APPLETON, Wis. — Ten students and two faculty members from Lawrence University will travel to China in December 2009 to study water resource management with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, New York, N.Y.
A $30,000 Luce Foundation grant will enable students to see first-hand examples of the tremendous opportunities and challenges facing China as they visit the Pearl and Yangtze Rivers, the latter being the third longest river in the world.
The study trip is a natural extension of an innovative multidisciplinary symposium titled “Water Wars: Local and Global” which brings environmental, economics, and public policy issues into focus as students seek to understand the increasing scarcity of clean, fresh water and the need for a more efficient and equitable allocation of fresh water.
The trip will also serve to develop relationships that began in July 2008 when Lawrence co-hosted the China-U.S. Water Symposium, which attracted Chinese engineers and policy advisors as well as Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials, members of the NEW North economic development consortium, community leaders, legislators, policy experts and academic experts.
“We are extremely grateful to the Luce Foundation for this grant,” said David Burrows, Lawrence provost and dean of the faculty. “The Luce grant will provide a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn first-hand about important issues in our global environment and develop effective leadership skills.”
The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc. The foundation today includes grant-making that supports higher education, American art, public policy and the environment, theology, women in science and engineering, and increased understanding between the United States and Asia. In 2005, the Foundation announced two new multi-year commitments: the Henry R. Luce Initiative in Religion and International Affairs, and the Luce Initiative on East and Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History.
