Life at the I-House

Great Decisions
TOPIC: Global Food Crisis

Wally Tyner, an energy economist at Purdue University who was honored in 2007 with an "Energy Patriot Award," will be at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Feb. 18 to discuss the global food supply.

The lecture, part of the Great Decisions Program, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House.

The Great Decisions Program, coordinated by the Center for International Education and funded by the Ready for the World initiative, brings speakers from around the country to campus to address our nation's most pressing foreign policy issues.

Other lectures in the series, all to be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, are:

• March 11 – Wayne Smith, senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., "Cuba after Castro."

• March 25 – John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, "The U.S. and Rising Powers."

• April 15 – Andrew Leonard, staff writer at Salon.com and "How the World Works" blogger, "Energy and the Global Economy."

Tyner is professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. His research interests include energy, agricultural and natural resource policy analysis. His work in energy economics has encompassed oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, biomass, ethanol from agricultural sources and solar energy. Most of his recent work has focused on economic and policy analysis for biofuels.

Internationally, his recent work has centered on agricultural trade and policy issues in developing economies, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa. Tyner has extensive overseas experience in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and central and eastern Europe including short-term assignments in 17 countries. He also has long-term overseas experience in India and Morocco. He is fluent in French.

Tyner and his students have received research awards from Purdue and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). In 2005, Tyner received the AAEA Distinguished Policy Contribution Award. In 2007, he received the "Energy Patriot Award" from Sen. Richard Lugar for his work on energy policy analysis.

Tyner is author or co-author of three books: "Energy Resources and Economic Development in India"; "Western Coal: Promise or Problem" (with R. J. Kalter); and "A Perspective on U.S. Farm Problems and Agricultural Policy" (with Lance McKinzie and Tim Baker). He also has written more than 200 professional papers.

All Great Decisions lectures are free. However, for $45 participants get parking for all four events, a resource book published by the Foreign Policy Association and an invitation to the receptions following the lectures.

For more information about this event or to arrange disability accommodations, contact the International House at (865) 974-4453.


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Labels: Great Decisions

KNOXVILLE -- The Great Decisions Program, coordinated by the Center for International Education and funded by the Ready for the World initiative, will bring five speakers from around the country to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, this semester to address our nation's most pressing foreign policy issues.

The series will kick off with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, speaking about Afghanistan and Pakistan at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4, in the Great Room of the International House.

Other lectures in the series, all to be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, are:

- Feb. 18 – Wally Tyner, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, "Global Food Supply."

- March 11 – Wayne Smith, senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., "Cuba after Castro."

- March 25 – John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, "The U.S. and Rising Powers."

- April 15 – Andrew Leonard, staff writer at Salon.com and "How the World Works" blogger, "Energy and the Global Economy.


Zunes, who chairs the Middle Eastern Studies program at the University of San Francisco, has made frequent visits to the Middle East and other conflict regions, where he has met with top government officials, academics, journalists and opposition leaders.

He serves as a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Zunes is a foreign affairs columnist for the National Catholic Reporter and a regular contributor to the Common Dreams Web site and Tikkun magazine. His op-ed columns have appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In addition, he has spoken at more than 80 colleges and universities and scores of community groups and is a frequent guest on National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, PBS, BBC, MSNBC and other media outlets for analysis on breaking world events. He serves as a consultant and board member for a number of peace and human rights organizations in both the United States and overseas.

Zunes is the author of many scholarly and general readership articles on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, strategic nonviolent action and human rights. He is the principal editor of "Nonviolent Social Movements" (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of the highly acclaimed "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism" (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of the forthcoming "Western Sahara: Nationalism, Conflict and International Accountability" (Syracuse University Press).

He has been a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship on Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies at Dartmouth College and a Human Rights Fellowship at the Center for Law and Global Justice at the University of San Francisco. He also has served as a research associate for the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California—Santa Cruz. He has been a recipient of a Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies as well as research grants through the Institute for Global Security Studies, the United States Institute of Peace and the International Resource Center. In the early 1990s, Zunes served as founding director of the Institute for a New Middle East Policy in Seattle. In 2002, he won recognition from the Peace and Justice Studies Association as Peace Scholar of the Year.

A native of North Carolina, Zunes received his doctorate from Cornell University, his master's degree from Temple University and his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College.

All Great Decisions lectures are free. However, for $50 participants get parking for all five events, a resource book published by the Foreign Policy Association and an invitation to the receptions following the lectures.

For more information about this event or to arrange disability accommodations, contact the International House at (865) 974-4453.

Labels: Great Decisions

The I-House hosts the Great Decisions program which is open to faculty, staff, students, and to the greater Knoxville community. Each year the program focuses on 8 to 10 of the most pressing issues and invites local, national, and international experts to discuss them. Discussion of the issues by the participants is encouraged and is a core component of the Great Decisions Program. This nationally recognized program is sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association (FPA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world.

Spring 2009 Schedule
February 4 - Stephen Zunes
February 18 - Wally Tyner
March 11 - Wayne Smith
March 25 - John Mearsheimer
April 15 - Andrew Leonard

Labels: Great Decisions

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