International Big History experts convene in Grand Rapids

Hundreds of international scholars, scientists and students are convening in West Michigan as Grand Valley State University hosts the inaugural conference of the International Big History Association, August 2-5, with sessions in Grand Rapids and Allendale.  

President Thomas J. Haas, Provost Gayle R. Davis, and event organizers welcomed guests Thursday evening, August 2, to the opening reception at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Big History is a relatively new interdisciplinary approach to teaching and discovering the connections between humans and the environment in World History; a bridge between the humanities and sciences. Special presentations will include those by Andy Cook, director of Bill Gates’ Big History Project; representatives from ChronoZoom an open source community project; and keynote addresses by Walter Alvarez, a geologist best known for his work on the extinction of the dinosaurs, and Lawrence Gundersen, an environmental historian. The conference provides hundreds of opportunities to showcase the many different kinds of research, teaching and creativity that the innovative field is generating, and to discover and create new knowledge that will shape the future.

“The sort of problems humanity is facing now are on such a massive scale, they can’t be solved with narrow perspectives; we need to train generations of young adults who can think across disciplines, and look at problems from different perspectives and bring the skills and insights of an environmental scientist, a historian, a physicist, a demographer and others,” said Craig Benjamin, IBHA  co-founder, who has taught Big History for 16 years, the past nine at Grand Valley.

For more information about the conference and a complete schedule, visit the website at www.ibhanet.org,