Hosting Derek Garfield Lecture at United Nations Sustainable Development Goals class, Utah Valley University

On 5th April 2024, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals class at Utah Valley University (UVU) hosted Mr. Derek Garfield, an alumnus of UVU.

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Derek Garfield presenting his journey to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Class

On 5th April 2024 12 pm MST, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals class at Utah Valley University (UVU) hosted Mr. Derek Garfileld, an alumnus of UVU. Mr. Garfield was also the ex-Vice President of the Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF), a coalition of student clubs at UVU, which advocates for sustainable mountain development in the State of Utah and globally. I was honored to moderate this event. Dr. Baktybek Abdrisaev, who teaches this class, welcomed everyone and I began hosting the event by thanking everyone’s presence for that session and their precious time and attention. Stephan Atkinson, UIMF President recorded the session.

The session began with me giving a short intro on the VIP presenter: As stated above Mr. Derek Garfield was an alumnus of UVU where he completed his BA in Political Science in 2018. Later, he completed his MS in Sustainable Development from Uppsala University, Sweden in 2021. Currently, he is pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Forest Management and Policy from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. During his studies at UVU, he worked as an administrative office assistant and also as a teaching assistant. He was also the VP of the UIMF during which he hosted the side and the parallel event at the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 62). He has also Interned for John Curtis for Congress Campaign. He has worked as an Imaging Clerk for Intermountain Healthcare, which is one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the Mountain West. He was also part of the Administrative Services as a Municipal Court Clerk for the City of Laramie, Wyoming. He was also a course coordinator for CEMUS and a Program Administrator at Uppsala University.

Later in his presentation, Derek spoke a great deal about how he appreciated his association with UIMF during his bachelor's degree days preparing him for his life journey, and how he progressed by adopting the Student Engaged Learning (SEL) model. According to him, the SEL model’s main highlight was the students and it was about identifying problems, and solving them by being an active participant along with professors helping the students facilitate them mostly behind the scenes. I liked the most simple and clear words Derek used to describe the SEL model. The SEL model is beneficial not only as curricular engagement (UIMF as credit courses) but also as extracurricular in the form of report writing.

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He stressed about how being the frontline actor during the UIMF days helped him not only in the extra curriculum aspect but also helped him in advocacy but also improved his record keeping in the form of a short essay/ write-up/ report writing, which proved to be very vital. I believe that write-ups not only help future members to look into how the previous members have contributed and advocated to the UIMF but also help in our soft-skill building which helps us in so many different fields, not necessarily in jobs and studies. “It concretizes what we learn so that it is available to other people and they can share with others” - said Derek. He also points out how the CSW62 preparations helped him in the contribution to the Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) agenda wherein the students fight for equality and a better life for women in the mountains and NGOs are believed to have an important role in UN-CSWs and negotiations at High-Level UN-Meetings.

He also spoke on how in preparations for CSW62 UIMF hosted during fall semester of 2017 a round table of three non-governmental organizations (NGOs), accredited under the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations as well as Marcia Barlow, VP of United Families International, another NGO with the ECOSOC accreditation, to learn advocacy skills in March 2018. The last event was a workshop on gaining knowledge on how to advocate at the UN by hosting in particular parallel event through such UN-accredited NGOs, being a member of the UIMF; how they should share their message on the mountain communities and be clear on what they wanted to communicate, and finally the big picture was how to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals globally. Derek gave a clear idea on how engaging with diplomats like Barglow, the Permanent Representative (PR) of Uzbekistan, Ambassador Ibragimov, and PR of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Vukasinovic, gave a chance to be better prepared for contributing to the side event at CSW62 and understand what is working/not working for the implementation of the agenda of sustainable development worldwide.

During CSW62, in March 2018, 11 members including Derek Garfield as VP of UIMF along with Matthew Rands as UIMF President and Dylan Genes as UIMF VP, advocated the SMD through the SEL Model by addressing the real-world problems of mountain communities as a group with faculty serving them as mentors. He spoke on how this event was a success with a lot of behind-the-scenes work and included the resources put together by PRs of Uzbekistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, students, and the NGO and shared the common agenda. Making international-level events work as planned requires a lot of practice, dynamic engagement, writing reports, and so on.

Before engaging with UIMF, Derek said he did not give much thought to Agenda 2030 for sustainable development in particular as one of the streams in which he will pursue his future education. The shift in the mindset happened when he was looking at the 17 sustainable goals and the three pillars of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental aspects) were depicted in the form of a doughnut and is termed from doughnut economics by Kate Raworth. He likes the idea of achieving sustainability while maintaining and respecting boundaries.

He spoke on how the implementation of the Problem-based SEL model helped him at the university in Sweden. This led to him taking a lead role, taking initiative, and performing research. I couldn’t agree more when Derek mentioned that these experiences transformed his potential by engaging creatively, building new connections, and thinking about the old issues and solutions in new ways. I remember attending UN-CSW 67 as a transformed woman because of my association with UIMF since my internship days and during the “Why it Matters” conference at UVU in 2022. UIMF gives you the stage if you want to shine, especially for a reserved person like me, activities like the International Mountain Day observations ceremony and preparations for the CSW sessions, are so challenging and new and the outcome is very satisfying with so many skills sets gathered in my arsenal now.

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The Centre for Environment and Development Studies (CEMUS), is a student-initiated, interdisciplinary center at Uppsala University and Derek had been engaged in course coordination after his 1st year of MS for a 2 year cycle. He could relate how his experience at UIMF helped him in formulating course outcomes, and learning objectives, assuring relevant connections (networking), content cover, and understanding the other relevant skills required for sustainable development. He says and believes that systematic, strategic, and futuristic thinking and interpersonal competency are very much needed for understanding and pursuing a career in Sustainable Development.

CEMUS has both the curricular and extra-curricular approach. Currently, during his doctorate, he has been focusing on research and a broad system thinking approach. As people come in and graduate from the CEMUS course, everyone contributes in their way which leads to the renewal of old ideas. CEMUS acts as a common playground for people who used to play different roles by occupation but have common goals for the future of the planet. These players keep the CEMUS active and the activities up-to-date.

By the end of Derek’s presentation, there were roughly 10-15 minutes left for Q and A. During this moment, Janessa Purcell and other students asked questions/ commented on his presentation. I also asked him a question of whether there are any prerequisites required for taking the CEMUS course. Derek replied that it mainly depends on the interest, the soft skills we have, and most importantly strategic thinking attitude.

I am sure many students in class including me learned so much from Derek’s lecture whether it is his enriching experience at or outside UIMF. We thanked Derek for his time and concluded the event at 12:50 pm MST.