Since 1948, the Conference on World Affairs has attracted a global audience to the University of Colorado Boulder. Every spring, flags from all over the world line Norlin Quad and the community buzzes with excitement for the annual event.
The spirit of CWA will continue this fall amid the pandemic as CU will host virtual events in September so conference-goers will not need to wait until the spring to get a taste.
The event is presented by the CWA fall student steering committee with mentorship from CWA volunteers. All sessions will be free and open to the public.
CWA Student Program Chair Lauren Daniels said organizers were motivated to put together this event because of the reduced scale of the 2020 conference, which had to be moved online due to the pandemic.
“Since CWA 2020 had to be made drastically smaller due to COVID-19, we didn’t want people to have to wait until the 2021 conference in order to get the CWA experience they look forward to,” Daniels said in a statement. “We hope this event is also a great way to way to enhance the CU student experience this fall by offering a safe, socially-distanced way to get involved and to learn new things.”
CU Boulder students selected event themes, sessions, and speakers to align with the context of current events.
“Right now with the situation the world finds itself in, we believed human connection and leadership were urgent topics that could help students and community members to navigate this difficult time,” CWA student volunteer coordinator Katarina Kotarski said in a statement.
The events will feature eight sessions over two days. Sept. 10 will be dedicated to “Leadership,” and “Human Connection” will events take place on Sept. 11.
The finalized schedule will be released in the coming weeks. Sessions will take place over Zoom and be live-streamed to YouTube. More details can be found at www.colorado.edu/cwa ahead of the event.