Mannie Jackson Center Announces Global Research Initiative

GODFREY – The Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities (MJCH) announced its new Global Research Initiative at its inaugural fundraiser dinner, featuring keynote speaker Gen. Colin Powell, on Thursday. 

The MJCH is currently in the process of assembling world class scholars with expertise in content and research methodologies enabling the center to conduct large scale research and sponsored projects, the result of which will be improved environmental equity for communities of disenfranchised people throughout the world.

“The world’s population is becoming increasingly pluralistic and polarized, creating conditions of resource scarcity and economic imbalances resulting in imploding nation states and worldwide migration of populations seeking safe harbors,” said Mannie Jackson, president of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation (MJCHF) Board of Directors. “The MJCH seeks to understand, through people’s stories, how they interact with their environments, their sense of place and how that can connect with environmental science to resolve social and economic issues.”

The MJCH will engage teams of humanities faculty, working directly with environmental scientists, to communicate the importance of bridging information gaps and applying results of leading-edge knowledge to construct positive, research-based policy solutions to current issues on a national and global scale.

“Human and environmental sustainability is not uniformly protected throughout the world, and there are issues of environmental inequities adversely impacting poor communities globally,” said Lewis and Clark Community College President Dale Chapman, who is also secretary/treasurer of the MJCHF.

“The center, with its goal to promote mutual understanding, respect, dignity and forgiveness, is uniquely positioned to use the environmental humanities to address issues of environmental fairness and to elevate the human spirit through human expression,” said MJCH Executive Director Ed Hightower.

The MJCH was officially launched by Lewis and Clark Community College in 2011 with a $250,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant that aligned with Mannie Jackson’s vision to create a global humanities research center.

The center opened its physical headquarters in Edwardsville, Illinois, in late 2015 and launched its speaker series with retired General Colin Powell, who served as the keynote speaker for the MJCHF’s inaugural fundraiser dinner on Thursday, March 31, 2016. Funds raised during the sold out dinner will help support the center’s efforts.

The MJCHF is a 501(c)(3) organization, which supports the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities, a division of Lewis and Clark Community College.

To find out more about the center or the MJCHF, visit www.mjchf.org or contact Executive Director Ed Hightower at either (618) 655-2881 or drehightower@mjchf.org. To keep up with the latest updates, find us on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter and Riverbender.com.