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The Global Economy in Turbulent Times
book

The Global Economy in Turbulent Times

by See-Yan Lin
June 2015
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
600 pages
27h 11m
English
Wiley
Content preview from The Global Economy in Turbulent Times

CHAPTER 86 The Crimson Goes Green1

I am back at Harvard, marking my fortieth anniversary at the university (crimson, by the way, is its official color). I have since attended the summer meetings of the Graduate School Alumni Council (as its chairman emeritus), the Board of the Harvard Alumni Association (regional director for Asia), and the University’s 358th Commencement—that is, graduation (representing Asia alumni on the podium). As I write from the Faculty Club, Harvard celebrated its many achievements and successes in the face of a year that has gone drastically bad for the United States. For Harvard, too; it now faces an extended period of austerity since it “lost” 30 percent of its endowment (still leaves about US$28 billion). Fortunately, its flow of contributions rose 40 percent in the first half of 2009, including a single benefactor for US$125 million. Despite this, the 373-year-old university remains committed to high-quality education. In the midst of frozen academic pay and deep cuts in expenses, new ways to support and afford scientific research are being initiated, and stipend for graduate students (its core) was modestly raised (a surprise) to ensure scholarship is sustained. A record 13 senior faculty joined the Obama administration. Harvard conferred 6,777 degrees, of which only 1,562 (23 percent) were first degrees (with only 4 percent awarded summa cum laude or first-class honors). The university remains highly competitive—only 6 percent of 29,000 applications ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119059967