Celebrating a decade of global engagement at the MacMillan Center

April 27 marks the 10th anniversary of the naming of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale.

To celebrate the center’s decade of global engagement, more than three-dozen special lectures, conferences, films, and other activities have been organized by the MacMillan Center’s councils, programs, and initiatives. These will take place throughout the month of April. All events are free and open to the public.

International film festival

The celebration includes a film festival featuring acclaimed, award-winning international films from each of the last 10 years: “Though I am Gone” (China, 2006); “4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days” (Romania, 2007); “Uncle Boonme” (Thailand, 2008); “Ajami” (Israel, 2009), “Poetry” (South Korea, 2010), “A Separation” (Iran, 2011), “Tabu” (Portugal, 2012), “Katiyabaaz” (India, 2013), “Timbuktu” (Mauritania, 2014), and “Embrace of the Serpent” (Colombia, 2015). Visit filmfestival.macmillan.yale.edu for screening dates, times, and information about the films.

Special panel discussions

The month-long celebration will culminate with two special panel discussions on Thursday, April 28 in Henry R. Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

The first panel, “Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses,” will take place at 3 p.m. Panelists will include Jason Lyall, associate professor of political science; Mushfiq Mobarak, professor of economics; Catherine Panter-Brick, professor of anthropology; and Margaret Peters, assistant professor of political science.

The second panel, “Global Debt: Challenges for Political Governance and Financial Stability,” will take place at 4:30 p.m. Panelists include Kathryn Dominguez, professor of public policy and economics, University of Michigan; John Geanakoplos, the James Tobin Professor of Economics; and Andrew Metrick, the Michael H. Jordan Professor of Finance and Management. A reception will follow the panels at 5:30 p.m.

Center’s increased scope and impact

“In the last 10 years, the MacMillan Center has increased its scope and impact, becoming one of the strongest institutional advocates of Yale’s internationalization,” said Ian Shapiro, the Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center and Sterling Professor of Political Science. “The events we are holding throughout April are examples of the interdisciplinary, collaborative, and innovative work we do at the center. I am pleased to thank Whitney and Betty MacMillan for their transformative support.”

For more than a half-century, the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale and its precursors have served as Yale’s focal point for teaching and research on cultures, languages, societies, institutions, and practices around the world. It draws its strength by tapping the interests and combining the intellectual resources of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of the professional schools. It provides six undergraduate majors: African studies, East Asian studies, Latin American and Iberian studies, modern Middle East studies, Russian and East European studies, and South Asian studies. At the graduate level, the MacMillan Center provides three master’s degree programs: African studies, East Asian studies, and European and Russian studies. The MacMillan Center also sponsors four graduate certificates of concentration: African studies, European studies, Latin American and Iberian studies, and Modern Middle East studies.

For more information about the MacMillan Center, visit http://macmillan.yale.edu.