Mary Evelyn Tucker
"The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology"
Saturday, May 9, 2009 – 7:30p.m.
Keynote Speaker
Lillis Hall, 182

Mary Evelyn Tucker is a co-founder and co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University. She is the author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Open Court Press, 2003) and Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism (SUNY 1989). She co-edited Worldviews and Ecology (Orbis, 1994), Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard, 1997), Confucianism and Ecology (Harvard, 1998), and Hinduism and Ecology (Harvard, 2000) and When Worlds Converge (Open Court, 2002). With Tu Weiming she edited two volumes on Confucian Spirituality (Crossroad, 2003, 2004). She also co-edited a Daedalus volume titled Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change? (2001). Mary Evelyn is also a Research Associate at the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Reischauer Institute at Harvard. She is a member of the Interfaith Partnership for the Environment at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and served as a member of the International Earth Charter Drafting Committee from 1997-2000.

David Frank
"Chaim Perelman, The New Rhetoric, and the Founding of UNESCO"
Sunday, May 10, 2009 – 1 p.m.
Ford Lecture Hall, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Professor David Frank is professor of rhetoric and the dean of the Robert D. Clark Honors College. His research features the study of rhetoric and argumentation as expressions of reason offering alternatives to violence in human conflict. His research program begins with the rhetorical theory of Chaïm Perelman and his new rhetoric project, the most important twentieth century recovery of rhetoric. Drawing from Perelman's rhetorical theory and those of other writers, Frank has published and taught courses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the conflict in Northern Ireland, African-American rhetoric and forensic education (intercollegiate debate and individual events speaking). He has published six books. His most recent book is Frames of Evil: The Holocaust in American Film (Southern Illinois Press 2006), with Carolyn "Kay" Picart. His other books include Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli and Palestinian Symbol Use (Michigan State University Press, 2002) with Robert Rowland (winner of the Recipient of Kohrs-Campbell Prize in Rhetorical Criticism); Nonpolicy Debate, Debating Values and Lincoln Douglas Debate, with Michael Bartanen, and Creative Speaking.

Stein Villumstad
"UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace – A Contribution Towards World Peace?"
Sunday, May 10, 2009 – 1:30 p.m.
Ford Lecture Hall, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Stein Villumstad is the Chair of the Steering Committee for a Coalition to promote an initiative of launching a “UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace”. He has on a daily basis been the Deputy Secretary General of World Conference of Religions for Peace since January 2006. Villumstad held senior positions in Norwegian Church Aid for twenty years, both in Africa and Norway. He has held several offices nationally and internationally within his professional field, including World Council of Churches. Villumstad has published one book and several articles. Mr. Villumstad holds a Masters of International Administration and Intercultural Management.

Panel Discussion
"Concrete Proposals for Future Best Practices: How Religious or Spiritual Communities Can Address Ecological Crises"
Sunday, May 10, 2009 – 3:00 p.m.
Ford Lecture Hall, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Jenny Holmes
Environmental Ministries Director, Ecumenical Ministries Oregon – Portland, OR
For almost 20 years Holmes has served as an educator, organizer, and board member with ecumenical, denominational and grassroots programs and organizations focused on faith and the environment. In her capacity with EMO, she coordinates and directs EMO’s initiatives in food and faith, energy stewardship and congregational greening. She holds a Masters in Theology from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. with an emphasis on environmental ethics. Her current service includes serving on the Board of the Resource Innovation Group and serving as moderator of the Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. She is a native Oregonian who was blessed to have grown up hiking and camping with her family as well as spending as much time as possible on relative’s farms and in the horse barns around the fringes of Portland. She and her husband enjoy exploring the farms and wildlands of the Pacific Northwest.


Rabbi Yitzhak Hubands-Hankin
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth Israel – Eugene, OR
Oregon Board of Rabbis
OHALA Rabbinic Ethical Kashrut Project-past chair
ALEPH: Sacred Foods Project-past chair
Lecture on Global Climate Change/ Ethical Kashrut Carnegie Mellon University
Published Articles:
      New Menorah Magazine
      Tikkun Magazine
      Best Jewish Writing of 2003 –Tikkun Magazine
TIKKUN Conference New York presenter on Ethical Kashrut
JRF National Conference presenter on Ethical Kashrut
Eilat Chayyim Center for Jewish Healing and Renewal-faculty
ALEPH Kallah presenter on Ethical Kashrut
Collins Lecture conference on Interfaith Reconciliation panelist Portland University
Oregon Interfaith Power and Light conference presenter



Bud Lane
Vice-Chairman of the Siletz Tribal Council– Siletz, OR
Alfred (Bud) Lane III was born Sept. 16th 1957 in Agana, Guam to Alfred Lane Jr. and Clarice Lane. He and his wife Cheryl have been married for 31 years and have two children – Alissa 28, and Alfred IV (Buddy) 26 – and a granddaughter, Halli Chaabayu 2.8 years. With the exception of moving during his father’s military career, he has lived in Siletz all of his life. After graduating high school Bud went to work in the woods of Western Oregon as a logger for 13 years, followed by 15 years at the Georgia Pacific Corporation Pulp and Paper Division. In 2003 the Siletz Tribal Council recruited Bud to a newly created position within the Siletz Tribe, Language and Traditional Arts Instructor, and he has worked there since that time. Bud was elected and served on the Siletz Tribal Council from 1984 to 1990, 4 years of those terms as Tribal Council Vice-Chairman. After a 14-year hiatus from Tribal government, he ran and was elected again in 2004 and is currently Tribal Council Vice-Chairman. Bud has been an artist, educator and supporter of traditional Siletz culture for all of his adult life. As a basket maker, he uses traditional Siletz methods and materials to make a wide range of both utilitarian and Ceremonial baskets - from baby baskets (gay-yu), pack baskets (tulh), and eating baskets (xat-ts’a) to men’s and women’s Ceremonial hats (xee-tr’at) and work hats (sree-nush) and many others. He is the President of the Northwest Native American Basket Weavers Association. He has been a featured weaver many times at the Association’s Annual Gathering and served as Gathering Chairperson for the 2005 Gathering, hosted by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. He also is actively involved in revitalizing the coastal Athabaskan Language and is currently working on a web-based coastal Athabaskan Talking Language Dictionary. In the early 1990’s, Bud and several others led a volunteer effort to construct a Traditional Siletz Dance House (Huu-chan me’-yustlh-‘an), to house the Nee-Dash (Feather Dance) and help to perpetuate its teachings and philosophy.


John Pitney
Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church– Eugene, OR
John Pitney is an Associate at First United Methodist Church of Eugene, where his wife Debbie is the lead pastor. He founded Interfaith That's My Farmer, an effort of 17 Eugene faith communities supporting 13 local farms that practice Community Supported Agriculture. In his local church he has helped initiate a ministry called "Riparian Redeemers" where the congregation has adopted a wetland through Eugene's Stream Team Program. He is also an integral part of the congregation’s response to global warming, called The Sacred Earth Initiative. On the state level, John works with the Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns consulting on projects in Corvallis and Portland inspired by That's My Farmer while taking leadership in the Interfaith Global Warming Campaign and Oregon Interfaith Power and Light. Since 1987, John has composed and recorded 3 CDs of original songs, integrating in music and lyrics issues of food security, social and environmental justice with images from the Jewish and Christian faith traditions. His latest is titled "Keeping the Garden." His song, “Walk Lightly” challenges Christians to live with less in a gluttonous society. His “Beneficial Bug Song” celebrates the bugs that eat other bugs to serve as nature’s pesticides. “The Earth Does Not Belong To Us” weaves the words of Job with those of Chief Seattle to encourage humanity to stop and reconsider our role in the created order. The songs “That’s My Farmer” and “The Local Market Band” celebrate the possibility of reorganizing our food systems to truly support farmers, pay workers fairly, steward the earth and help our most hungry feed themselves. A recent composition titled “One Step At A Time” celebrates steps congregations can take to respond to the challenge of global warming. In 2007, John and the That’s My Farmer ministry received the Ecumenical Service Award from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. John and Debbie Pitney have two adult children, a son Joel and a daughter Erin.

Imam Mamadou Toure
Founder and President, Institute of Islamic and Inter-faith Studies – Portland, OR
Imam, Bilal Mosque – Beaverton, OR
Imam Mamadou Toure is the founder and president of the Institute of Islamic and Inter-faith Studies. Currently an Imam at the Bilal Mosque in Beaverton, Oregon, he is also the co-host of Al-Islam in focus, a local television program which disseminates accurate information about Islam.

Imam Toure is an emerging national voice calling for a meaningful interfaith dialogue as an important prerequisite to world peace. Imam Toure travels extensively,both nationally and internationally to speak on Islamic spirituality, inter-faith dialogue and world peace.He has been hosted by several churches and synagogues and has engaged in meaningful dialogue with such well-know faith leaders as Rabbi Zalman.

His book In Search of the Sacred: Religion, Man and World Peace is forthcoming.


A Time for Life
Concert by Cappella Romana
Composition by Dr. Robert Kyr
Sunday, May 10, 2009 – 7 p.m.
Beall Concert Hall, Admission $10, $8 (students)

The libretto consists of texts from the Greek Orthodox and Native American traditions about the natural world.

Cappella Romana is a vocal chamber ensemble dedicated to combining passion with scholarship in its exploration of the musical traditions of the Christian East and West, with emphasis on early and contemporary music. Founded in 1991, Cappella Romana’s name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe, as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople ("New Rome") and its Slavic commonwealth.

Robert Kyr is professor of composition and theory and has been on the University of Oregon’s music faculty since 1990. He is chair of the composition department, and director of the renowned Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (www.iwagemusic.com), as well as the Music Today Festival, a biennial series of concerts and events that celebrate new music from around the world. He also directs the innovative Vanguard Concert & Workshop Series, and the UO’s Pacific Rim Gamelan.


New York Times Reporter Cornelia Dean
"Modern Environmental Debates: The Intersection of Research, Religion and Ethics"
Monday, May 11, 2009 – noon
Robinson Theater

Cornelia Dean is a senior writer in the science department of The New York Times and a lecturer in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. From January 1997 until June 2003, Ms. Dean was science editor of The Times, where she was responsible for coverage of science, health and medical news in the daily paper and in the weekly Science Times section.

Ms. Dean’s first book, “Against the Tide: The Battle for America’s Beaches,” was published in 1999 by Columbia University Press and was a New York Times Notable Book of the year. She is at work on a book about the misuse of scientific information in American public life.

Ms. Dean is a member of the advisory board of the Metcalf Institute for Environmental and Marine Reporting, a fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment and a member of the Corporation of Brown University, her alma mater.