Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute to Speak at OVF, April 15
Jeffrey D. Sachs, PhD, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and a world-renowned expert on economic development and the fight against poverty, will deliver “The Age of Sustainable Development” at 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 15, at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The talk, part of the University’s signature lecture series, Open VISIONS Forum, is sponsored, in part, by TVEyes and Delamar.
Tickets are $45. For tickets, contact the Box Office at www.quickcenter.com or (203) 254-4010.
In addition to his post with The Earth Institute, Sachs is the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia. He is special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, co-founder and chief strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance and director of the Millennium Villages Project. Sachs is also one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates, and a commissioner of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Development.
Sachs is widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on economic development and the international fight against poverty. He has authored three New York Times bestsellers in the past decade: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). His most recent book is To Move the World: JFK's Quest for Peace (2013).
His work on ending poverty, promoting economic growth, fighting hunger and disease and promoting sustainable environmental practices has taken him to more than 125 countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s population. For more than a quarter century he has advised dozens of heads of state and governments on economic strategy, in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
“Jeff Sachs possesses a unique combination of fierce intellectual ability, boundless energy, immense scholarship, a deep commitment to addressing critical global challenges and a vision and passion that brings national leaders, renowned scientists, prominent business executives, students and activists together in pursuit of practical solutions to profound problems,” said David Downie, PhD, who teaches politics and environmental studies at Fairfield. Prior to joining Fairfield University in 2008, Downie taught courses on environmental politics at Columbia for 14 years and also served as director of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, working directly with Sachs, chair of the Roundtable.
Sachs is the recipient of many awards and honors, including membership in the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Society of Fellows, and the Fellows of the World Econometric Society. He has received more than 20 honorary degrees, and many awards and honors around the world. Sachs is also a frequent contributor to major publications such as the Financial Times of London , the International Herald Tribune , Scientific American , and Time magazine.
Prior to joining Columbia, Sachs spent more than 20 years at Harvard University, most recently as director of the Center for International Development and the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sachs received his BA, MA and PhD degrees at Harvard.
