Pitt's Global Studies Program Announces 2005-06 Global Academic Partnership Grants

PITTSBURGH—Five Global Academic Partnership (GAP) grants of $20,000 each have been awarded by Pitt's Global Studies Program, a joint initiative of the University Center for International Studies (UCIS) and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), to support research conferences on global issues organized by faculty from two or more Pitt schools.

The GAP grants, initiated in 2001, are designed to strengthen interdisciplinary research and curriculum development regarding global themes at Pitt, while enhancing international scholarly ties.

One grant was awarded jointly to Salvatore Babones, assistant professor of sociology in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences (A&S); John Marx, professor of sociology in A&S; Siddharth Chandra, associate professor of public and international affairs in GSPIA; Mark Ginsburg, professor of administrative and policy studies in Pitt's School of Education and a professor of sociology; Ravi Sharma, assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences in Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH); and Ken Thompson, associate professor of psychiatry in Pitt's School of Medicine with a secondary appointment in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health. The team's project will support an international conference to be held in May 2006 on the relationship between societal inequality in terms of the overall distribution of resources and individual or aggregate health. The project also involves foreign partners from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) and the Singapore Management University (Tanglin).

A second grant was jointly awarded to Robert Hayden, professor of anthropology in A&S and director of Russian and East European Studies (REES) within UCIS; Richard Day, assistant professor of biostatics in GSPH; and Linda Frank, assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology in GSPH. They will convene an international workshop this spring, bringing together Russian bio-behavioral scientists concerned with controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS in the eastern region of the Russian Federation, with a large interdisciplinary group of Pitt behavioral, medical, and public health scientists. The Pitt team will partner with colleagues from the Siberian Academy of Medical Science and the Siberian Center for AIDS Prevention.

The first two grants are cosponsored by Pitt's Office of the Provost and UCIS.

John Camillus, Donald R. Beall Professor of Strategic Management and a professor of business administration in Pitt's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and Bopaya Bidanda, chair of Pitt's Department of Industrial Engineering in the School of Engineering, were awarded the third GAP grant. Their project will support a research conference on "high-end outsourcing," in which activities and functions that add significant value and are strongly knowledge-based—such as research, design, and enhanced manufacturing— are contracted out to offshore organizations. Camillus and Bidanda will collaborate with foreign partners from the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras and Kharagpur) and the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore and Ahmedabad). The award is cosponsored by Pitt's International Business Center (IBC) within the Katz School.

Recipients of the fourth GAP grant include Harold Flechtner, professor of law in Pitt's School of Law; Ronald Brand, professor of law and director of Pitt's Center for International Legal Education; and Kenneth Lehn, Samuel A. McCullough Professor of Finance in the Katz School. The project will support an October 2005 conference marking the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and will involve foreign partners from the University of Augsburg (Germany) and the University of Ghent (Belgium). Law and business professionals from around the globe will gather at the conference to discuss the development of uniform law for international business and the goal of uniform interpretation of that law, as well as its application in a manner that facilitates more predictable and efficient trade relationships. This award is cosponsored by Pitt's School of Law.

The final 2005-06 GAP grant was jointly awarded to Simon Reich, professor of public and international affairs in GSPIA and director of Pitt's Ford Institute for Human Security; Elena Baylis, assistant professor of law in the School of Law; Donna Gabaccia, Mellon Professor of History in A&S; and Ilya Prizel, UCIS research professor of East European studies. Their project will culminate with a workshop exploring the consequences of post-9/11 immigration policies on both immigrants and institutions, such as university and corporations in the European Union, Russia, and the United States. The award is cosponsored by IBC, GSPIA, Pitt's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, and the Centers for West European Studies and REES within UCIS.

The GAP grants support international research conferences and workshops that result in publications and curricular enhancements. Projects must be related to one of the six global issues studied in Pitt's Global Studies Program: sustainable development; globalized economy and global governance; changing identities in a global world; international conflict and conflict resolution; communication, technology, and society; and global health.

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