The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

Thomas Paine

Executive Summary: Social Responsibility Initiative

• Introduction
• A Longstanding Commitment
• Bridging Gaps Worldwide
• Working Together

Working Together on Issues that Matter

The Social Responsibility Initiative has formed three interrelated working groups focusing on Food, Agriculture/Community, and the Environment. Researchers and other participants are welcome to serve on more than one working group if they wish. Projects already under way are listed on the back page.

These initial working groups, and future working groups to be supported by the initiative, are composed of a critical mass of faculty and students who have coalesced around issues defining the major focus of their teaching, research and outreach. The working groups are currently conceived broadly, but strategic topics are beginning to be identified, such as local food systems, large-scale livestock, animal welfare, and community-based natural resource management.

Working groups are focusing on conducting top-quality research that builds on the synergies among social and natural scientists committed to realizing the goals of social responsibility. Our aim is to identify practical problems, develop fundable proposals, collect and analyze data, and generate scholarly and publicly available knowledge.

The leaders of each working group and the SRI director form the initiative's executive committee, working as a team to identify multidisciplinary strategies, unearth opportunities for developing projects, and set priorities for strategically allocating resources to support SRI projects.