Author: blum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

President Clinton addresses CGIU delegates. – Lisa Veliz, 2010

UC Berkeley | March 29, 2011 – The Blum Center for Developing Economies and its Global Poverty & Practice Minor will be well represented at the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI-U) hosted at the University of California, San Diego later this week (April 1-3).

Education Director, Professor Ananya Roy, will participate in a panel entitled “Seeking Shelter: The Power of Safe and Affordable Housing.” She will join other experts to discuss the relationship between housing and poverty, highlighting smart housing projects that are addressing the shelter needs of the poor while also taking into account both social and environmental needs. Roy will also hold “Office Hours” a new innovation for the annual CGI-U meeting, that allows student delegates from across the country to conduct more in-depth conversations with panel experts.

Roy, who chairs the Blum Center sponsored Global Poverty and Practice Minor, will be joined by thirteen students from UC Berkeley who were chosen by the Clinton Foundation to attend the event.

To be selected to attend CGI-U, a student must develop a “Commitment to Action.” These commitments are specific plans to address a pressing challenge on campus, in the local community, or across the world. Students from UC Berkeley have made commitments in seven different countries on four continents to address the global challenges CGI-U has identified — Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Education, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.

Examples of these commitments include:

Education:

Melissa Barker, a fourth year Interdisciplinary Field Studies student, has committed to help make University education more accessible to under-represented and low income student parents, by working on advocacy efforts aimed at increasing affordable child care options.

Akil Mehta, a fourth year Molecular and Cell Biology student, will work with forty disadvantaged youth in Orissa, India to develop and deliver science and mathematics curriculum from the Indian Institute of Technology using desktop computers and e-notebook software.

Sana Naeem, a fourth year Near Eastern Studies and Political Science student, will recruit and train mentors for Think College Now, a Title I elementary school in Oakland, CA.

Peace and Human Rights:

Huda Adem, a fourth year Interdisciplinary Field Studies student, will develop and deliver first aid courses to displaced Eritrean refuges in Kasala, Sudan.

Poverty Alleviation:

Lauren Herman, a fifth year Peace and Conflict Studies student, will build on her previous work in rural Kenya to create and deliver microcredit and financial literacy program for fifty women in urban Kenya.

Jacquelyn Hoffman, a third year Gender and Women’s Studies student, will develop Cal Community Kitchen to bring Berkeley students together to create nutritional boxed meals for low-income families using consumable left over foods from local restaurants.

Public Health

Preeya Desai, a third year Nutritional Science student, committed to developing a Kids Outreach Program, an afterschool program that introduces nutritional education and opportunities for physical activity in San Francisco, CA.

Tsung Mou, a fourth year Molecular and Cell Biology student, will work with medical students in Solola, Guatemala to establish a program that encourages and facilitates an internal flow of Guatemalan health care professionals to serve rural and low-income communities.

Tuyen Nguyen, a third year Public Health student, will address issues of dental health in Kathmandu, Nepal by developing a community health worker and tooth care distribution program.

Melanie Silvis, a fourth year Molecular and Cell Biology student, will work with low-income Asian American communities in the Bay Area to provide screening, positive patient support and outreach for the Hepatitis B Project.

CalSolAgua, a project that was born in professor Ashok Gadgill’s “Design for Sustainable Communities” class and which received some initial funding from the Blum Center, has been chosen as a finalist for the 2011 Unreasonable Institute competition. In order to win the competition, the project will need to be one of the first teams to raise $8,000 using the online donation portal.

Visit the Unreasonable Institute to find out more about CalSolAgua and what you can do to help this local project win the competition!

by Rachel Shafer

The Blum Center for Developing Economies announced the appointment of Maryanne McCormick as its Executive Director. She will be responsible for leadership, strategic direction, and all operations for the multidisciplinary education and research center.

“It is my great privilege to be a part of the Blum Center,” says McCormick, who joined the Center in March 2008 as development director. “I look forward to continuing to work with our trustees to support our amazing students and faculty who are committed to helping the nearly three billion people who live on less than two dollars a day.”

Prior to joining the Blum Center, McCormick served as associate director of outreach for the UC Berkeley Law School, where she retains an appointment. Before moving to California, she spent over a decade in Washington, D.C., working at the intersection of technology and public policy. She holds an M.B.A. and J.D. and is a member of the California bar.
“Maryanne has proven to be a remarkably effective leader and thoughtful manager during her tenure at the Blum Center, with a dedication to our cause that is unrelenting,” says Richard Blum, founder and trustee. “We’re all thrilled with this appointment.”

The Blum Center for Developing Economies links world-class faculty, inspiring new curriculum, and innovative technologies, services and business models to create real-world solutions for developing economies. As a thriving partnership of UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, UC Davis and UC San Francisco, Blum Center innovation teams are working to deliver safe water and sanitation solutions in eight countries; life-saving mobile services throughout Africa and Asia; and new energy technologies that emphasize efficiency while reducing negative environmental impacts. The Center’s Global Poverty and Practice undergraduate academic minor is now the largest minor on campus, with nearly 400 students currently enrolled and 230 alumni. The Minor explores the ethics of global citizenship and the role that UC Berkeley undergraduates play in understanding and addressing some of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. Students from a wide variety of disciplines undertake the Minor, to complement Majors ranging from Economics to Engineering to Public Health. Students take newly developed courses and participate directly in poverty alleviation efforts in over 50 countries.

“I can’t think of a better person to serve as the Center’s Executive Director,” says S. Shankar Sastry, the Blum Center faculty director and dean of the College of Engineering. “I look forward to continuing to work with Maryanne as we execute the center’s mission of cultivating unique and highly effective educational programs and innovation initiatives to alleviate poverty.”

For more information please see http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/

Interested in Global Health? Hoping to take Public Health 112: Global Health this semester?

Sponsored by the Blum Center for Developing Economies and led by Professors Arthur Reingold and Suneeta Krishnan, this new course allows students to engage in various aspects of global health through interactive lectures by elite professors from Berkeley and other top tier universities. Students will have the opportunity to hear about the work that Nobel Laureates, scientists in the field, professors, and activists are currently engaged in within this broad arena of study via webcast twice a week: Tuesday and Thursdays from 12:00-1:30pm.

This course allows students to relate the more theoretical components of poverty and health, as these professionals share their wealth of knowledge and applications of such information, through interventions, to real life situations. This course is supplemented with a variety of lecturers who represent the departments of Public Health, City and Regional Planning, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Global Environmental Health and Population and Family Planning. Some featured guest speakers include Kirk Smith, Eric Stover, Jason Corburn, Eva Harris, Malcolm Potts and Lia Fernald.

For access to complete lectures, visit:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=2010-B-75595&semesterid=2010-B

The Global Poverty & Practice Minor is the largest Minor on the UC Berkeley campus, giving students the knowledge and real-world experience to become dynamic participants in the fight against poverty. Students take a variety of courses and participate directly in poverty intervention efforts around the world, allowing them to connect the theories and practice of global poverty alleviation. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to undertake the Minor and investigate the ways in which the requirements supplement their major field of study.

For Information about requirements for the minor, visit the Minor Requirements Page

or view the GPP Minor brochure.

Practice

The signature element of the minor is a practice experience, in which students work either locally or internationally for a minimum of 5 weeks to make a meaningful contribution to an organization and/or community. For more information about the Practice Experience visit the Practice Experience Page.

Read about some current student’s practice experiences here and see where students have completed their practice experiences below:

View GPP Minor Practice in a larger map

Declaring the Minor

Students wishing to pursue the Global Poverty and Practice Minor must submit a Minor Declaration of Intent Form. Students may declare without having taken any of the courses; additionally, there are no pre-requisites for the GPP Minor.

Declaration in the Minor will allow entry into the GPP105 core course, which is open only to declared students, as well as give priority for enrollment in Blum Center sponsored courses.

Declaration Deadlines

Spring 2013 Deadline: March 5, 2013

Contact Information and Office Hours

Advisors:
Chetan Chowdhry, Program Coordinator, 100E Blum Hall

Email: gppminor@berkeley.edu

Fall 2012 Drop-in Advising:

Monday, Wednesday: 10am – Noon; 1:30pm – 4:00pm

Tuesday, Thursday: 1:30pm – 4:00pm

100 Blum Hall

What do US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Nobel Laureate and Former US Vice President Al Gore, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson have in common?

They all are part of a month-long celebration at the University of California, Berkeley to commemorate the third anniversary of the launch of the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies. 

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new home of the Blum Center will take place on Thursday, April 23 at 1:30 pm PST – with Center Founder and UC Regents Chair Richard C. Blum joined by Former Vice President Al Gore, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, College of Engineering Dean S. Shankar Sastry, and University of California President Mark Yudof. The ceremony will be followed by a reception where faculty and students will present a wide range of innovations aimed at making lasting change for the nearly three billion people that live on less than two dollars a day.

The Blum Center is a spectacularly successful multidisciplinary research and education center devoted to delivering real world solutions to combat poverty. Founded three years ago by San Francisco financier and philanthropist Richard C. Blum, the Center has exceeded even the most optimistic predictions.

“Of all the investments I’ve made in my life, what we’re doing here certainly ranks near the top,” said Richard Blum. “Our real impact is in training the next generation of global leaders committed to making lasting change for the poor.”

Over 1500 students have participated in the Center’s classes, symposium and events. A key element of the Center’s outreach to students is its unique undergraduate academic minor in Global Poverty & Practice, which gives students the knowledge and real-world experience needed to become dynamic participants in the fight against global poverty. In only three years, the Center has become a veritable magnet for a “Yes We Can” generation, eager to make a difference both in their local community and in communities across the world. More than 210 students are already enrolled in the minor, a level not anticipated until 2015, making it the fastest growing minor on campus. These students come from more than 30 different majors including Engineering, Architecture, Business and Biology. In addition to a continuously evolving portfolio of coursework and educational programs designed to educate students about global poverty, students participate directly in poverty alleviation efforts in more than twenty five developing countries.

“The faculty and students at the Blum Center can change the world,” said Nobel Prize winner and Former Vice President Al Gore said. “Their efforts can have a truly significant impact on global poverty for years to come.”

“I am extremely proud of the exceptional work being done at the Blum Center,” stated UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. “This initiative came together at the perfect moment to speak deeply to a major concern of our students and faculty.”

Interest and enthusiasm for the Blum Center is tremendous – and thus the growth of the Center
over the last three years necessitated the creation of
a home. Richard Blum generously offered to finance the restoration of the Naval Architecture Building and the construction of a new wing to provide that home. The project is being developed by a private, non-profit organization created and funded by Richard Blum. Construction is expected to begin later this year, with project completion expected to take 16 months.

“What the Blum Center has already accomplished in just three years is nothing short of amazing,” noted George Shultz, former US Secretary of State and now a Trustee of the Blum Center.

In addition to educating the next generation of global citizens, the Center currently supports sixteen innovation initiatives involving faculty and students from more than thirty departments. These projects are expanding access to safe water and sanitation, adapting wireless technologies to increase access to lifesaving health care services and deploying new efficient energy technologies that minimize harmful environmental impacts. After successful piloting, the Center helps to transition the projects to outside partners so that the innovations will have a real and lasting impact on urgent global problems.

The person behind all this is Richard Blum. For more than thirty years, he has been devoted to alleviating global poverty by supporting practical and engaged efforts that deliver real results. Focused primarily on global poverty and education, he is Founder and Chairman of the American Himalayan Foundation (AHF), which was established 25 years ago. AHF has 170 projects providing vital healthcare, education, and environmental and cultural preservation throughout the Himalayan region. Four years ago, Mr. Blum founded the Global Economy and Development Center at The Brookings Institution and the Brookings Blum Roundtable Conference, to develop policy research and new strategies to alleviate poverty. He is also a trustee and a member of the executive committee of The Carter Center, founded by former President Jimmy Carter, and serves on the boards of William J. Clinton Foundation and The Wilderness Society.

“Dick Blum shares my belief that we all need to make a lifelong commitment to poverty alleviation, one of the challenges my Foundation tackles in Africa and Latin America as well as through the work of students who attend the
Clinton Global Initiative University,” President Bill Clinton said. “I’m pleased to see the Blum Center grow into a space where even more young people can turn their ideas and energy into action and results that benefit the common good.”
“The Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies’ commitment to combat global poverty has great potential to bring about far reaching change,” stated President Jimmy Carter, an Honorary Trustee of the Blum Center. “A new generation of global leaders dedicated to making positive change and the innovative economic development of the poorest nations inevitably will contribute to the alleviation of suffering and the creation of a more peaceful world. These ideals can and must be pursued by this and coming generations.”

Earlier this month, the Blum Center was delighted to welcome Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to speak about the rule of law in developing economies. On April 25th, the Blum Center is proud to join The American Himalayan Foundation in sponsoring an address by His Holiness the Dalai Lama entitled “Peace through Compassion.” A lecture about global health and human rights by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, will round out the month on April 29th.