November
2008
|
| Cougar ProfilE |
 In
1982, Marvin Odum (MBA ’95) joined Shell as
an engineer. Through the years he held a range of management positions
in technical and commercial operations. Then, in May 2008, he made
his way to the very top. more |
Magazine’s 2008 Women of the Year
Includes UH’s
Nobel Women’s Initiative
The listing, which includes Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Jane Goodall and Olympians Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, is the magazine’s annual spotlight of courageous and determined women who are making a difference in the world.
“This award is recognition of the role the Nobel Women’s Initiative plays in amplifying the work of the many individual women and groups around the world who are advancing the rights of women and contributing to sustainable peace,” said Professor Jody Williams. “We couldn’t do the work we do to support women in Iran, Burma, Darfur and other countries without the contribution of the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.”
The NWI was established in 2006 by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. The organization houses its U.S. office at the UH Graduate College of Social Work, where Williams also is a distinguished lecturer.
In the more than 100-year history of the Nobel Peace Prize, only 12 women have been bestowed the honor. The founders of the NWI say the honor also is a responsibility to promote peace.
“We believe peace is much more than the absence of armed conflict. Peace is the commitment to equality and justice; a democratic world free of physical, economical, cultural, political, religious, sexual and environmental violence and the constant three of these forms of violence against women, indeed against all of humanity,” according to their Web site.
Barton Smith Symposium Addresses Economy Driven by Fear and the Unknown
During his much-anticipated biannual forecast, Barton Smith, University of Houston economics professor and director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting, focused on the future of the national and local economies during these times of great stress and fear.Smith’s sold-out presentation, “A New Administration/An Old Economy,” held at the Hyatt Regency Houston Hotel in downtown Houston, offered his assessment of the severity and longevity of the current national and global economic crises, what policy options President-elect Barack Obama will have, and how Houstonians will be affected in terms of the value of their homes, the value of their stock-oriented retirement plans and the security of their local jobs.
Smith recapped the changing state of the U.S. economy since May, noting the continuing rise in foreclosures and fall of home prices, which led to panic, the federal bailout and the stock market plunge.
On the upside, Smith noted, the plummeting commodity prices will save the average family approximately $2,250 per year in gasoline prices alone. That’s as good as another tax rebate, he said.
Smith warned that the housing market’s woes are not yet over. He discussed how long it will take for the problems in the housing and stock markets to dissipate and, perhaps even more importantly, how much weaker the national and regional labor markets are likely to become before they begin to recover.
The losses have only just begun, he said, because the global spread of recession will produce a snowball effect, in which each countries woes add to the rest.
Today’s U.S. economy is dominated by fear and the unknown, he said.
Here in Houston, Smith said, many believed the positive media coverage this summer led many to believe that Houston was immune the nation’s economic woes, even though job growth had already begun to slow, foreclosures continued and energy prices towards the end of summer had been their historic collapse.
Smith said he believes Houston’s energy industry boom will soon come to an end, pulling the rug out from under the regional economy’s most important leg.
While rejecting the notion of a depression, Smith examined a variety of more likely scenarios, all of which will have implications for Houston’s economic growth and prosperity.
They included:
- The U.S. will fall into a serious recession
- The U.S. recession will spread to the global economy
- The recessions will keep downward pressure on energy prices
He also stressed that the Federal Reserve must be put back on course, calling the Fed of Ben Bernanke “slow and directionless.”
To put the brakes on foreclosures, Smith said, buyers must be qualified; rates must be set at market value; loans must be set at current market value; payments must be ballooned when sold; and all mortgages must be federally insured.
