geography of Nowhere,” will deliver the keynote address titled “Looking for Sustainability in All the Wrong Places.”
First published in 1993, Kunstler’s book explores the effects of suburban sprawl and the importance of reviving civic art and life to create a new vision of the common good. Its themes are just as relevant today as they were two decades ago.
The conference will feature a special panel devoted to the life, thought and legacy of Christopher Lasch, the late University of Rochester historian and social critic. Panelists include Robb Westbrook, the Joseph F. Cunningham Professor of History at the University of Rochester; Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, professor of history and senior research associate in the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at Syracuse University, and Eric Miller, professor of history and the humanities, and director of the honors program at Geneva College (Pennsylvania).
Other conference speakers include Catherine Tumber, research associate for the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, and author of “Small, Gritty and Green: The Promise of America’s Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World;” Jeff Polet, professor of politics at Hope College (Michigan); Tim Tielman, founder and principal of Place Advantage LLC and The Neighborhood Workshop (Buffalo, N.Y.) and executive director of Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture ; Bill Kauffman, author and screenplay writer; Abbot Gerard D’Souza, Abbey of the Genesee; Jason Peters, professor of English at Augustana College (Illinois); and Jeremy Beer, founding partner at American Philanthropic, LLC, and president of the American Ideas Institute. Full speaker bios are available at www.frontporchrepublic.com.
The conference registration fee of $50 ($20 for students) includes lunch and light snacks. There will be plenty of opportunities for attendees to gather informally with one another and the speakers. The conference will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
For more information, contact Mike Sauter at (585)-243-1100 or sauter@geneseo.edu.
Media Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Director
(585) 245-5529
Irwin@geneseo.edu