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“Weavers” are a diverse group of Americans who are making quiet yet extraordinary efforts to strengthen the communities in which they live. Each of these leaders is taking on a very different challenge — be it suicide prevention, housing, urban revitalization, or immigrant rights — but they all focus foremost on the transformative power of human relationships. Learn about...
Intelligence is more than the gray matter sloshing around in your skull, and more than the nerves that make sense of your environment. Your mind utilizes extra-neural resources, including the perceptions and knowledge in the minds of others — so the more people you surround yourself with, the bigger your brain is. In this session, we’ll dive into the research that shows ho...
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Climate next week, we caught up with Dr. Hayhoe to discuss tips for talking about climate change with anyone, how her faith informs her climate activism, why environmental guilt-tripping never works, and how to develop real, muscular hope.
Americans now owe a staggering $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, according to Forbes. With growing online opportunities catered to self-taught learners and the ever-evolving digital nature of work in the modern world, do we still need to sit in classrooms to get a college education? Are companies and government institutions rethinking the long-standing requirement of a f...
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Louisville and one team from Dallas who developed innovative solutions to issues that have chronically impacted their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Justin F. Kimball and Central High School Magnet Ca...
Higher education was once one of our most trusted sectors in American society. But today, colleges and universities are struggling to hold onto that trust. Accused of being educationally ineffective, too expensive, obsessed with their own elitism, inept at dealing well with the explosion of depression and anxiety among their students — the list of criticisms is long. Many...
The Aspen College Excellence Program aims to expand the number of excellent community colleges, to increase opportunity at elite colleges, and to strengthen the college presidency. Get to know the Aspen Institute’s higher education strategy through a fireside chat between two experts who are well-versed in this field. Q&A moderated by Tania LaViolet.
Recent years have seen the wane of the threat of ISIS, even as white supremacists carry out more violent attacks across the globe, from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Charlottesville, VA. What leads someone down the path of political extremism, what causes them to become violent, and how do authorities or community leaders help stop — or reverse — extremism?
Robert Runcie on the power of education, how tragedy shakes a community, and why he believes in hope
The world faces many challenges—from climate change to political instability to widening inequality—that transcend borders and impact us all. If today’s young people are to be equipped with the imagination and skillsets to tackle these growing threats, educational excellence is key. How do we build successful education systems at scale and in every community? And what expe...
For over a decade, Ascend at the Aspen Institute has lifted up parents’ voices and experiences to inform bold solutions for economic mobility in the United States. How does lived expertise influence the way programs and policies are created? What can we learn from a new wave of philanthropic efforts to invest in communities and their parent leaders? Four dynamic leaders sh...
We're proud to announce the 2022 winners of The Aspen Challenge, four amazing teams of young people designing solutions to some of the most critical problems facing their communities.
Paying for college is becoming more difficult. So is justifying the full-freight cost of some private institutions.
Tech tools that can keep students engaged and help guard against learning loss are suddenly front and center.