On March 16, Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) launched Studio-X Rio, the sixth in a series of Studio-X laboratories that consider the challenges of urban development in cities around the world. The other labs, located in Amman, Beijing, Moscow, Mumbai and New York, facilitate collaboration between Columbia students and faculty and the best architects and urban developers in the host country. The labs have been described by GSAPP Dean Mark Wigley as "the first truly global network for real-time exchange of projects, people and ideas between regional leadership cities." Studio-X Rio hopes to continue in this tradition, offering students, educators and developers the opportunity to collaborate and creatively address the most pressing problems arising from urbanization. The schedule of opening events at the launch included a welcome with Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio, and workshops similar to those that will be offered at the laboratory. Brazilian architect Pedro Rivera, the director of Studio-X Rio, described the layout of the laboratory: "The basic concept is very simple-- an empty space with an espresso machine." He also hopes to organize lectures, workshops and exhibitions to complement the studio work accomplished at Studio-X. To learn more about the Studio-X project, and the Rio lab specifically, please click here. You can also check out photos of the launch on our Facebook page.

Are we done with the humanities?

Columbia students know the rigor of a liberal arts education. Through the University’s famed Core Curriculum, every Columbia College undergraduate is exposed to the best of history’s literature, philosophy, art and music, from Homer to Dante, Plato to Nietzsche, and everything in between.

In an increasingly technology-driven world, however, the question remains: how far will a humanities-based education get you? In a recent article for TechCrunch, Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University, argues that liberal arts sensibilities may be more valuable to the science and technology industries than one might think.

Wadhwa considers arguments from two of the computer industry’s giants—chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Each man has built a technological empire, but through different philosophies about the type of education needed to get there. While Gates argues that math and science education should be a priority in the interest of job creation, Jobs instead believes that the arts and sciences are codependent, and that the graphic designer who designs iPad apps is just as important as the engineers who develop the technology necessary to use those apps in the first place.

Agreeing with Jobs, Wadhwa writes,

…even though I believe that engineering is one of the most important professions, I have learned that the liberal arts are equally important. It takes artists, musicians, and psychologists working side by side with engineers to build products as elegant as the iPad. And anyone—with education in any field—can achieve success in Silicon Valley.

At Columbia, the Core Curriculum strives to reach a balance between these two areas of study. In addition to its stringent humanities requirements, the Core requires a minimum of two elective science or math related classes, as well as a freshman seminar called “Frontiers of Science” that introduces students to cutting edge developments in scientific fields as disparate as neuroscience and quantum physics. The University also boasts one of the country’s best undergraduate engineering schools, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. However, for undergraduates in Columbia College, the most popular majors are still humanities-based, including economics, political science and history.

Can Columbia graduates still be competitive in their chosen fields of work, or should the Core require more math and science? Tell us in the comments!

If you’re interested in learning more, you can read the original discussion from the New York Times here, and also look at Columbia’s core requirements.

Upcoming events from the Committee on Global Thought

Check out the following upcoming events from the Committee on Global Thought:

What Does "Imperialism" Mean in an Age of Global Finance?

Monday, March 28, 2011 8:00 PM

Columbia University, Schermerhorn 501

A discussion featuring:

C.P. Chandrasekhar, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Duncan Foley, Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research

Jayati Ghosh, Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University

David Harvey, Professor of Anthropology at City University of New York

Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the United Nations

Prabhat Patanaik, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sitaram Yechury, Parliamentary Group Leader of the Communist Party of India

For more information and to register, please click here

India During and After the Global Financial Crisis

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:00 PM

Columbia University, Uris Hall 301

A lecture featuring:

Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser for the Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Prabhat Patanaik, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Y.V. Reddy, Former Governer, Reserve Bank of India

Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University

Joseph Stiglitz, Co-Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University

For more information and to register, please click here

The Fourth Annual Arrow Lecture: "Time and Persons in the Economics of Climate Change"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 6:00 PM

Columbia University, Low Library Rotunda

A lecture by:

Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge

with discussants

Scott Barrett, Lenfest-Earth Institute Professor of Natural Resource Economics at SIPA and the Earth Institute, Columbia University

Geoffrey Heal, Garrett Professor of Public Policy & Corporate Responsibility at Columbia Business School

For more information and to register, please click here

Chunjie Zhang to speak on March 24

Please mark your calendars for the following talk by Chunjie Zhang, INTERACT Postdoctoral Fellow at ICLS.

August von Kotzebue's Transnational Melodrama: Sentimentalism, Sexuality, and Refusal of Trajedy in
Brother Moritz, the Stranger, or the Colony on Pelew Island (1795)

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 3pm to 5pm
Common Room, Heyman Center (directions)

Café ARC: COLUMBIA GLOBAL CENTERS | EUROPE

Café ARC
COLUMBIA GLOBAL CENTERS | EUROPE
Actualité-Recherche-Communication
REID HALL, 4 rue de
Chevreuse, 75006 Paris


NEW RESEARCH
Thursdays at 18:30
FRENCH GLOBAL THOUGHT IN AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Columbia in Paris invites you to a series of interdisciplinary
conversations on the global dimensions of French and Francophone
cultures from the Middle Ages to today. Faculty from Paris
universities and visiting scholars from the United States will present
current research in fields including Political Science, History, Art
History and Literature.


Le programme de Columbia à Paris vous invite cordialement à une série
de conversations pluridisciplinaires autour du rayonnement global des
cultures françaises et francophones du moyen âge jusqu’à nos jours.
Des professeurs d’universités à Paris et des checheurs en visite
présenteront leurs recherches en cours dans des disciplines telles que
les sciences politiques, l’histoire, l’histoire de l’art, et les
études littéraires.


24 March
Michael Gorra (Smith College)
'Not a Pretty Thing': Joseph Conrad on the Conquest of the Earth.
Salle de Conférence

Pour plus d'information sur cette série pluridisciplinaire, veuillez
consulter le document ci-joint. Merci de réserver en avance votre
place pour cet événement en cliquant ici.

Tony Blair Discusses Globalization & the Future of Higher Ed

Tony Blair may no longer be making news as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but his life post-politics has continued all the same. Mr. Blair has been teaching at Yale University here in the United States and contemplating the relationship between globalization and higher education. On Sunday, BBC News covered an interview with Mr. Blair on that topic.

Columbia Global Centers promotes and supports the engagement of the university world-wide, so we were obviously excited to hear Mr. Blair optimistically speak about emerging trends in higher education. Throughout the interview, he makes it clear that globalization will impact universities and already has. He argues, “It is now up to institutions of higher education to engage directly on these issues - not only their students, but current world leaders in politics, finance, and international diplomacy, along with the general public.”

He sees a more open and equal future where university content is available online for free and universities of developing nations in South America, Asia, and Africa improve the quality of their education, gaining prestige and influence amongst Western academic peers.

The world he describes is different from the world today, but not hard to imagine. As countries rise in economic influence, it is only natural to expect a similar transition for their universities. Beyond that natural rise, prominent, established universities like Columbia can and do reach out, build long-term relationships, and generate a new international dialog. If Mr. Blair is correct (and it appears that he is), we can all look forward to an exciting and enriching future for Columbia University and higher education world-wide.

------

Topics discussed in the interview:

OpenYale- Yale University’s catalog of coursework and lectures offered free to the general public.

Technologico de Monterrey (Mexico) - Mr. Blair frequently referenced this university for its international engagement and its focus on increasing access to its courses online.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faith and Globalization Initiative – The Foundation’s “international network of leading universities exploring the relationship between faith and globalization and highlighting the implications to the wider world.”

International internships: what makes a good one?

In a recent article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Charles Gliozzo and Cindy Chalou, both affiliated with the Office of Study Abroad at Michigan State University, discuss the growing trend of international internships and the importance of a global education for American undergraduates. They note that the number of students who intern abroad has increased 133 percent in the six academic years between 2003 and 2009.

According to Gliozzo and Chalou, the key resources necessary to facilitate successful international internships include relationships with local businesses, a clear program structure that integrates the student’s professional and academic experiences abroad, a method for ensuring the academic credibility of the student’s foreign university, and adequate resources to support the program, financial and otherwise.

Columbia’s own Center for Career Education (CCE) offers a comprehensive summer foreign work experience program called Columbia Experience Overseas (CEO). Participants in this program are afforded all the benefits of a traditional internship, combined with the unique opportunities offered by a study abroad program. You can learn more about CEO here.

What do you think makes a good international work experience? What can be gained from working abroad that can’t be found in the U.S.? Have you had an internship abroad? Leave a comment and tell us!

Healing Paradigms and the Politics of Health in Central Asia

The Culture, Religion, and Communications Unit of the

Global Health Research Center of Central Asia at Columbia University

Presents its First Annual Conference:

Healing Paradigms and the Politics of Health in Central Asia

Kellogg Center, Columbia University

420 West 118th Street, 15th floor

April 8, 2011

PLEASE RSVP TO: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=48012

For more information: http://ghrcca.columbia.edu/en/node/118 or email crc2011conference@gmail.com

Summer Ecosystem Experience in JORDAN

SEE-U JORDAN

The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University is excited to announce the launch of a brand new Summer Ecosystem Experience in JORDAN

In partnership with Columbia's Global Center in Amman, the Columbia University Middle East Research Center, undergraduate students of all majors have the unique opportunity to study ecosystems and environmental sustainability in Jordan.

Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates (SEE-U)
Jordan: May 21 - June 24, 2011

During this five week, six credit program you embark in the exploration and appreciation of Jordan's ecology through coursework and field research. This location is ideal for biodiversity studies, as a wide variety of flora and fauna are found in Jordan's wetland, marine, freshwater, desert, and forest ecosystems.

To supplement instruction, guest lecturers from Jordanian universities and organizations are incorporated into the curriculum. Focus is placed on understanding Jordan's important environmental issues such as:

- limited natural freshwater resources
- deforestation
- overgrazing and
- desertification

Ecology and biology coursework are integrated with fieldwork taking place at various sites across the country.

You fly into the capital city of Amman, for introductory course lectures over several days. You then travel south to spend time in the coastal southern region of Aqaba, to study coral reef and marine ecology at the Red Sea Marine Science Center. A weeklong stay at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature's reserves in the desert region of Dana and the Wadi Mujib canyon (part of the lowest nature reserve in the world, bordering the Dead Sea) provides a comprehensive look at the country's biodiversity, as you work alongside Jordanian scientists.

Enrollment at this field site is limited to 15 undergraduates from Columbia College, General Studies, and Barnard College. Interested candidates should complete the SEE-U application available on the CERC website. Selected students will be subject to a competitive, intensive review process, including an interview with staff members.

Click here for more information regarding the SEE-U program and the application process.

More detailed information regarding SEE-U Jordan will be posted soon. Please contact Desmond Beirne at djb2104@columbia.edu if you are interested in this program.

- - -

SEE-U Jordan is part of CERC's Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates (SEE-U) program. Other Summer 2011 field sites include:

- Brazil (May 21 - June 25)
- Puerto Rico (May 28 - July 2)
- Dominican Republic (July 9 - August 13)

For more information on the SEE-U Program please visit our website and download our program brochure.
Contact: Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Ave., MC 5557, Schermerhorn Extension, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10027

Studio-X: Mumbai

You're Invited:

To Celebrate the Launch of

STUDIO-X MUMBAI

MARK WIGLEY Dean, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University and RAJEEV THAKKER Director, Studio-X Mumbai Invite you to the opening events for

ARCHITECTURE OF CONSEQUENCE February 10 - 13, 2010 Studio-X Mumbai Kitab Mahal Fourth Floor 192, D N Road Fort Mumbai 400 001 Please see below for event details.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW Thursday, February 10 6:30pm Reception 7:00pm SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN DESIGN with OLE BOUMAN Director, Netherlands Architecture Institute MARK WIGLEY Dean, Columbia University | GSAPP EXHIBITION OPENING Friday, February 11 6:30pm Reception with opening remarks by THE HONORABLE AHMED ABOUTALEB Mayor of Rotterdam MARK WIGLEY Dean, Columbia University | GSAPP WORKSHOP PRESENTATION AND PANEL Sunday, February 13 2:30pm Special guest critics will review the proposals of three design charrette groups comprised of local architects and activists from DCOOP, ARCHITECTURE BRIO, SP+a & RITU MOHANTY-PADORA and URBZ, Dutch designers from VENHOEVEN CS, KUIPER COMPAGNONS and NAi, and directors of GSAPP's STUDIO-X RIO and SAO PAULO LAB for how architecture can build social value and bring a positive effect to three different neighborhoods in Mumbai. 4:30pm SOCIO-ECONOMICS OF URBAN INDIA with JYOTI HOSAGRAHAR Director, Sustainable Urbanism International | GSAPP SMITA SRINIVAS Director, Technological Change Lab | GSAPP

Copyright © Studio-X Global Network Initiative | GSAPP | Columbia University 2011 All rights reserved.

Social Work Masters Fellowship Program in Jordan

The  Social Work Masters Fellowship Program for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan deadline is fast approaching.

Please remind your colleagues and students of the wonderful opportunity (information & application attached).

ELIGIBILITY
The Program does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or
disability. The competition is merit-based and open to those meeting the following criteria:

1. Resident of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
2. Hold an undergraduate degree (4 or 5 year) at application deadline with an excellent academic record;
3. Proficient in spoken and written English at the time of application;
4. Able to demonstrate professional aptitude and leadership potential in social work;
5. Committed to returning to home country after completion of the program.

NOTE: It is NOT required that you have a bachelors degree in social sciences in order to apply.
All questions should be directed to Matt Wilson: mwilson@sorosny.org

Global perspectives on the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize

The recent Nobel Peace Prize award has garnered all kinds of reactions from every corner of the globe. From the highest circles of socio-political commentary down to grassroots-level netizens, shouts of praise and cries of indignation have flooded nearly every media outlet imaginable.

Amidst the swell of this reaction, a write-up was done in the Communique, a student publication at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, which reflected some of the breadth of this spectrum through the voices of globally-minded Columbia graduate students from China, the Chinese diaspora, and the West. Read more on the Communique article here:

www.columbiacommunique.org/?p=852

Particularly as part of this article features a quote from one of your humble Global Centers blog authors, I encourage you to keep as objective a viewpoint as possible in considering the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize results. Was this decision non-partisan? To what degree do we need to contextualize our understanding in terms of macro-level factors and polarized interests?

An important thing to remember in this evaluation is the actual purpose of the Prize. According to its website, the Nobel Peace Prize seeks to award: “...the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”. How well does this year’s selection reflect this mission? More emphatically, does this year’s selection actually further its mission of encouraging “fraternity between nations” and “promotion of peace congresses”?

Thanks to the Communique and Thomas Chen for allowing the inclusion of their article.

Fund Unpaid Internships!

Learn how to fund your unpaid internship this summer!

Join Center for Career Education and Fellowships Office staff at two workshops this fall:

October 27^th from 12 – 1 pm in the CCE Conference Room

November 9^th from 2 – 3 pm in the CCE Conference Room

Taking an unpaid or low-paying internship in a field you love doesn't have to break the bank.  Attend this presentation to learn about how to find and apply for funding for unpaid opportunities, and about other strategies to make ends meet.  The Summer Interns Living and Learning Program (SILLP), the Alumni & Parent Internship Fund (APIF) and the Work Exemption Program (WEP) will also be discussed.  The Fellowships Office will join us to share helpful tips and resources.

To learn more about how to fund an unpaid internship, please visit our website.

Casual Attire.

Registration suggested in advance, but not required. To register, click here.

Resume not required.

Eligibility: This event is open to all Undergraduate and Graduate students at the following schools: Columbia College, School of General Studies, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, School of Continuing Education and School of the Arts.

Additional Questions? Contact Liz Wang at ew2261@columbia.edu.

Geng Xiao on China's Next 20 Years

Executive Director of the East Asia Global Center and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Geng Xiao, was recently featured in a number of international media venues (CCTV, China Daily, “China: The Next Twenty Years of Reform and Development”, etc.) discussing his views on the economic challenges and likely policy responses for China in upcoming years.

According to Professor Xiao, in the broadest sense the macroeconomic challenge facing China today revolves around managing its exchange, interest and inflation rates to facilitate the stable and “harmonious” growth that has been so heavily emphasized by Chinese leadership, as Western economies shrink in size relative to emerging markets.

He points to prices in Chinese non-tradable goods— unskilled labor wages, property values, etc.— rising in comparison to tradable goods, whose price are dictated by the global market. Following this trend, he predicts that over the next few decades Chinese price levels will converge toward those of the US through structural inflation or structural revaluation of the yuan— or both.

Here Professor Xiao takes a stand: that structural inflation is the better of the two avenues, and that China must in fact permit a reasonable degree of structural inflation.

As a positive claim, this approach prioritizes employment, productivity gains, wage growth and price liberalization, while preserving the benefits of a stable exchange rate in curbing speculative capital inflows and the short-term shocks that they often carry.

In a more negative sense, Professor Xiao calls on the troubled experience of Japan in prematurely appreciating its currency during the Plaza Accord of 1985, and indicates that currency appreciation as a means of adjusting trade imbalances— a common stance among US policy-makers— is a misguided notion. The huge potential for cross-border investment and debt financing between the US and China, and the potentially larger size of cross-border capital flows as compared to trade flows between the two countries over time, encourage a stable exchange rate as being in both countries’ longer-term interests. Moreover, structural inflation will ultimately lead to a real revaluation of the RMB, which will then facilitate the shift to a flexible exchange regime along the way.

Of course, tolerating structural inflation will necessitate policymaking that will mitigate distortions and shocks that will occur during the adjustment process. Chinese policymakers must deal with property and stock-market bubbles currently being formed. As Professor Xiao makes clear, this will require raising Chinese interest rates (which currently lie at dangerously low, and even negative rates in real terms), and improving capital-control mechanisms as greater capital inflows ensue.

Read more on this discussion at:

http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/China%3A+The+Next+Twenty+Years+of+Reform+and+Development/311/ch08.xhtml

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-09/08/content_11271502.htm

Review of “The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities are Reshaping the World” (Princeton University Press, 2010)

In The Great Brain Race, Ben Wildavsky, senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, and former US News & World Report education editor, delivers a comprehensive overview of the globalization of academia.

Beginning with an introduction of the phenomenon and an outline of his basic project, Wildavsky dives into an examination of international student movement, the expansion of universities into a transnational context, and the development of competitive, world-class universities around the world. Key factors at work in this examination are the sheer number of students studying abroad, the dynamic globalization models of universities such as NYU and regions such as Qatar’s Education City, and the impressive rise of top-notch universities in non-traditional locales ranging from China, to India, South Korea, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.

Wildavsky then turns to the global spread of university ranking systems, from the well-known US News & World Report, to up-and-comers like the Academic Ranking of World Universities, a research-focused publication by Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the arguably UK-centric Times Higher Education. Following the exploration of these metrics, he then assesses the rise of for-profit and online education facilities, which carry the benefits of providing readily accessible, career-oriented learning options, but suffer from questions regarding the quality of their educational services and their positive or negative impacts on the education systems around them.

While The Great Brain Race does an excellent job of examining the various angles at work in academic globalization, and while it provides many interesting facts regarding this ongoing movement, readers may find the book to be lacking as far as a core argument or motivational purpose. The introduction and final chapter of the book take a stab at establishing this sort of motivating theme, where Wildavsky discusses his worries about the obstacles facing academic globalization, and his support of its many benefits, which he stylizes as being part of a positive-sum “free trade in minds”. Despite this attempt, and in large part due to the dynamic nature and incredible breadth of his project, the book falls somewhat short of introducing a unique premise, and may instead be highlighted for its strengths as a broad-based survey and referential resource to better understand the globalization of the academic field.

Opportunities with the Global Centers in New York

Are you interested in getting more involved with international events and activities on campus? The Global Centers is hiring two workstudy-eligible students for administrative and communications support positions.  We are also looking for new bloggers to help develop the content on the blog. For all of the new students coming to campus, this is a great opportunity to learn about international studies opportunities, meet new people, and make Columbia a better place.

Contact Monique Smith at mds2180@gmail.com

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships

Global Centers Wins NRC/FLAS Grant

Columbia Global Centers is pleased to announce that it has recently been awarded a major grant by the United States Department of Education to establish a National Resource Center for Global Studies at the university. This is a significant step toward strengthening Columbia’s already robust set of international courses, events, and outreach activities. In the next four-year grant cycle, the Office of Global Centers will be implementing an array of programs including a major initiative to bring the World Leadership Forum to local K-16 schools via webcast. Funding will also be directed to the libraries, language teaching, several conferences on global topics, and course development grants.

Next month, as a part of this new program and in coordination with the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Harriman Institute, the Committee on Global Thought and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, the Global Centers will launch the International Network to Expand Regional and Collaborative Teaching (INTERACT), which will bring 5 postdoctoral fellows to campus to create innovative courses on global topics for undergraduates.

For the 2010-11 Academic Year, Columbia Global Centers has awarded Foreign Language and Area Studies  (FLAS) Fellowships to 2 undergraduate and 3 graduate students. Please contact mds2180@gmail.com for more information on Summer FLAS opportunities

Why Branch Campuses May Be Unsustainable

In this article published in International Higher Education, Dr. Philip Altbach discusses some of the reasons to think twice about the branch campus model of international expansion. Among his concerns are questions of sustainability, quality control, and long-term impact. Columbia has adopted the Global Centers model in response to the "mushrooming" of these university campuses abroad, and it is a model that addresses many of Altbach's concerns.