The University of Findlay - Convocation on Globalization Features Three Perspectives

The University of Findlay’s College of Liberal Arts (COLA) will host a Convocation on Globalization from 2 - 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the John and Hester Powell Grimm Theatre, located in the Egner Fine Arts Center.

All UF students, faculty and staff are invited to hear three experts from three different areas of expertise discuss globalization. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations. Michael Reed, Ph.D., COLA chair for the 2006-2007 academic year, will serve as moderator.

The issue of globalization has taken center stage as a pivotal force in driving change and innovation worldwide. In an effort to make this movement more comprehensible, the convocation aims to better define the phenomena of globalization and further enhance student and faculty understanding of it.

Speakers include Gareth Howell, Ph.D., president and CEO of the International Visitors and World Affairs councils at the Global Center of Greater Cincinnati; Hancy Pierre, UF’s Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence and dean of the College of Human Sciences at the State University of Haiti; and Joe Thomas, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religion at Ohio Northern University. Each will discuss globalization from his unique perspective.

Howell is past vice-chair of the International Employment Law Committee of the American Bar Association and was a New York Representative of the International Labor Organization. In 1996, he led a World Bank task force in Bosnia to raise $130 million to re-employ ex-combatants. He advised governments in Africa and Latin America and ran development programs in Asia. Howell also has served as an executive at Ford Motor Co. and program director of the U.N. College in Turin, Italy. Howell resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his family.

Pierre is serving as The University of Findlay’s first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the 2006-2007 academic year. He has completed work in Haitian migrant research, the urban social movement in Haiti and many other related topics and has given presentations on the epistemology of social work, the balance of social work history and the science of social work, among others. Pierre resides in Findlay with his wife and two sons.

Thomas works closely with the Center for Religious Freedom, Washington, D.C. A cross-cultural commentator on the emerging trends in religions, he has written many editorials for newspapers and has published articles, reviews and essays in dictionaries and journals. For his contributions to education, he received the 1987 Dr. Donald A. McGavran Prize from the International Institute for Development, Geneva, Switzerland. As the Asia Pacific coordinator for The Anglican Church of Canada, he was an active participant with the National Council of Churches for peace and reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula. Thomas holds a doctorate, two master’s degrees and a bachelor of science degree.