May You Live in Interesting Times

Wayne PattersonPacific American University and Howard

UniversityBeijing, China

December 14, 2002

Pierre Trudeau

• Prime Minister of Canada

• 1967 - 1984

Norman Bethune

• came to live in China and worked with Mao Tse-Tung,

• Dr. Bethune was very helpful in developing health care throughout China

“May You Live in Interesting Times”

• in higher education today, we live in interesting times.

• The role of higher education today is changing very rapidly

• and is of greater and greater importance to each and every one of us in trying to find the path – to world peace,– to the eradication of hunger and illiteracy, and – to the elimination of such horrible diseases as

HIV/AIDS.

Howard University

• founded in 1867• created specially to serve the needs

in higher education of Black persons who had formerly been slaves

• about two kilometers from the White House and the Capitol Building in Washington

• students from over 100 countries• We are the only Historically Black

University that is classified at the highest level of research in the United States.

• We offer PhDs in 33 fields, from medicine to engineering, to science, to business, to law, to social sciences, to humanities, to the arts, to dentistry, to pharmacy, to social work, and to others

Jimmy Carter

• US President 1977-1981

• Nobel Peace Prize recipient 2002

• quoted Ralph Bunche in acceptance speech

Carter’s Quote of Bunche

• “To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only conditions that beget further war.”

Ralph J. Bunche• the first African-

American Nobel Peace Prize winner -- 1950

• founder of the Department of Political Science at Howard University

• Ralph J. Bunche Center for International Affairs at Howard

The Importance of Higher Education to World Society

• solving complex problems• explosion of information• role of the Internet

• problem-solving ability more important than specific knowledge learned

One Per Cent

• World Population Council: only one in every 100 people has the benefit of higher education

• each of us bears a responsibility to contribute in some way to those other 99% who haven’t had the opportunity

The Enron Scandals

• “cult of the CEO” • corporate takeovers and mergers

have resulted in fewer and fewer companies in a given market, and therefore much less competition and much more illegal collaboration

The Root Cause

• hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on presidential campaigns,

• politicians become more and more dependent on their donors,

• reform efforts in regulating industry are stifled.

Role Models in Industry

• Ben and Jerry’s• Grameen Bank• Levi-Strauss• Cummins Engine

Ben and Jerry’s

• operates in an environmentally sound fashion,

• contributes significant earnings to socially beneficial causes

• www.benjerry.com

Grameen Bank

• probably known to many of you as the first experience in microenterprise, devised by Professor Mohammed Yunus

• www.grameen-info.org

Levi Strauss• when its competitors were

all engaged in using “sweatshops” their production of clothing,

• Levi-Strauss sought out the poorest economic regions in the United States,

• built most of their plants there in order to stimulate the local economies

• www.levi.com

Cummins Engine

• Every year for many years, it has led the United States in the percentage of its corporate profits that are donated to charitable causes

• www.cummins.com

New Models for Higher Education

• universities are no longer the sole player in the marketplace • More money is spent in corporate training for advanced

education (Master’s and PhD-level) than is spent by universities

• growth of non-traditional programs, – distance education, – programs offered on weekends, – programs offered for commuters on their buses or trains, – programs spread over longer periods of time

• or concentrated in very short periods of time– need for post-graduate education may continue

throughout the student’s life

Think Back

– think back to some of the people I have mentioned in this address and how they diverted from their original path in life, and their original field of study:• Pierre Trudeau• Norman Bethune• Lester Wolff • Ralph J. Bunche• Mohammed Yunus• Jimmy Carter

Will one of you will become known as the successful

businessman or businesswoman? •

who also was able to contribute significantly to our understanding and success in achieving – world peace, – eliminating hunger and illiteracy, and – eradicating HIV/AIDS

Thank You

• Wayne Patterson• wpatterson@howard.edu