Boreas Networking Events
At Boreas, we believe developing as a leaders takes more than skills, it takes a community of people to support development as well as a network to extend impact.
Boreas networking events give students the opportunity to develop relationships with peers from across the University while learning from established and emerging environmental leaders about the challenges and opportunities of creating change. Our gatherings are a mix of leadership conversations organized by participants around a topic of their choosing and dialogues with emerging and established environmental leaders in the broader community. We believe in providing a forum for building community through discussions, collaboration and fun. At least twice a semester, we invite special guests to share their leadership insights and lessons. These guests include innovators, change makers and leaders from across sectors.
Set in a relaxed atmosphere where interactive dialogue is encouraged (and food is always present!), our events offer a chance to dive deeper into perspectives on how leadership works, change happens and impactful careers develop.
Our community and networking events are open to all University of Minnesota graduate and professional students and post-docs, faculty and researchers. Check out our current schedule below. Submitting an RSVP is not required. You are always welcome to attend!
Sign up for our email list in order to be the first to know about these opportunities.
Upcoming Community Hours
Location and Time:
First Wednesdays 3:30 – 5 p.m.
IonE Commons, Room R350 of the Learning and Environmental Sciences Building (1954 Buford Ave., St. Paul)
Wednesday, Jan. 22 – Special Guest: Pooja Kanwar
Join us for a conversation on how to apply your PhD in a state resource agency setting. Pooja Kanwar, PhD is a Water Policy Consultant for the Division of Ecological and Water Resources at MN Department of Natural Resources. Learn more about her leadership journey in policy, collaborative research, and internal organizing. RSVP here.
Wednesday, Feb. 5 – Facing the Fear of Failure
Failure is an unavoidable and important component of human growth, but is treated as a taboo subject. Join us for a discussion on the inevitable and best practices on how to grow from our own failures. RSVP here.
Wednesday, March 4th – Who Sits at the Table? Politics, Power and Academia
Academia often portrays itself as an institution separate from and unaffected by politics and societal power structures. Yet systemic forces like racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. impact who gets to be involved in research, what questions are studied, and who gets access to information. Join us for a conversation and community-building as we explore how to recognize and dissolve implicit biases within academic research. RSVP here.
Wednesday, April 1st – Your Career and the Climate
Is your graduate or professional program preparing you for a future with an unstable climate? Without significant action to curb CO2 emissions, climate change will transform the fields that many students want to enter. Join the Boreas Leadership Team and Health Students for a Healthy Climate to discuss how grad and professional programs can both improve their own climate related curriculum and learn from one another to better train students for a perilously warm future. RSVP here.
Wednesday, May 6th – End of the Year Celebration
Let’s gather to celebrate the end of the academic year. We’ll nosh on great food, connect and reflect on the year, what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown, and set ambitions for what’s ahead. RSVP here.
Boreas’ goals are to enhance the Boreas community through informal gatherings centered on topics with connections to environmental leadership, graduate education, professional development or whatever participants choose. We hope to:
- Provide a forum to tackle big questions, share insights, get feedback and solve problems.
- Empower Boreas participants by opening up Boreas programming to different perspectives, interests and ideas.
- Cultivate collegial relationships through collaboration and conversation among a diverse group of peers.
Show up! All University of Minnesota graduate and professional students and post-docs are invited to attend. No application or RSVP is necessary, unless noted.
- Andy Revkin, New York Times blogger and environmental thought leader
- Peter Frosch, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Greater MSP
- Ned Brooks, Environmental Justice Coordinator, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Mark Ritchie, Champion of the Minnesota World’s Fair and former Minnesota Secretary of State
- Stephen Bridges, British Consul General in Chicago
- Pakou Hang, Executive Director, Hmong American Farmers Association
- Patrick Hamilton, Program Director, Global Change Initiatives, Science Museum of Minnesota
- Stephanie Gripne, Director, Impact Finance Center
- Representative Melissa Hortman, Chair of the Minnesota House of Representatives Energy Policy Committee
- Wood Turner, VP of Sustainability at Stonyfield
- Jamshed Merchant, Canada’s Consul General in Minneapolis
- Carl Michaud, Director, Environmental Services, Hennepin County
- Pete Swenson, Director, Sustainable Enterprise, Tennant Company
- Lars Leafblad, Leadership and Engagement Director, The Bush Foundation
- Diane Tran, Project Manager, Grassroots Solutions
- Margaret Anderson Kelliher, President and CEO of the MN High Tech Association, former Speaker of the MN House of Representatives
- Danny Schwartzman, Founder of Common Roots Cafe
- Mike Conley, Founder and CEO of Weathering the Storm LLC
- May Boeve, Co-Founder and Executive Director of 350.org
- John Linc Stine, Commissioner of MN Pollution Control Agency
- Mark Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy
- Neil Hawkins, Vice President for Sustainability at Dow Chemical Company
- Paul Helgeson, Sustainability Manager at Gold’n Plump Poultry
- Nicole Rom, Executive Director of the Will Steger Foundation
- Shawn Otto, Author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America
- Rebecca Otto, Minnesota State Auditor
- Andy Holdsworth, Science Policy at MN Department of Natural Resources
- Chuck Dayton, Environmental Attorney
- Elizabeth Wilson, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
- Jack Dangermond, Founder of Environmental Systems Research Institute
- Dana Mortenson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of World Savvy
- Craig Wilson, Managing Partner at Sustology
Networking Resources |
How To:
Learn to Love Networking– Article from the Harvard Business Review
10 Tips for Successful Business Networking
The Introvert’s Guide to Networking– YouTube video
Susan Cain: Networking for Introverts– YouTube video
Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques-YouTube video
Local Groups:
Minneapolis Networking Events (via Eventbrite)
Meetup.com