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Meeting Location All sessions, meetings, poster presentations, exhibitions, symposia will be held Soka University of America (SUA) in Aliso Viejo, California. Housing will be in the dormitories on the SUA campus SUA is USA’s newest 4 year university. SUA is a selective, independent, non-profit, co-educational, comprehensive institution of higher learning. The university offers a comparative study of Eastern and Western perspectives integrated across a traditional liberal arts curriculum. SUA serves both national and international students. Founded on the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights and the sanctity of life, SUA is open to students of all beliefs and is committed to diversity in its academic community. SUA opened in fall 2001 to its first 120 freshmen students. Ultimately, the university plans to serve 1,200 students. The student-faculty ratio is 9 to 1. Other programs, including educational access for adult students and graduate programs through the doctorate, are planned for the future. SUA was founded on the belief that student-centered education is the best way to promote peace and human rights by fostering a global humanistic perspective on the world in which we live. The university prepares students for graduate studies and the world of work in an increasingly diverse and global society. SUA currently offers a B.A. in Liberal Arts, with concentrations in Humanities, International Studies, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Degree offerings and concentrations will increase as enrollment grows. The uniqueness of the SUA approach lies in the comparative teaching of international perspectives, the Core Curriculum and Learning Clusters and an emphasis on language, art, and culture. The Core Curriculum is a series of two sequential courses taken by all students, focusing on a range of issues related to such SUA values as peace, human rights and the creative co-existence of nature and humanity. Learning Clusters are research seminars designed to bridge theory and practice in the investigation of a specific question, and to elicit in the way of a specific product, an educated outcome or response. Students work in teams with one or more faculty facilitators to propose, research and model constructive approaches to local, regional and/or global issues. All SUA students concentrate on a foreign language and culture. All students participate in a semester of study abroad during their junior year. Classrooms are centers of dialogue and discussion, emphasizing seminar course settings. Students have many opportunities to work in small teams in the classroom and with faculty on research projects, as well as with peers in residence hall learning activities. Advanced computing and networking capabilities are widely available in all buildings and outside gathering areas, supporting a laptop computer campus. Information technology facilitates student-faculty and student-student interactions. These educational objectives are fostered at the university through the commitment to rigorous academic endeavors, free and open dialogue, and an appreciation for human diversity. In the Buddhist view, education is an integrating process in which students gain an awareness of the interdependence of themselves, others and the environment. Wisdom, courage and compassion - values treasured by the university -- do not exist in isolation. They emerge in individuals as they learn the importance of service to others, to the natural world around them, and to the great cause of peace and freedom. Aliso Viejo was incorporated on 1 July 2001 as Orange County's 34th city and is a 6,600-acre planned community in South Orange County, CA located midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. The population is 42,000 residents in 17,000 homes and was voted "Best New Home Community in Orange County" Orange County Register Readers Survey. 51% of community dedicated to parks, recreation, schools, open space and community facilities, 36% of community dedicated to residential neighborhoods and 13% of community dedicated to business, office and retail.Climate in Aliso Viejo in June
The Pacific Ocean is 6 miles south of the campus with cool water and clean beaches.
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