Former advisors to presidents Kennedy and Johnson and a retired vice president of the International Court of Justice are among the faculty who will participate in a day-long symposium in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the MIT Center for International Studies.
"We're very proud of the center's 50 years of teaching and research. It will be a pleasure to celebrate the anniversary by welcoming the public to hear current and former faculty, as well as several distinguished guests, address these important issues," said Richard Samuels, director of the center.
Composed of four panel discussions, the symposium will take place at MIT tomorrow (May 16) in the Wong Auditorium at the Tang Center.
Participants in the event will discuss the role played by academic research in the national interest, the future of war and peace, the human rights challenges of the 21st century and the importance of global education.
Panel moderators include the CIS associate director, Stephen Van Evera; Balakrishnan Rajogopal, director of the CIS program in Human Rights and Justice; and Suzanne Berger, director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI), a CIS student internship program.
Samuels and two former CIS directors, Eugene Skolnikoff and Kenneth Oye, also will speak during the event.
CIS, which also includes the Security Studies Program, is dedicated to generating the knowledge, skills and leadership necessary to address an increasingly complex international political and economic environment.
CIS also will announce a major gift for endowment--the largest foundation gift for the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences--at a 50th anniversary celebratory dinner tonight. Thursday's symposium is free and open to the public.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 15, 2002.
