International leaders in the fields of mathematics, history, literary and cultural theory, and music will visit Princeton starting in the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13 as the third round of participants in the University's Global Scholars Program.
Developed as part of the University's internationalization efforts, the program is overseen by the Council for International Teaching and Research. It brings some of the world's top scholars to Princeton for various lengths of time to teach, conduct research, participate in ongoing workshops and give public presentations. A key goal of the program is to build ongoing ties between Princeton and other academic institutions around the world for opportunities such as research collaboration and faculty and student exchanges.
The three new Global Scholars named for 2011-12 are: Shige Peng, hosted by the departments of mathematics and operations research and financial engineering, and the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics; Lilia Schwarcz, hosted by the Department of History; and Slavoj Žižek, hosted by the Department of English. In addition, Donnacha Dennehy has been named a Global Scholar for 2012-13, hosted by the Department of Music.
Two other 2011-12 Global Scholars were previously announced: Rafael Rojas, hosted by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures; and Jisi Wang, hosted by Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program. In total, 11 Global Scholars have been named since the program's inception.
The following is more information on the newly appointed Global Scholars:
Peng, a professor at Shandong University in China, is a global leader in the field of probability theory and financial mathematics. At Princeton, he will help develop collaborative research activities in the area of stochastic analysis; teach short courses on backward stochastic differential equations and the theory of nonlinear expectations; help organize formal and informal seminars on probability theory and financial mathematics; co-advise undergraduate independent work and graduate student research; and collaborate on research with colleagues on campus. He also will provide support to Princeton students and colleagues who seek collaborations in China.
Schwarcz, a faculty member at the University of São Paolo, is one of Brazil's best-known intellectuals and writers. She is a historian, anthropologist, award-winning author and newspaper columnist. At Princeton, Schwarcz will advance discussion and debate on campus about Brazilian history and culture, working with faculty and students in the departments of history, anthropology, and Spanish and Portuguese languages and cultures, as well as the Program in Latin American Studies. She will co-teach and lecture in a variety of courses and develop research-oriented workshops that will be a forum for students and colleagues from Princeton and Brazil.
Žižek, a sociologist and philosopher, is one of the most influential figures in literary and cultural theory in the last 20 years. He is a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, a professor at the European Graduate School in Switzerland and the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. He will facilitate exchanges between scholars and faculty from numerous departments at Princeton and their counterparts at the University of Ljubljana, developing an interdisciplinary project to address critical ethical, political and philosophical issues of the world. He also will present lectures and seminars on "Theories of Ideology" and co-organize an international conference to explore the topic.
Dennehy, an internationally acclaimed Irish composer, is a lecturer at Trinity College in Dublin. In addition to numerous collaborations with musicians, artists and choreographers, his compositions have been commissioned by noted performers and featured in festivals worldwide. At Princeton, Dennehy will conduct graduate seminars and an undergraduate composition workshop; organize panels with students and invited collaborators; and give performances featuring his work and graduate student compositions. Dennehy also will host Princeton colleagues and students at Trinity and present a number of events in Ireland featuring the work of Princeton faculty and students.
