What's New @ the Aspen Institute August/September 2009

Live @ the Institute

Featured Event   "In Their Own Words: Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke and the Birth of the Aspen Institute," a film by Greg Poschman.

Other Events   Watch video from dozens of sessions at the 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival including Bob Schieffer's interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (pictured above).

Deepak Chopra (pictured above), Tom Daschle, Mehmet Oz, and more than 100 experts participated in the Aspen Health Forum in July to discuss the most pressing health issues facing the nation and world.

The Communications and Society Program, with senior sponsorship from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, convened FOCAS 2009 on Models for Preserving American Journalism, held August 16-19 in Aspen.

Speaking at the McCloskey Speaker Series, Dan Rather calls on President Obama to form a commission on media reform. For videos from other McCloskey events click here.

Watch more clips at video.aspeninstitute.org.

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August/September 2009

Dear Friends,

Coming off a terrific summer of events in Aspen, the Institute is preparing for a fall season replete with exciting programs, including the first annual Washington Ideas Forum, co-presented with The Atlantic magazine, to be held at the Newseum; "Capitalism and the Future," a two-part program organized by the Institute’s Business and Society Program with Bloomberg Television and the New York Public Library (NY); and the Innovation Economy Conference (Washington, DC). And the launch of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Institute’s Communications & Society Program, will be the topic at another Newseum event where its findings are to be released on Oct 2. Details on these and other programs are to be found below. As always, please check our website and calendar for the most updated information about 'What's New' at the Aspen Institute. Thanks very much.

Best regards,
Jim Spiegelman
VP/Communications and Public Affairs

26th Annual Awards Dinner:

Jeffrey P. Bezos Judith Rodin

This year’s event will honor Jeffrey P. Bezos, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of Amazon.com, with the Institute's Henry Crown Leadership Award, and Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, with our Public Service Award. Anchor and Executive Editor Charlie Rose will moderate a conversation between the two honorees as part of the evening’s program.

Additionally, the second annual John P. McNulty Prize will be awarded to an extraordinary young leader of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. New York, November 5, 2009. For more information and to register, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/annualdinner or call (800) 410-3463.

Walter Paepcke Memorial Building Renovation: Auditorium Stage to be Named After the Late Governor Ann K. Richards

Ann W. Richards

The Aspen Institute is pleased to announce that the stage in the auditorium of the Walter Paepcke Memorial Building is to be named in memory of The Honorable Ann W. Richards, a trustee of the Institute for 11 years and former Governor of Texas. She was a beloved leader, humorist, and friend of the Institute. The goal is to raise $500,000, and $296,000 has been raised to date. With this appeal, we seek to recognize the woman who once said "I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone'." For donation information, please visit, http://www.aspeninstitute.org/support/paepcke or contact Becky Ward at (970)544-7925.

Upcoming Events:

The Aspen Institute and Centro Niemeyer are pleased to announce the second edition of the Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Forum. This premier convening on cultural diplomacy is an independent and worldwide program of the Institute's Global Initiative on Culture and Society. Among the featured speakers are Quincy Jones, music composer and producer, and Youssou N'Dour, entertainer. Aviles, Asturias, Spain, September 15-17, 2009. For more information about registration and the program please visit our website.

Washington Ideas Forum: Today’s major newsmakers and the nation’s top journalists will come together for two days of discussion in the nation’s capital. A partnership between The Atlantic magazine and Aspen Institute inspired by the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, the Forum will drill down on the most pressing policy issues we face, from the economy and education to health care reform and foreign policy. Among the featured speakers are General David Petraeus, Secretary Janet Napolitano, Director Larry Summers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and google CEO Eric Schmidt. Washington, DC, October 1-2, 2009; by invitation. For information, contact Jamie Miller.

Aspen Health Forum Highlights: The Aspen Health Forum featured health care industry CEO’s, policy experts, government officials and world-class medical scientists, including Nobel laureates and other voices dedicated to improving the health of our nation and world. Building on the most engaging of those conversations, this fall we present a special one-day series of panel discussions at Top of the Hill Banquet & Conference Center. Among the featured speakers are Senator Tom Daschle; Jeff Kluger, TIME magazine senior editor; Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the CDC; and David Brennan, CEO of AstraZeneca. Washington, DC, October 14, 2009. The event is free, but registration is required. To RSVP contact Ty Harris at (202) 736-5827.

Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series: Join us for the next installments of the Institute’s DC-based lunchtime book talks. To RSVP, contact Rachel Sommers.

• September 29: Peter G. Peterson, author of The Education of an American Dreamer: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Wall Street, and Beyond.
• October 6: Katty Kay, Washington correspondent for BBC World News America and Claire Shipman, senior national correspondent for ABC News, co-authors of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.
• October 29: Ken Auletta, columnist for The New Yorker magazine and author of Googled: The End of the World As We Know It.
• November 10: The New Yorker magazine architecture critic Paul Goldberger, discussing two books, Why Architecture Matters and Building Up and Tearing Down.
• November 18: Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, author of My Prison, My Home: One Woman's Story of Captivity in Iran.
• December 11: TIME magazine deputy managing editor Romesh Ratnesar, author of Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War.

Aspen Wye Fellows: The Aspen Wye Fellows, a group of Chesapeake Bay area residents who share the Institute's interest in global dialogue and play a key role in sustaining it's mission, have a great line-up of speakers for the fall season. To learn more about the Aspen Wye Fellows and how to become a member, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenwyefellows or call Bonnie Messix at (410) 820-5424.

• September 18: Ambassador Said Jawad, Afghanistan Ambassador to the United States, will explore the current military and political situation in Afghanistan.
• October 9: John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of The Vanguard Group, will focus on the economy and the economic outlook for the months ahead.
• October 25: Anastasia Petanova, Russian flutist, and Timothy Hoft, pianist, will perform a classic music concert at the Wye Woods Conference Center.
• November 13: Julia Chang Bloch, former US Ambassador to Nepal and President of the US–China Education Trust, will provide insight into US-China relations, specifically on education.
• December 12: Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson will discuss and sign his new book, American Sketches, at the annual Aspen Wye Fellows holiday party. The book is a series of portraits that celebrates the genius, talent, creativity and versatility of great Americans throughout history.

Socrates Society: A diverse group of emerging leaders (ages approximately 28 – 45) including entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and journalists, gather to engage in expert-moderated seminars on contemporary issues. Join us for one of our upcoming events around the country. For more information, contact Melissa Ingber or Azalea Millan.

• September 25-27: Socrates Seminar – Senate staffers and the public meet on “Afghanistan and Pakistan,” moderated by Steve Cohen, Brookings Institution, and Marvin Weinbaum, Middle East Institute. – Wye, MD
• October 12-15: Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO)/Socrates – seminars moderated by Jeff Rosen, and R. James Woolsey. Details at www.myypo.org/aspen2009. - Aspen, CO
• October 23-24: Socrates Salon – “Lessons Not Learned: Wall Street and the Crisis Next Time,” moderated by Kai Ryssdal, host of Marketplace, American Public Media. – Los Angeles, CA
• November 13-14: Socrates Salon – “21st Century Energy - Can it be Clean, Secure, and Affordable, or Must We Choose?" moderated by R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence. New York, NY

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy: Formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, the Knight Commission spent the past 15 months gathering testimony and deliberating on what the information needs of communities ought to be, how they are being met, and public and private measures that would help American communities better meet their information needs. The Commission will release its findings at the Knight Broadcast Studio in the Newseum. Copies of the report will be available for free download on the Aspen Institute website and on the Kindle e-reader. The launch event will be streamed over the Internet. Washington, DC, October 2, 2009; by invitation. For information, please visit http://www.knightcomm.org/ or contact Erin Silliman.

Business Awards Honor Innovators: The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program's Center for Business Education will announce the winners of the 2009 Faculty Pioneer and Dissertation Proposal Awards. The Awards hope to identify innovative research that focuses on high-impact ideas and business’ and society’s needs for employee empowerment, participative workforces, and wealth-creation. October 16, 2009. For a complete list of winners and more information go to www.aspencbe.org/awards/dissertation, or contact Justin Goldbach.

Georgetown Law-Aspen Institute Symposium : The first Symposium will feature Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master for executive compensation under the TARP. Mr. Feinberg will describe his work setting the pay for 175 top executives at seven of the nation's largest companies, which have received hundreds of billions of dollars in federal assistance to survive. Mr. Feinberg has been charged with determining the pay for top executives at American International Group, Citibank, Chrysler, General Motors, and Bank of America among others. Washington, DC, October 27, 2009; by invitation. For information, contact Meryl Chertoff.

Capitalism and the Future: The Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, in partnership with Bloomberg Television, presents its first annual public program on fresh thinking for the management of business and society. This New York-based program will begin with a conversation about “Capitalism and the Future” at the New York Public Library, as part of its popular “Live from NYPL” series. It will be followed by a day of conversations at Bloomberg Television corporate headquarters that will explore the tensions between balancing sound business and a healthy society, how to leverage the current interest in the purpose of businesses, social innovation and sustainability, new forms and rules for capital, and the changing relationship between Washington and Wall Street. New York, November 3-4, 2009. For information, contact Linda Lehrer.

Justice and Society Benefit Luncheon will celebrate 30 years of the Justice & Society Program under the leadership of Program Director Alice H. Henkin with a benefit lunch at the New York Metropolitan Club. Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer for The New Yorker and senior analyst at CNN, will lead a conversation with Harvard professor and acclaimed author, Michael Sandel, on his new book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do. The Institute will also recognize the law firm Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C. for their continued support of Justice & Society Seminar scholarships. New York, November 19, 2009; by invitation. For more information about this event please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/justice.

The Innovation Economy Conference: How can innovation get our economy back on its feet, and what should we all be doing to cultivate it? Who will pay for tomorrow's big ideas? Is the American education system up to producing the next generation of innovators? Is American economic competitiveness on the wane, and if so what's at stake? Join us in Washington DC for a leadership-level forum to tackle these and other pressing questions that have everything to do with America's future. Washington, DC, evening of November 30 - December 1, 2009. For information, contact Lidia Barabash.

The 2010 Aspen-Lindblad Expedition: Evolution, Conservation and the Galapagos: The Galápagos Islands raise out of equatorial waters a must-see destination for anyone yearning to encounter animals that hold no fear of humans. Even creatures that may seem familiar will possess distinct qualities. We will explore these enchanted islands with Lindblad Expeditions, the first organization to bring lay tourists to Galápagos. They are also at the forefront of creating innovative and sustainable methods to protect the islands’ wildlife and educate people on its ecological significance. Galapagos Islands, January 8-17, 2010. For information, contact Andrea Browne-Phillips at (202) 736-2933.

Wildlife Conservation & Human Well Being in Africa: Last October, the Aspen Institute and the African Wildlife Foundation teamed up to present an one-of-a-kind seminar about African wildlife and wildlands conservation in the context of African politics and equitable development. The combination of wildlife viewing, seminars, and special guests added a unique dimension and learning experience to the wonder of the world-class African safari. To reserve your place for 2011 or for more information, please contact Donna Horney.

Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership: Nominations are now being accepted for the next class of Aspen-Rodel Fellows. Visit our website to learn about the nomination process; contact Mickey Edwards, (202) 736-5823, for more information.

For a current listing of Institute programs and events please visit our global calendar.

Hot Off the Presses:

“Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management”: The Aspen Corporate Value Strategy Group released this bold call to action to end the focus on the value-destroying short-termism considered endemic in our markets and creating public policies that reward and enable long-term value creation for the public good. A diverse group of more than 20 business, investment, and government leaders, signed the statement which can be downloaded at www.aspeninstitute.org/bsp/cvsg. Read the September 9th Wall Street Journal article covering the statement. For more information, contact Rebecca Darr.

"The Future of News, Viewed From Aspen's Rarefied Atmosphere": Steve Outing of Editor & Publisher reports back on his weekend at the Aspen FOCAS conference, "Of the Press: Models for Preserving American Journalism."

"What Crisis?": After attending the FOCAS conference in Aspen, blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis declares that there is no crisis in news and journalism.

The Aspen Daily News published a profile of Lester Crown, the recipient of the inaugural Walter Paepcke Memorial Award.