Last Saturday, members of the Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities gathered together at Marist College for their 9th annual conference. This year’s conference, entitled “Rediscovering Higher Education’s Role in the Earth Community,” focused on the question of how to incorporate ecological dialogue into the college classroom and drew heavily from the philosophies of ecotheologian Thomas Berry. Berry’s legacy was continued through the presentation of the first ever Thomas Berry Great Work Award.

The four conveners of The Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona College were selected as the first recipients of this great honor: Professor of Religious Studies Brian Brown, Director of the Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona Kevin Cawley, CFC, Director of the Iona Spirituality Institute and Professor of Religious Studies Kathleen Deignan, CND and Berry Forum dialogue facilitator and founding director of The Art of Working with Life Daniel Martin.

Interim Dean of the School of Arts and Science Jeanne Zaino said in a press release, “I can think of no group of people more deserving of this honor and believe it speaks volumes about their dedication to their work and collegiality that they are being nominated as a collective.”

Each of the four recipients had worked with Berry and were inspired by his teachings to create the Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona in 2009 after his death. “Thomas Berry was more than a mentor; he was actually a master,” said Deignan.

According to the organization’s mission statement the Forum aims to “celebrate and promote [Berry’s] wisdom legacy [and] to awaken the ecological phase of human development.”

The Thomas Berry Great Work Award recognizes individuals in higher education within the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys whose work reflects the ideas put forth by Berry. In particular, the award was inspired by the chapter “The University” of his book The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, which affirms that it is the responsibility of the university to encourage students to reconcile their education as well as their own identity with the natural world in which they live. The award recognizes and encourages the fulfillment of Berry’s ideas through teaching, scholarship, service and leadership.

The “great work” of our time is to tackle existing environmental issues and create meaningful ecological dialogue. The great challenge, however, is to involve higher education in this process and inspire the younger generation to care about the environment.

“The environmental issues of today are ethical transgressions and they demand remedy,” said Cawley.

Berry was passionate about teaching until his very last days and his colleagues from Iona’s own Berry Forum continue to honor his tradition by bringing his lessons to the contemporary college classroom and imploring students to identify their own contribution to the great work.