President's Peace Commission

Brother Brian Halderman, S.M., University Ministry for Social Justice, welcomes everyone to the Fall 2009 President's Peace Commission speaker series. He then introduces Father Rudy Vela, who prays the invocation. Bro. Brian then introduces the speakers for this panel presentation: James Aldridge, Web editor, San Antonio Business Journal; and Laura Cisneros, Social Service Manager, Department of Community Initiatives, City of San Antonio. Mr. Aldridge speaks about San Antonio's unemployment and some of the issues exacerbating the un- and under-employment in the city, such as illiteracy and under-education. Ms. Cisneros, then speaks about initiatives the city is undertaking to relieve the stress on the poor and agencies which help the poor, such as Senior Nutrition Centers and using state and federal funds to provide utilities assistance. The city's call center used to get an average of 2800-3000 calls a week; now it receives 4000 calls each week. A question and answer period concludes this session. (70 minutes)

David Zapata, student member of the President's Peace Commission, serves as the moderator for this panel discussion. He introduces the panelists: Thomas Galvin, Vice President of University Advancement from St. Mary's University; Mari Aguirre, Manager of Community Affairs at Rackspace Hosting; and A. J. Rodriguez, Deputy City Manager for the City of San Antonio. Mr. Galvin states one result of the economic situation is that ethics are back "in" and greed is "out." He urges the students not to ever live beyond your means and to learn from this situation and others' mistakes. Ms. Aguirre reports that Rackspace is currently "running uphill" -- they purchased two companies in the past year and are still hiring. She shares a PowerPoint presentation to show how Rackspace has been responding to the economy. Mr. Rodriguez reports how the City of San Antonio is attempting to deal with restricted and limited finances of the city by balancing the FY2010 city budget through reorganizations of management and departments and position eliminations without laying anyone off. During the question and answer period, corporate greed is addressed. (69 minutes)

Recruitment Director for Public Allies; and Cynthia Medina, Director of the Center for Volunteerism and Service Learning at Our Lady of the Lake University. Ms. Schulz begins the discussion by providing statistics regarding volunteerism in Texas as compared to other states; for example, Texas is placed 36th out of 50 states for the percentage of the population who volunteer. Non-profit agencies have experienced fiscal stress and have had to eliminate approximately 1/3 of their staff positions, while at least 3/4 of the agencies have increased the number of people they have been serving, which results in an increased reliance on volunteers. Ms. Jones relates how she became involved with AmeriCorps, American Humanics, and Public Allies. Ms. Medina, a former gang member and runaway, credits 2 college volunteers with saving her life and introducing her to volunteerism. She states that the Millennial Generation is using online social networking to volunteer. A question and answer period concludes this session. (70 minutes)

Dr. Rosemarie Wahl, professor of Biological Sciences at St. Mary's University, introduces the speakers for this panel presentation: John Finerghty, Food Service Director, ARAMARK at St. Mary's University; Stacie Montalvo, Assistant Food Director, ARAMARK at St. Mary's University, Suzy Holleron, Marketing Director for Whole Foods Market of San Antonio; and Leslie Provence, Sustainable Food Advocate, San Antonio Food Policy Initiative. Mr. Finerghty and Ms. Montalvo speak about the social responsibility of ARAMARK and discuss which items on their menus are among the healthiest offered on campus. Ms. Holleron then addresses the question of how much money can be saved by eating at home as opposed to eating in restaurants. She also provides a brief history of Whole Foods Market and urges everyone to realize that eating healthier does not necessarily mean eating less. Ms. Provence shares a PowerPoint presentation about the Food System Cycle, defines sustainable food systems, and explains the benefits of a local food system. A question and answer period concludes this session. (73 minutes)

Christian Ekleberry, student member of the President's Peace Commission, moderates this panel discussion. Ms. Ekleberry introduces the panelist for this session: Dr. Laura Bryan, Ph. D., Clinical Administrator of the Family Life Center at St. Mary's University and Dr. Dan Ratliff, Ph. D., Counseling & Human Services at St. Mary's University. Dr. Bryan begins the discussion by briefly reviewing the current economic situation. She explains how on-going stress can alter mood, eating habits, and sleeping habits, but that there is also a silver lining: priorities have changed, as a whole, we are saving money; we are spending more thoughtfully; we are saving energy; and we are spending our time doing less expensive, but still very beneficial things, such as having dinner together with the family and gardening. She advises that people pause, but don't panic, and that you should identify the financial stressors in your life. Then she suggests people notice how they respond to stress and be sure to do things that won't come back to bite you later (such as turning to alcohol). Dr. Ratliff discusses what causes marriages to fail and how a spouse in the military can exacerbate those causes. A question and answer period concludes this presentation. (45 minutes)

Dr. Rafael Moras, Engineering Dept., and Jonathan Michelon, Political Science Dept., introduce the students from their High Technology and Society class, who were charged with creating hypothetical international companies that were realistic and used recycled products in a new way. The class presents a variety of project ideas, such as Re-Green in El Paso and the Sunny Side Up Project which would provide solar cookers to residents in Northern Mexico. Other projects centered on homelessness and poverty. A question and answer period ends the session. (49 minutes)

Philippe Nassif, student member of the President's Peace Commission, moderates this panel discussion and introduces the panelists: Dr. Sarasij Majumder, International Relations Department of St. Mary's University; Celeste Díaz Ferraro, Founder and Principal of PaxMundi Strategy Consultants and the Bill Greehey School of Business at St. Mary's University; and, Dr. Matthew Mireles, President and CEO of Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety. Dr. Majumder explains how globalization is creating a new inequality. Ms. Ferraro speaks about the current economic conditions and explains that the global economy in the past fifteen years has shown unprecedented liquidity with the private sector moving into developing countries and investing there. She explains how there has been a shift in development aid: it is no longer primarily government to government aid, but through the private sector's economic model concerned with return on investment; the World Bank and other similar organizations now have competition. Dr. Mireles discusses public health as an epidemiologist and expresses his concern for patient safety. He also comments about the proper definition of pandemic and provides examples. A question and answer period concludes this session. (70 minutes)

Irene Quesnot, Minister for Faith Formation and Enrichment, University Ministry, St. Mary's University, moderates this panel discussion and introduces the panelists: Allison Rivenburgh, CEO, Sustainable Perspectives Group, and Laurence Doxsey, Director of the Environmental Policy for the City of San Antonio. Ms. Rivenburgh explains what green building is and the history of green building in San Antonio. With the help of stimulus money, her company is growing in this time of economic crunch. Mr. Doxsey details how the economic downturn has actually been a boon to San Antonio and projects the city is working on to further reduce carbon levels, electricity and water usage, and public transportation. A question and answer period concludes this presentation. (69 minutes)