Lawrence H. Summers, assistant to President Obama for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, will visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Nov. 11.
Lawrence H. Summers, assistant to President Obama for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, will visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Nov. 11.
Summers will answer questions from William B. Harrison Jr., a 1966 UNC graduate and the retired chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The program is the second in UNC’s Global Research Institute series hosted by Harrison. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. was the series’ first speaker, last March.
The free public event will begin at 6 p.m. in the FedEx Global Education Center at the corner of McCauley and Pittsboro streets. Free tickets will be available in the center lobby starting at 4:30 p.m. Doors to the event will open at 5:30 p.m. Seating will be limited, but live videos of the event will be displayed elsewhere in the center and in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building auditorium next door.
Chancellor Holden Thorp will introduce Summers. “Larry Summers will bring his unique perspective as a member of the White House economic team to Carolina,” Thorp said. “It’s another opportunity for our Global Research Institute scholars and the campus community to hear from a national leader who has been directly involved in some of the most challenging economic policy-making times our nation and world ever seen.”
Summers was appointed to his present posts by President Obama in 2008. He was the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University until January 2009 and the 27th president of Harvard from July 2001 until June 2006.
From 1999 to 2001, Summers was the 71st U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, after working as deputy secretary and undersecretary of the treasury. From 1991 to 1993, he was chief economist of the World Bank.
Summers has taught economics at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research was recognized when he received the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40.
He also was the first social scientist to receive the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award for outstanding scientific achievement. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and has written extensively on economic analysis and policy, publishing more than 150 articles in professional economic journals. Summers received his bachelor’s degree from the MIT and his doctorate in economics from Harvard.
In September, the White House announced that Summers planned to return to Harvard and his post as University Professor at the end of the year.
UNC’s Global Research Institute is a concentration of Carolina and visiting international scholars who work toward solutions to key global issues. The theme of its first project is “At the Crossroads: Globalization, the Economic Crisis and the Future of North Carolina.”
The institute was recommended last year by a Global Leadership Circle, chaired by Harrison, which presented a strategic roadmap for internationalizing the University, including attracting more scholars with international expertise. For more information, visit http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2359/68/.
A $1 million gift from Harrison is funding the institute for its first three years.
Photo: http://tinyurl.com/348ej4h
Global Research Institute Contact: Peter Coclanis, coclanis@unc.edu, (919) 843-8046 News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589