Steger scheduled to speak at conference

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WORTHINGTON — Next week’s Bioscience Conference will have another prestigious speaker as part of its mix.

Will Steger, an explorer best known for his polar expeditions — and also heralded for promoting understanding and preservation of the Arctic and the Earth — will speak at the annual event, hosted by the Worthington Regional Economic Development Corp., at 11:30 a.m. April 3.

Steger, who was born in Richfield and now resides in Ely, completed the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole (without re-supply) in 1986, according to Wikipedia, and made a 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland in 1988, the longest-ever unsupported dogsled expedition. Other achievements include a 3,471-mile International Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica (1989-90); and the 1995 International Arctic Project, the first and only dogsled traverse of the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Canada’s Ellesmere Island.

In 1991, Steger co-founded the Center for Global Environmental Education at Hamline University in St. Paul. Two years later, he founded the World School at the University in St. Thomas, also in St. Paul, and established the Will Steger Foundation — dedicated to creating programs that foster international leadership and cooperation through environmental education and policy — in 2006.

“He has 40 years of experience watching the Arctic shelves melt, and he has a very compelling story about why renewable energy should progress faster than what it is,” WREDC manager Glenn Thuringer said Thursday.

Among Steger’s honors are the Lindbergh Foundation’s Lindbergh Award (2006), the Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award (2007) and the National Geographic Adventure Lifetime Achievement Award (2007). He was also named to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group in 2006.

Steger’s Bioscience Conference appearance will be on the same morning as another prominent speaker. G. Steven Burrill, who has been involved in the growth and prosperity of the biotechnology industry for more than 40 years, will be the keynote speaker for the conference, and will address attendees at 8 a.m.

The conference begins Thursday afternoon and continues through the following day on the Worthington campus of Minnesota West Community and Technical College.

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