Building Bridges for a Resilient World: University Leadership and Interfaith Engagement

Guest Speaker: Dr. Brian Adams
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | 7 p.m.
William P. Alexander Recital Hall
PennWest Edinboro
Free Admission | Free Parking

Join on Zoom

Meeting ID: 969 9245 4859
Passcode: 790323

 

In this lecture, Dr. Adams argues that public universities have an essential leadership mandate. Post World War II, this mandate has been manifested through a robust research and teaching profile. However, Dr. Adams argues this has not been the traditional scope of university leadership. There exists a third component of their leadership mandate--community engagement--that if embraced, will benefit universities in these challenging times and strengthen communities in a polarized world. 

Dr. Adams will share examples from his own work leading a center focused on community engagement to demonstrate many of the benefits a public university can receive from taking leadership in building bridges of dialogue and good will across religious and secular individuals and groups. These benefits include student recruitment (both international and local), stronger benefactor relationships, more engaged alumni, public-private collaboration and university-community engagement.

 

Dr. Brian Adams

Dr. Brian Adams is the Chair of the governing board for A Common Word Among the Youth (ACWAY), an international NGO supporting youth leadership in interfaith and intercultural dialogue. He was founding director of the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue in Brisbane, Australia and the architect of the G20 Interfaith Forum, among other dialogue platforms. He has 20+ years of experience working in Africa, Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific gaining fluency in French and Swahili along with his native English.

Holder of a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science, and two Master's degrees in Community Development and Conflict Resolution, Dr. Adams focuses on the promotion of interreligious, intercultural, and inter-organizational respect and understanding. As a former Rotary Peace Fellow, Brian is primarily focused on promoting respect and understanding across cultural, religious and organizational boundaries.