April 19, 2006 -- Dr. Les Wyatt, president, will sign the Talloires Declaration on behalf of Arkansas State University, Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. in a campus ceremony.

The declaration will involve ASU in a worldwide network of higher education institutions dedicated to pursuit of environmental and sustainability initiatives.

Everyone is invited to attend the signing, which will be on the quadrangle between the Administration Building and the Dean B. Ellis Library. In case of rain, the ceremony will be moved to the Administration Building.

The Talloires Declaration, drafted in 1990 at an international conference in Talloires, France, is a 10-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities. It has been signed by more than 300 university presidents and chancellors in more than 40 countries and is the first official statement made by university administrators toward a commitment to environmental sustainability in higher education. ASU joins an impressive group of committed universities and will be the first in Arkansas to sign this declaration, according to university officials who are involved.

This Declaration will be endorsed by representatives of various university stakeholder groups. They include Mike Gibson, vice-chair of the ASU Board of Trustees; Dr. Robyn Hannigan, director of the Environmental Sciences Ph.D. Program; Dr. Bill Humphrey, president of the Faculty Senate; Al Stoverink, assistant vice chancellor for Facilities Management; Victor Hill, president of the Staff Senate; Tiffny Frazier, president of the Student Government Association; Aaron Archer, student representative of the Graduate School; and Jennifer Bouldin, Environmental Sciences alumni representative.

For more details about the declaration and its significance, see the web site for the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.

(Media notes: Talloires is pronounced Tal-Whar, and Tiffny Frazier is correct).