The 2009–2010 Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series
in partnership with American Express and the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy’s Ambassador John Price and Marcia Price World Affairs Lecture Series Sponsored by American Express and Westminster College

Please join us for the 2009–2010 Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series, in partnership with American Express and the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy’s Ambassador John Price and Marcia Price World Affairs Lecture Series. This lecture series is a learning-lecture experience that features distinguished speakers who are leading authorities in the fields. Their expertise is relevant to students in the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business and includes topics related to business management, leadership, social entrepreneurship, and international issues.

All lectures are free and open to the public.


Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 7:30 pm
Richard D. Erb, PhD Research Professor, Economics Department, University of Montana

The Global Financial Crisis: Toward Sustainable Recovery

What caused the global financial crisis? Can leaders around the globe restructure financial systems to promote financial stability and sustainable economic growth? With extensive monetary and financial experience, Dr. Erb, former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, will answer these questions by reviewing current economic and financial system developments.

Dr. Erb is a research professor at the University of Montana. His background includes public sector service at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the White House, the US Treasury Department, and the International Monetary Fund. He also worked at Salomon Brothers on Wall Street earlier in his career. He has published and lectured on financial and economic policy issues around the world. He is a Senior Fellow at the World Affairs Council of Montana and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 7:30 pm
Ted Galen Carpenter, PhD Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

The War on Drugs

From the coke wars in Colombia to the opium crops in Afghanistan, the international drug trade has wide policy repercussions and extends around the globe. Dr. Carpenter will address topics as diverse as the impact of anti-narcotics efforts on local populations, the links between the drug trade and international terrorism, the impact of drug policies on Americans, and the US anti-drug effort in the multilateral context.

Dr. Carpenter is the author of eight books on international issues. He is also the author of a new Cato policy study, “Troubled Neighbor: Mexico’s Drug Violence Poses a Threat to the United States.” His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, and in many other publications.

Monday, November 2, 2009, 7:30 pm
Geoffrey Tabin, MD Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Director of the Division of International Ophthalmology at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah

Himalayan Cataract Project—Restoring Sight and Economic Independence

The global distribution of visual impairment shows that 90% of the blind live in the developing world. While many public health problems cannot be prevented, one striking exception is cataracts. After summiting Mt. Everest, then coming across a Dutch team performing cataract surgery on a woman who had been needlessly blind for three years, social entrepreneur Dr. Tabin vowed to work to eliminate all preventable and treatable blindness from the Himalayan region, hoping to restore economic independence to millions.

In 1994, he co-founded, with Dr. Sanduk Ruit, the Himalayan Cataract Project, which strives to eradicate preventable and curable blindness in the Himalaya through high quality ophthalmic care, education, and establishment of a world-class eye care infrastructure. Dr. Tabin is the fourth person in the world to reach the tallest peak on each of the seven continents.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 7:30 pm
Karen Kasmauski Photographer, National Geographic

Impact: From the Front Lines of Global Health

For the last 10 years, Karen Kasmauski has captured on film the personal side of numerous global health crises: AIDS, malnutrition, and lack of immunization. In this sweeping view of the human condition, Kasmauski finds the personal stories behind the headlines, blending a warm human sensitivity with a photographer’s eye for detail to distill global issues into resonant images.

Karen Kasmauski has photographed more than 20 major stories for National Geographic, covering subjects as diverse as Appalachia, Japanese culture, and pandemics. In recent years, she has evolved as the National Geographic go-to photographer for sweeping global health stories, such as the worldwide struggle against disease, the search for an AIDS cure, the mysteries of aging, and female reproductive health. Kasmauski writes a column for Nikon World magazine and creates online features for AARP, an organization that helps people 50 and older improve the quality of their lives.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 7:30 pm Bruce McKenzie Everett, PhD Professor of Business at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 7:30 pm
Bruce McKenzie Everett, PhD Professor of Business at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service

The Quest for Sustainability: Climate Change and Economic Growth

In a world of accelerating technological and social change, we face unprecedented complexity regarding the global economy and the environmental challenges it poses. To what extent do we really understand the science of climate change? Can we address climate change through modest lifestyle changes, or are the trade-offs between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions simply too severe? Can technology save us? With over three decades of experience in the energy business as a government official, oil industry executive, teacher, and commentator on energy policy, Dr. Everett will interpret the relationship between climate change and economic growth.

Born and bred in the Boston area, and still a die-hard Red Sox fan, Dr. Everett graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and earned a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in 1980.

Monday, March 8, 2010, 7:30 pm
George Ayittey, PhD Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University in Washington DC, and President, Free Africa Foundation

Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future

Why haven’t the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated and world-renowned economist Dr. Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: Africa is poor because it is not free. Because colonial legacies and globalization present a myriad of difficulties to the continent today, Dr. Ayittey boldly proposes a new path for Africa—to modernize indigenous traditions of free enterprise, free markets, and free trade.

Dr. Ayittey is the Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University, and founder of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC, which serves as a catalyst for reform in Africa. Educated in Ghana and Canada, his publications focus on the relationship between economic development, security, and freedom in Africa. He has published five books on Africa, including Africa Betrayed, which won the 1993 H.L. Mencken Award for “Best Book for 1992.”

All lectures are free and open to the public and begin at 7:30 pm in the Vieve Gore Concert Hall in the Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory. For an accommodation, contact the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business at 801.832.2600 five business days prior to the event.



Reasonable prior notice is required to arrange accommodation for people with disabilities. Please contact the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business at 801.832.2600 if you would like to request this accommodation.