International Events

Emory Alumni Celebrate Israel Chapter's Inaugural Event
Last October, members of the new Emory Alumni Israel chapter held their inaugural event at the Liberty Bell Garden, Jerusalem's central city park. Created in 1976 in honor of the U.S. Bicentennial, the park holds a replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell. There are nearly 60 Emory alumni living in Israel. For more information on the Emory Alumni Association, visit www.alumni.emory.edu

Conference on International Finance
The Halle Institute's Program on Governance and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta hosted the sixth meeting of a research group on the Political Economy of International Finance (PEIF), co-sponsored by Emory's Department of Political Science and the UCLA International Institute. The conference was devoted to scholarship on the economics and politics of international monetary and financial arrangements. The papers presented addressed the effects of political risk on the behavior of multinational corporations, the effects of currency unions on monetary policy autonomy, the impact of globalization on political accountability, the influence of hard pegs on monetary and political credibility, and the role of non-economic partnerships in promoting international economic exchange. "The quality of the discussion and the mix of economists, political scientists, and policy-makers is what makes this conference so special and unique," said Mark Hallerberg, associate professor of political science at Emory University. For more information on the conference, visit www.halleinstitute.emory.edu

President Mádl of Hungary Visits Emory
"Although the official 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was held nearly a year ago," said Senior Visiting Scholar in Emory's Department of Russian and East Asian Studies Gyula Kodolányi, "the last ripples and hopes of the revolution really didn't die out until March of 1957." It was perfect timing to commemorate the revolution at Emory in March 2007. Panelists included, among others, former President of Hungary Ferenc Mádl who also spoke at the World Law Institute's inaugural conference. Launched with a dinner held at The Carter Center, Mádl and his wife Dalma presented former President Jimmy Carter with a medal as thanks for his efforts on behalf of the Hungarian people. For more information on the conference, visit www.law.emory.edu

Hunter-Gault Offers New News Out of Africa
As a member of Emory's Europe, Middle East and Africa Advisory Board (EMEA), Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault visited Emory for the Board's annual meeting and also took time as a Halle Distinguished Fellow to speak about her new book, New News Out of Africa. The first black woman to attend the University of Georgia, Hunter-Gault has lived in Africa since 1997, where she has worked as chief Africa correspondent for National Public Radio, and until 2005 as Johannesburg bureau chief for CNN. For more information on this event, visit www.halleinstitute.emory.edu

Conference on HIV/AIDS in India
Emory's South Asian Studies Program hosted an interdisciplinary conference on the question "What's Indian about HIV/AIDS in India?" India now surpasses South Africa with more than 5.2 million cases of HIV/AIDS afflicting the country's most productive age group. Over 150 leading academics and experts from India and the U.S. discussed the various ways the global community has reacted to the epidemic in India and also considered future scenarios. For more information, visit www.asianstudies.emory.edu/sa

Rushdie Delivers Sheth Lecture
Salman Rushdie delivered the first public lecture of his five-year tenure as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University. Part of the Sheth Lecture Series in Indian Studies, the lecture focused on an extraordinary set of paintings – the Hamzanama or "The Adventures of Hamza" – commissioned by the Mughal Emperor known as Akbar the Great, who was only 13 years old when he ascended to the throne in the mid 16th-century. Over the course of 15 years, 100 artists worked in teams to create 1,400 "composite" paintings bound into 14 volumes, a feat that Rushdie called "an example of what human beings can achieve when their creativity is brought together in a common cause." For more information, on the Sheth Lecture Series, visit www.asianstudies.emory.edu/sa

Emory Hosts Tibet Week
"His Holiness argues that true compassion must start from one's self – an individual who is incapable of caring for his or her own welfare will be unable to connect with others," said Halle Distinguished Fellow Geshe Thupten Jinpa, the principle English language interpreter for the Dalai Lama and Halle Distinguished Fellow, at a lecture during the an-nual Emory-Tibet Partnership sponsored Tibet Week held at Emory March 19-24.

The week began with an introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation given by the Brendan Ozawa de Silva, associate director of the Drepung Loseling Monastery. The next day marked the beginning of a five-day exhibition of sand mandala painting, during which monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery crafted an image of White Tara – a female Buddha representing enlightened wisdom – by artistically pouring millions of grains of colored sand into place and sweeping the work away on the last day. The exhibition also featured a workshop for children to participate in the joyful process of mandala sand painting.

The week's other events included a film screening of Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet as well as a lecture on Tibetan art and global culture given by Robert Barnett, director of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia University. Emory students were also given the opportunity through an information session to learn about Tibetan studies at Emory and abroad at Emory's partner institution, the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, in Dharamsala, India. For more information on Tibet Week, visit www.tibet.emory.edu