Seize the Moment ASU Town Hall

Shaping tomorrow, today, requires path-breaking, creative solutions

That challenge has never been more critical than it is today, as an alarming “syndemic” of intersecting crises—the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice and accompanying civil unrest, and cascading environmental hazards—destabilize social systems and threaten human survival across the planet. This is a pivotal time for educational institutions to re-envision their roles and priorities.

Science and technology need the arts and humanities

Today’s crises require engagement with critical questions that underlie the distressing symptoms currently overwhelming us. How do the crises of the current syndemic interconnect? What better choices can societies make to counteract the flawed choices that have led to the syndemic? How have existing institutions and social and scientific practices failed to prevent the crises we currently face?

Beneath these urgent questions lie even more basic ones: What does it mean to be human? To be humane? How can individual liberty in a democracy be balanced with collective responsibility? How can cultural differences in values be accommodated in considering what might lie ahead?

Seize the Moment — ASU Town Hall

In this town hall, join Seize the Moment founding directors Diana Ayton-Shenker and Sally Kitch for an urgent conversation about how we can come together as scientists, artists, humanists, scholars, staff and students to transform the future of higher education and address grand challenges in the global community.

The Seize the Moment ASU Town Hall will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021 from 4 to 5 p.m. Phoenix MST on Zoom. This event will take place in a webinar format and be recorded. Automatic transcription will be provided by Zoom. An edited transcript will be available afterward.

If you have any questions or requests for accessibility, contact Public Engagement Coordinator Jake Friedman at 480-727-3973 or jake.friedman@asu.edu.