By Mary Jo Frank
Office of Communications
Czech Republic President Václav Havel will receive the honorary doctor of laws degree from the University at an 11 a.m. ceremony Sept. 5 in Hill Auditorium. Following the ceremony, the playwright and statesman will participate in a panel discussion titled “Globalization’s Intellectual Challenge.”
Joining Havel on the panel to discuss globalization’s intellectual challenge will be:
Glenda Dickerson, professor of theatre and drama and head of the African American theatre minor in the School of Music. Prior to joining the U-M faculty, Dickerson was professor and chair of drama and dance at Spelman College. She also was chair of Rutgers University (Newark) Department of Theatre Arts and Television and taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Fordham University and Howard University. She has won numerous awards, including a Peabody Award for “For My People” and an Emmy nomination for “Wine in the Wilderness.”
Jan Svejnar, the U-M’s Everett E. Berg Professor of Business, professor of economics and executive director of the William Davidson Institute. Svejnar, who was born in Prague, has served as Havel’s economic adviser since 1995. Svejnar is co-founder and chair of the executive and supervisory committee of the Center for Economic and Research Graduate Education-Economic Institute in Prague, the only American-style Ph.D. program and research center in economics in Central and Eastern Europe.
Provost Nancy Cantor will open the panel discussion, which will be moderated by Michael D. Kennedy, vice provost for international affairs and director of the International Institute. Kennedy also is a fellow in the William Davidson Institute and a former director of the Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies (CREES). Kennedy is the author, editor and co-editor of several volumes on Eastern Europe and international studies.
The International Institute was founded in 1993 to advance the U-M’s leadership in research, education and service in international and area studies. CREES is part of the Institute and one of 16 U.S. Department of Education-supported national resource centers for Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Each year faculty and visiting scholars offer more than 150 courses on business, culture, demography, economics, history, languages, law, literature, politics, public policy and social organization of the region. One of its principal strengths lies in Central Europe, especially in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Noting the University’s historically strong ties with the people of Czechoslovakia and, more recently, the Czech Republic through the William Davidson Institute, the International Institute and CREES’s Czech studies programs, Bollinger said he anticipates Havel’s visit will strengthen the University’s scholarly work in the region and extend opportunities for collaboration between the U-M and artists, professionals and scholars from the Czech Republic.
Complimentary tickets for the ceremony and panel discussion will be available at the Michigan Union Ticket Office beginning Aug. 14. Ticket Office hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday and 9 a.m.–noon Saturday. The Ticket Office will be closed on Labor Day.
