Representatives from area colleges and organizations meet with professors from Hue University in Vietnam to exchange ideas about best practices.

MARLBORO, VT— (September 24, 2009) — Marlboro College has organized a free, public symposium for practitioners of community based resource management, October 12-13 in Ragle Hall.

The two-day session will bring together representatives from institutions of higher learning and community based resource management organizations across New England, as well as two professors visiting Marlboro College from Hue University in Vietnam, with the goal of sharing experiences about what works and what's new in their efforts to organize communities for effective management of human and natural resources.

A complete description and schedule is available at www.marlboro.edu. For more information or to RSVP, contact Todd Smith at 802-251-7676 or todds@marlboro.edu. The symposium is supported by the Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

The keynote speaker will be Ann Armbrecht, an anthropologist whose 2008 book, Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home received the Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal, given to books that will change the world. Armbrecht will be deliver a lecture based on her book entitled, "Home in the Himalayas: Reflections on Culture, Community and Conservation" at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 12 in Ragle Hall.

Other presenters and panelists will include Robert Pomeroy from University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Charles Curtin from Antioch University New England, Richard Pollnac from University of Rhode Island, Carol Berner from Smith College, Robin Alden from Penobscot East Resource Center, Lucy Gratwick from Town of Marlboro Emergency Preparedness, Dan MacArthur from Hogback Mountain Conservation Associations, Steve Hed from World Learning, and Ton That Phap and Luong Quang Doc from Hue University.

Dr. Phap and Dr. Doc are visiting as part of an ongoing relationship between Marlboro College and Hue University in Vietnam. Through a grant from the Freeman Foundation for Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative, nearly half of the college’s tenure-track faculty and more than 50 students have been able to visit China and Vietnam for short-term research projects. Tenure track professors have also been hired to teach Asian languages under its funding and the campus has hosted several other cultural performances and academic lectures.

Several members of the Marlboro College faculty will also participate as panelists or moderators, including William Edelglass, Jaime Tanner, Bob Engel, Carol Hendrickson and Adam Franklin-Lyons.

For more information, please contact the Marlboro College Public Relations office at 802-251-7644 or pr@marlboro.edu. In the event of inclement weather, please call 802-451-7151 for cancellation information.

Marlboro College offers undergraduate education in the liberal arts and, since 1997, master's degree programs for working adults in the areas of educational technology, internet technologies, health care administration and an MBA in Managing for Sustainability. Its 330 undergraduate students enjoy an 8:1 student-faculty ratio, a voice in governing the community and individualized courses of study on a 300-acre campus in the hills of southern Vermont.
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