Events
February 22, 2010
Nobel Peace Prize winner to speak on microlending
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work to reduce poverty through microloans, will present the 2010 Goodrich C. White Lecture on Wednesday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Glenn Memorial Auditorium.
The lecture, titled “The University and Creating a World Without Poverty,” is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Currently, the event is sold-out, but names may be added to a waiting list.
Renowned as “banker to the poor,” Yunus was an economics professor in his native Bangladesh when he began making small personal loans to destitute basket weavers more than 30 years ago. From this humble beginning he developed Grameen Bank into the advance guard of a world movement to eradicate poverty through microlending.
Putting entrepreneurship at the service of society, he fostered the concept of the “social business,” which he has used to develop health clinics, a nutrition program in collaboration with Dannon Yogurt, and the largest cell phone company in Bangladesh, all with the aim of helping people lift themselves out of poverty.
Gary Hauk, deputy to the president and chair of the White Lectureship Committee, said that the committee had zeroed in on Yunus because his work and compelling message are likely to appeal to a broad spectrum of the University community.
“Every generation has its inspirational leader of social transformation. In our day we are fortunate to have a person of Dr. Yunus’ insight, energy, and creative leadership addressing the vast problem of global poverty,” says Hauk.
Endowed by the DVS Senior Society, and cosponsored by the President’s Office, the White Lecture was established in memory of Emory’s 14th president, a 1908 graduate of Emory College and later dean of the College and vice president of the University. White served as president from 1942 until retiring in 1957.
—From Staff Reports
