Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins

Superintendent of Michigan City Area Schools (MCAS)

 

Dr. Eason-Watkins will be speaking about the MCAS' online learning.

Leslie Plesac, Executive Director

Sinai Forum at Purdue Northwest

 

Leslie gave a brief history of the forum and then outlined to 2020 online speakers as well as the 2021 speakers and plans.

 

In 2020 the first virtual event will be held on September 19th at Noon to 1:15 CDT and will feature Anthony Rizzo, first baseman for the Chicago Cubs.  This will be run as an interview hosted by Dan Plesac, 18-year MLB Veteran and MLB Network Analyst.

 

The second virtual event will be help on October 11th at 4:00pm - 5:15pm CDT and will feature Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and is the author of seven books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government.

 

The virtual events are free but you need to register here to reserve your spot.

 

Leslie expressed hope that the 2021 Fall season will be back onsite presentations.  So far Steve Wozniak, a Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Paul Nicklen, a Canadian photographer, filmmaker, and marine biologist, and Max Eisen an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor have been scheduled.  Another two speakers are in the works.

 

Go to http://pnw.edu/sinai-forum for more information and to join the forum's mailing list.

 

Click here for a video of Leslie's presentation.

From:  Holger Knaack , President, Rotary International
K.R. Ravindran, Chair, The Rotary Foundation

 

It our pleasure to announce to you that the African region has just been certified wild poliovirus-free.

Rotary members have played an invaluable role in the effort to rid the African region of wild polio. We should be proud of all the hard work that we’ve done to eliminate the wild poliovirus throughout Africa and in nearly every country in the world. 

This progress is the result of a decades-long effort across the 47 countries of the African region. It has involved millions of health workers traveling by foot, boat, bike and bus, innovative strategies to vaccinate children amid conflict and insecurity, and a huge disease surveillance network to test cases of paralysis and check sewage for the virus. 

Over the last two decades, countless Rotary members in countries across the African region and around the world have worked together to raise funds, immunize children, advocate with local and national leaders, and raise awareness about the importance of vaccination, enabling the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to effectively respond to and stop polio outbreaks. 

This milestone is an incredible public health achievement for Rotary members, the African region, and our GPEI partners, and a huge step forward on the road to global polio eradication. But we still have important work to do in order to eradicate wild polio in the last two endemic countries.

We have faced many challenges in our journey to eradicate polio. But we’ve made remarkable progress, and the polio infrastructure that Rotarians helped build will serve as a lasting legacy that will continue to help protect vulnerable children against other diseases for decades to come.

We are calling on you today to recommit yourselves to ending polio. We need each and every one of you to help finish this fight and continue raising $50 million each year for PolioPlus. The eradication of wild polio in the African region shows us that polio eradication is achievable, and shows how our hard work, partnerships and financial commitment continue to propel us forward, even during a global pandemic.

Thank you for your continued efforts, for achieving a wild polio-free African region, and for remaining committed to fulfilling our promise of a polio-free world.