Past president George Rupp to discuss global conflict

Past president George Rupp to discuss global conflict

Discussing “Local Conflicts/Global Challenge,” former Rice President George Rupp will present Scientia’s annual Bochner Lecture April 19.

Rupp will discuss how conflicts in the world today are markedly different from the dominant pattern of the past 350 years. He will show how conflicts in such countries as Sudan, Afghanistan and Congo pose a global challenge for the developed world as well as the developing world. As the president of the International Rescue Committee, Rupp will draw on his experience with the organization to outline how it works to address this global challenge.

Rupp was the fifth president of Rice from 1985 to 1993. He went on to serve as president of Columbia University after leaving Rice. Rupp received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale University. After studying at the University of Sri Lanka, he was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is also the author of four books.

The Bochner Lecture, set for 8 p.m. in McMurtry Auditorium, Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, is free and open to the public.
Scientia is an institute of Rice faculty founded in 1981 by the mathematician and historian of science Salomon Bochner. Scientia provides an opportunity for scholarly discussion across disciplinary boundaries; its members and fellows come from a wide range of academic disciplines.

This year’s Scientia series is examining the nature and origins of violent conflict, not only in modern-day warfare and throughout human history but in its evolutionary roots within other animal species. By examining a spectrum extending from the appearance of violence in images to the occurrence of competition versus cooperation in experimental gaming and bargaining experiments, lecturers are examining the causes and possible purposes of violent behavior as well as what might be done to contain violence in the future.

For more information on Scientia, visit <www.ruf.rice.edu/~scientia>.