An international array of leading practitioners from business, government and non-governmental organizations will visit the campus throughout the semester as instructors of the newly established Yale-Stimson Seminar, being offered under the auspices of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. Among the seminar participants are a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a current member of the U.S. Congress, ambassadors and other top policy advisers and executives.

In the course, "Challenges in International Relations: Policy and Practice," 25 graduate and professional students are making practical examinations of and offering solutions to enduring international issues. Twelve Yale-Stimson Fellows have been enlisted to teach the seminar, which is divided into 13 units grouped by three major issue areas. The focus this spring will be on the financial crisis in Asia, health and the process of development in Africa, and conflict in the Balkans. The three modules are being coordinated by policy adviser Alton Frye, Ambassador Donald Easum and business executive Charles A. Schmitz.

"By bringing accomplished, real-word practitioners in international affairs to Yale, we think that the Yale-Stimson Seminar is, indeed, leavening existing IR offerings at Yale," says Schmitz. "But, more than that, we think it also helps to establish a bigger reputation for Yale graduate students in the international relations community."

Schmitz, coordinator of the first module, "Asian Financial Crisis," spearheaded the effort to establish the Yale course. A graduate of both Yale College (1960) and the Law School (1963), Schmitz is a former foreign service officer and cofounder and chair of the board of Global Business Access Ltd. His consulting firm offers the expertise of former senior policy officials to internationally oriented companies in the process of meeting the demands of new business developments.

Frye, who is coordinating the "Fractious Balkans" module, is vice president and senior presidential fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Easum will lead the module on "Health and Development in Africa," drawing on his expertise as president of the African-American Institute, vice president of the River Blindness Foundation and ambassador to Nigeria.

Other course instructors are: Admiral William Crowe (retired), former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and ambassador to the Court of St. James's; Lee Hamilton, U.S. representative from Indiana and ranking Democrat on the Committee for International Relations; William Foege, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and currently Carter Center Fellow for Health Policy; Sumio Takeichi, associate director of the International Finance Corporation and former president of Mitsubishi Corporation (USA); Hiroo Fukui, Nihon University professor and former vice president of the World Bank; David Taylor, former senior official at Mobil Oil Company; Akintola Fatoyinbo, communications adviser for West and Central Africa for the World Bank; Julia Taft, assistant secretary of state; David Greis, former vice chair of the National Intelligence Council; and E. Gerald Corrigan, senior vice president of Goldman, Sachs and Co. and former president of the New York Federal Reserve.

Corrigan taught the first class of the course, in January. Students noted they were impressed by his dual insight into the Asian financial crisis, examining issues from the point of view of both private-sector banker and regulator.

"It was wonderful to begin a class by hearing from a significant participant in the international financial community," said Adam Davis, a second-year international relations master's degree candidate. "For our papers and essays, Mr. Corrigan is the type of person we turn to as an authority, but normally we only have access to him through the biases of filters of journalists and editors. Not only was it rewarding to hear him directly and draw our own conclusions, it was gratifying to know that as a group of students we were worth some of his valuable time."

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CAMPUS NOTES