Institute for Honor Symposium

Institute for Honor Symposium

Food, Housing and Health: Exploring Corporate Impact on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals in the Shenandoah Valley

March 14-15, 2025

REGISTER NOW

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS / PDF VERSION

The 2025 Institute for Honor (IFH) Symposium will consider “Food, Housing and Health: Exploring Corporate Impact on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals in the Shenandoah Valley.” In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The goals are an urgent call for action by all countries in global partnership to combat poverty through strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.

The IFH Symposium will explore the intersection of corporate responsibility and development from varied perspectives, particularly relating to access to food, housing, and health care. Ambassador Ertharin Cousin will deliver the keynote address, “The Sustainable Transformation of Our Global Food Systems: An Imperative for the Survival of Whom?” Cousin currently serves as the managing director and CEO of Food Systems for Future Ventures and the CEO of the fund’s sister nonprofit, Food Systems for the Future Institute. Both organizations support her vision of a world without hunger and malnutrition. Previously, Cousin was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of America’s Second Harvest (now Feeding America), before serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome from 2009 to 2012. She led the U.N. World Food Programme as executive director from 2012 to 2017. Under her leadership, the organization began identifying, championing, and implementing sustainable solutions for global hunger and malnutrition.

Cousin will be joined by a range of experts, including Tim Diette, Provost and Dean of the Faculty/Professor of Economics and Business at Hampden-Sydney College, and former Executive Director of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, as well as Lindsey Perez, Executive Director of the Rockbridge Area Relief Association, and Holly Ostby, Community Health Improvement Program Manager at Carilion Rockbridge Community Hospital. The symposium is directed by W&L’s Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Law, Kish Parella, who will lead discussions on how corporate conduct can promote or impede access to food, housing, and healthcare.

W&L’s weekend seminars offer a getaway in Lexington coupled with unique lifelong learning and social networking opportunities. Participants stay in local inns and hotels, while the program, receptions, dinner and lunch are on the W&L campus. Programs begin on Friday afternoon and conclude after lunch on Saturday.

Established in 2000 with an endowment from the Class of 1960 and supplemented in 2012 at its 50th reunion, Institute for Honor initiatives promote the understanding and practice of honor as an indispensable element of society and the core value in personal, professional, business, and community relations.

Program Cost: $75 per person
The Class of 1960 Endowment for the Institute for Honor is underwriting most of the expenses of this weekend’s activities.