Evergreen Selects Internationally Acclaimed Activist and Ecologist as 2004 Commencement Speaker Dr. Vandana Shiva to Deliver Keynote Address at 33rd Commencement

Friday, June 11, 2004
Red Square, rain or shine
1-4:30 p.m. (estimated ending time)
Free and open to the public

The graduating class of The Evergreen State College has chosen Dr. Vandana Shiva as the speaker for the college's 33 rd Commencement. The ceremony and following celebration are scheduled for Friday, June 11, 2004, on Red Square on the Olympia campus. The event begins at 1 p.m., rain or shine, with Dr. Shiva's remarks expected to begin at 1:30 p.m. Commencement is free and open to the public. Campus parking is complimentary.

Shiva is a physicist, ecologist, editor and author internationally renowned for her activism. Born in the Dehradun valley in India to a father who worked to conserve forests and a farmer mother, Shiva aspired since childhood to be a scientist. She completed studies in physics, earning a doctorate in quantum theory at the University of Western Ontario. She later conducted interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.

In 1982, Shiva founded the independent Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Dehra Dun, India, whose focus is ecological and social issues. In 1991, she launched Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources and promote organic farming and fair trade. Shiva organized the international movement Diverse Women for Diversity in 1998 to support agricultural, patent and biotechnology initiatives. And this year, in collaboration with a British school, she started Bija Vidyapeeth, a college promoting sustainable living. She has lectured in a number of venues across the globe, including the University of Oslo; Schumacher College in Great Britain; University of Victoria and York University, Canada; and Mount Holyoke.

In addition to her impressive record of environmental, agricultural and social activism, Shiva has a number of published works to her credit. Among them are "Ecology and the Politics of Survival;" Biodiversity: Social and Ecological Perspectives," which she edited; "Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge;" and "Patents, Myths and Reality." In addition, Shiva is the author of more than 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals.

Besides her accomplishments in education and research, Shiva has served as adviser to governments in India and other countries. In recognition of her pioneering work in sustainability, Time Magazine called her an environmental hero in 2003. Contact: Kate Lykins Brown (360) 867-5213
Michele Elhardt,
assistant to the associate vice president
for Enrollment Management, (360) 867-6310