McMaster Symposium 2011
The Question of Individual Liberties as Critical to Improving the Human Condition
March 30-31, 2011
Symposium Schedule
Honors Poster Hall Schedule
Over the course of the symposium we sought to examine the "individual liberties" concept from the perspective of a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to the fine arts, economics, political science, social sciences, education, peace and justice studies, communication arts, and the sciences.
Keynote Speakers
Yuri Maltsev
Professor of Economics, Carthage College - Kenosha, WI
Dr. Maltsev earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Moscow State University, and his Ph.D. in Labor Economics at the Institute of Labor Research in Moscow, Russia. Before defecting to the United States in 1989, he was a member of a senior Soviet economics team that worked on President Gorbachev's reforms package of perestroika. Prior to joining Carthage, Professor Maltsev was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., a federal research agency. His work involved briefing members of Congress and senior officials at the executive branch on issues of national security and foreign economic assessment.
Professor Maltsev has also appeared on CNN, Financial Network News, PBS Newshour, C-Span, Fox News, CBC, and other American, Canadian, and European television and radio programs. He has lectured at leading universities, corporations, banks, colleges, churches, schools, and community centers all over the world. He has authored five books and hundreds of articles in U.S. and foreign publications.
Amer Ahmed
Associate Director, Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs - Trotter Multicultural Center, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Amer is an individual with an eclectic personal and professional experience. As a spoken word poet, Hip Hop activist, intercultural diversity consultant and college administrator. He channels his diverse experiences into work geared towards effective change serving to create mutual benefit for all. Born in Springfield, Ohio, to Indian Muslim immigrants, Amer has dedicated his life to engaging and facilitating diversity across human difference. His studies in Anthropology and Black Studies have been enhanced by powerful study abroad experiences in South Africa and Nepal. Amer’s education, world experiences, and his Indian-Muslim-American upbringing help him understand the need for respect and dignity of all people.
Amer strives to be an inspiration to young people who see purpose in pursuing of their ideals. He stresses the need to identify one’s own talents, abilities in order to reach positions in which we can enact what he calls “Realistic Idealism”. Today, his work continues to prove that the Hip Hop generation has an opportunity to shape its own future though passionate energy and a dedication to create effective positive change.
