Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 21, 2008|Volume 36, Number 22

Visiting on Campus

Economist to examine results-based aid

Franck Wiebe, chief economist, Millennium Challenge Corporation, will visit the campus on Tuesday, March 25, as part of the Millstein Center Lunch Forum on Corporate Governance Series.

Titled “The CBAs of Results-Based Aid,” Wiebe’s talk will take place 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Rm. A30, 60 Sachem St. All are welcome to attend; lunch will be served. For more information, visit http://millstein.som.yale.edu.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) aims to reduce poverty through economic growth. As chief economist, Wiebe is responsible for ensuring the quality and consistency of the analysis of economic logic and growth impact across all of MCC’s activities. He manages the Division of Economic Analysis and Evaluation within the Department of Policy and International Relations and is responsible for establishing appropriate guidelines for MCC’s economic analysis that is used to assess the potential growth impact of investments proposed by partner countries.

Weibe also coordinates the technical work of economists during compact development and implementation through the management of the Economics Practice Group within MCC, and handles MCC’s investments in independent impact evaluations.

Wiebe started his work in international development more than 20 years ago as a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee in Bangladesh, where he managed an integrated rural development project.

Prior to joining MCC, Wiebe was chief economist and director of economic reform and development programs at The Asia Foundation. He also worked for the Harvard Institute for International Development, where he served as project associate on the Customs and Economic Management Project in Jakarta, Indonesia.

‘Managing the Dragon’ author to give two talks on campus

Jack Perkowski, chair and chief executive officer of ASIMCO Technologies Limited and author of “Managing the Dragon: How I’m Building a Billion Dollar Business in China,” will visit the campus on Wednesday, March 26, and again on Thursday, April 3.

Perkowski’s March 26 talk is part of the School of Management Leaders Forum. He will speak 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. in the General Motors Room, 55 Hillhouse Ave. The talk is free and open to the public.

On April 3, Perkowski will be the guest at a Davenport College master’s tea where he will discuss “China in the New World Order: Demystifying the Middle Kingdom.” This talk will take place at 4 p.m. in the master’s house, 271 Park St., and is open to members of the Yale community only.

A Yale College graduate, Perkowski was a starting guard on Yale’s varsity football team. He played alongside Calvin Hill and Brian Dowling in the famous 29-29 tie with Harvard in 1968, a game which Sports Illustrated has listed as one of the five most memorable college football games of all time.

Perkowski founded ASIMCO in 1994. Under his leadership, ASIMCO has gained a reputation for developing local management, and integrating a broad based China operation into the global economy.

In his recently published book “Managing the Dragon: How I’m Building a Billion Dollar Business in China,” Perkowski discusses his experiences building ASIMCO from the ground up and the lessons he learned in developing the company’s local management team. The book also covers a wide range of topics such as decentralization; China’s different cost perspective and how it creates two markets for any product; intellectual property concerns; and practical advice on how to start a business in that country.

History of science scholar to explore ‘saving the whales’

The Humanities Program, the Program in the History of Science and Medicine and the Whitney Humanities Center will sponsor a talk by D. Graham Burnett, professor of the history of science at Princeton University, on Wednesday, March 26.

“Saving the Whales (or Not): Science, Regulation and Conservation in the 20th Century” is the title of Burnett’s talk, which will begin at 5 p.m. in Rm. 208, Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. The talk is free and open to the public. For information, call Manana Sikic at (203) 432-0673 or e-mail manana.sikic@yale.edu.

Burnett’s work ranges from the 17th century to recent times and across multiple subjects, including the history of natural history and the sciences of the earth and the sea as well as the interplay of science and law. He is the author of “Trying Leviathan: The 19th-Century Court Case that Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature” and “Masters of All They Surveyed: Exploration, Geography and the British Eldorado.”

He has published numerous articles, essays and reviews in both scholarly and general-circulation magazines, including The New York Times, The New Republic and The Times Literary Supplement. His “Trial by Jury” is a rumination on issues of truth and justice arising from his jury service during a murder trial in New York City.

International political scholar to give ‘Grand Strategy’ lecture

Vali Nasr, a professor of international politics at Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, will give a talk on Wednesday, March 26, as part of the International Security Studies Grand Strategy Lecture Series focusing on “The United States and the Islamic World.”

Nasr will explore “The Emerging Role of Iran in the Middle East” at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 119, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The free talk is open to the public.

Nasr, who is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of “The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future,” “Democracy in Iran” and “The Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power.” He is the editor of “The Oxford Dictionary of Islam.”

He is a specialist on Middle East politics and political Islam, and has worked extensively on political and social developments in the Muslim world with a focus on the relation of religion to politics, social change and democratization. Nasr also serves as a senior fellow at the Dubai Initiative at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Nasr has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, among numerous other publications, and has been featured on Al-Jazeera, Der Spiegel, CNN, BBC and CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

State senator to give next Zigler Center lecture

State Senator Edward Meyer, chair of children, program review and investigation and also the vice chair of environment, government administration and elections as a judiciary member, will speak in the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy lecture series on Friday, March 28.

Meyer’s talk, titled “The Battle in Harford for the Support of Children,” will be held 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Rm. 116, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The talk is free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary. For further information, e-mail sandra.bishop@yale.edu or call (203) 432-9935.

Meyer, who was recently elected to his second term as a Connecticut state senator, received both his bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Yale. In 1964 Meyer was appointed by then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to a post as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice. Meyer stayed with the Justice Department until 1968, contributing to the department’s efforts by investigating and prosecuting organized crime.

Meyer also served on the New York State Board of Regents for 23 years, where he was a strong proponent of higher education standards from the public education system at a time when crusading for such reforms was not a common position to hold.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Tony Blair to teach Yale course on faith and globalization

Two alumni appointed as successor trustees

Lalli named next master of Jonathan Edwards College

Summit to focus on ways to make campus ‘greener’

Grant to support study of exercise program for women with cancer

Former Yale VP to share message about mentoring

Smelling food ‘fires’ different area of brain than eating it, says study

Exhibition explores ‘mosaic’ of Mexico’s artistic traditions

Yale Rep to stage Oscar Wilde’s play about serial seducers and . . .

One of Italy’s ‘artistic treasures’ on loan to the Yale Art Gallery

Differences in self-esteem and motivation explored in study

Conference to explore how epic heroes of old continue to inspire . . .

Role of scholar activists to be examined at annual . . .

Alumna athlete returns to oversee fundraising, outreach . . .

Winners of Friends of Music Recital Competition to perform . . .

Memorial service for R. Lansing Hicks

Campus Notes