Will Steger to speak at Professional Conference

07/08/10

Polar explorer, environmental advocate and educator Will Steger will be a featured speaker at the Education Minnesota Professional Conference Oct. 21.

Steger, a Minnesota native, will talk about his 45 years of experience in wilderness exploration and education, as well as the use of online education to focus attention on environmental issues.

Steger is famous for his polar dogsled expeditions, but in recent years he has increasingly devoted his efforts to raising awareness of global warming and its devastating effects on the fragile Arctic region.

Recent expeditions have taken Steger and his team to Ellesmere Island and Baffin Island in Canada’s High Arctic and to Greenland to study the impact of climate change on the polar ice sheets.

Steger is also a pioneer in online education, and millions of students have followed his travels via the Internet. His Will Steger Foundation works to advance environmental education and advocacy. It recently received a grant from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota’s Resources to develop a new curriculum to engage students in environmental stewardship through adventure learning.

The foundation’s annual Summer Institute for Climate Change Education will be Aug. 12 at the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education Center in St. Paul. More information is available at www.willstegerfoundation.org. The Education Minnesota Professional Conference takes place Oct. 21 and 22 at Saint Paul RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul. It is free and open to the public; no registration is required.

See the online article from the Education Minnesota website - July 07, 2010