The Global Marketplace and the Common Good

The signature event of the 2010-2011 Notre Dame Forum, “The Global Marketplace and the Common Good”, will feature Thomas Friedman, the influential Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist from The New York Times. Friedman has examined a wide range of subjects in his work, including globalization and worldwide economic issues, religious fundamentalism and terrorism, and the Middle East conflict. He has won three Pulitzer Prizes and has had four best-selling books, most recently The World is Flat and Hot, Flat, and Crowded, both currently best-sellers.

The event will be moderated by Norah O’Donnell, chief Washington correspondent for NBC News’ 24-hour cable channel, MSNBC. Following Friedman’s remarks, O’Donnell will moderate a roundtable discussion featuring Carolyn Y. Woo, Martin J. Gillen Dean of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business; Gary Anderson, professor of theology; and Notre Dame senior economics major Shanna Gast.

A reception in the DPAC lobby will immediately follow.

Live Event Stream:

This event will be streamed live on the Web at forum2010.nd.edu, shown on screens in the LaFortune Student Center and shown via closed-circuit broadcast on campus cable channel 13. The stream will also be broadcast live in the Mendoza College of Business’ Jordan Auditorium, accomodating up to 350 viewers on a first come, first served basis.

Discussion

The Global Marketplace and the Common Good articles

Moderator

Norah O’Donnell

Norah O’Donnell was named chief Washington correspondent for NBC News’ 24-hour cable channel MSNBC in May 2005. In addition, O’Donnell serves as a contributing correspondent for NBC’s top-rated “Today.”

O’Donnell served as White House correspondent for NBC News from September 2003 to May 2005, reporting for NBC News broadcasts, including the top-rated “Nightly News,” “Today,” and MSNBC. Prior to being named White House correspondent, O’Donnell had been NBC News’ congressional correspondent.

O’Donnell has covered a number of major breaking news stories for both NBC and MSNBC, including the September 11th terrorist attacks. She received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for a “Dateline NBC” story titled, “DC in Crisis,” on the night of September 11, 2001. O’Donnell then covered the Pentagon following the terrorist attacks. She traveled extensively with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and reported on the war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.

O’Donnell has been a correspondent with NBC News since 1999, reporting for all the news division’s broadcasts. For Decision 2000 political coverage, she reported on the Republican primaries, the Republican and Democratic conventions, and the Florida recount battle. O’Donnell was also one of the anchors on MSNBC for election night, reporting on the congressional contests.

Prior to joining NBC News, O’Donnell was a staff writer for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, where she covered Congress. She also traveled across the country to cover numerous House and Senate contests. From 1997-99, O’Donnell was also a contributor and news analyst for MSNBC.

Roundtable Participants

Carolyn Woo

Dr. Woo assumed the deanship of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame in 1997. During Dean Woo’s tenure, the Mendoza College of Business achieved the No. 1 national ranking for its undergraduate programs (Bloomberg BusinessWeek), 6th place for its Executive MBA program (The Wall Street Journal) and 20th place for its MBA program (Bloomberg BusinessWeek), as well as top rankings in Business Ethics (Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek) and Accountancy (Bloomberg BusinessWeek). Dr. Woo previously served as associate executive vice president for academic affairs at Purdue University.

Dr. Woo’s research focuses on strategy, entrepreneurship, and organizational systems. She currently serves on the boards of Aon Corp., NiSource Inc., Aileron, Catholic Relief Services, Maryknoll Sisters, and the Center for Creative Leadership. She is a member of the Board of Regents, University of Portland. Dr. Woo earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics with highest distinction and honors, a Master of Science in Industrial Administration with recognition as a Krannert Scholar, and her Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Gary Anderson

Prof. Anderson’s interests concern the religion and literature of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible with special interest in the reception of the Bible in early Judaism and Christianity. His interests span the entire Bible but more recently he has put special focus on the book of Genesis as well as priestly literature.

Anderson has won numerous awards including grants from the American Philosophical Society, Lilly Endowment, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University. His most recent book, Sin: A History (Yale University Press, 2009) treats the way in which metaphors for sin change from the First to the Second Temple period and how those changes decisively shaped the way Jews and Christians came to view the effect of sins and how they might be forgiven. This year he is a Senior Fellow at the Tikvah Center for Jewish Law and Civilization at New York University and is working on a book on the subject of charity for the poor.

Shanna Gast

Shanna Gast is a senior economics major and philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) minor originally from Overland Park, Kansas. After spending a summer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia working with physically disabled students, Gast studied for a semester in Rome before returning to the United States to focus on urban education issues. During summer 2010, she interned at the U.S. Department of Education. She is currently writing a senior thesis examining the impact of income support programs on student academic achievement. On campus, Gast helps run Teamwork for Tomorrow, a literacy program in the South Bend community, chairs the Southeast Asia working group of the International Development Research Council, and conducts research on Chinese youth culture with the Kellogg Institute. In her time both away and back in the United States, Gast has developed a passion for helping children in poverty, no matter the country.