URI Honors Colloquium to host expert on backlash against globalization

Media Contact: Dave Lavallee 401-874-2116



KINGSTON, R.I. — October 15, 2003 — A University of Pennsylvania professor will pose the question “Is Globalization Reversible?” at the University of Rhode Island’s Honors Colloquium on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

Stephen J. Kobrin, the William H. Wurster Professor of Multinational Management at UPenn’s Wharton School, will speak in Room 271 of the Chafee Social Science Center. Titled, “The Futures of Globalization,” the honors colloquium is the University’s annual free public lecture series. The Kobrin talk is sponsored by URI’s College of Business Administration.

“I am interested in the nature and impact of globalization and particularly the information revolution, on economic and political organization and governance,” Kobrin says on his UPenn web site.

His recent articles and papers have dealt with the effect of an electronically organized global economy and global electronic networks on territorial sovereignty, development and international economic negotiations.

“I am currently working on projects examining governance of cyberspace (regulating and taxing the internet) and the backlash against globalization in the context of previous protests against international investment and the multinational corporation.”

Prior to being named the William Wurster Professsor of Multinational Management, Kobrin was the director of The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies from 1994 to 2000; director of the William H. Wurster Center for International Management Studies from 1992 to 1994 and chair of the Management Department from 1989 to 1992.

A former brand manager for Procter & Gamble, Kobrin holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Among his publications are “Back to the Future: Neo-Medievalism and the Postmodern Digital World Economy” in the Journal of International Affairs; “Development After Industrialization: Poor Countries in an Electronically Integrated Global Economy,” and “Sovereignty @ Bay: Globalization, Multinational Enterprise and the International Political System,” The Oxford Handbook of International Business.

Please visit www.uri.edu/hc for the most current colloquium information and full schedule of events and directions, or contact the URI Honors Center at 401-874-2381 or debg@uri.edu.

The program’s major sponsors are: the URI Honors Program and President’s Office, The Providence Journal, Fidelity Investments, URI Foundation, URI College of Arts and Sciences and the URI College of Business Administration.

Other sponsors are the URI Office of Student Affairs, URI Alumni Association, URI Multicultural Center and URI College of Pharmacy.