Wintersession Program

The Albright Institute brings a unique pedagogical approach to thinking and learning about the liberal arts and global affairs.

During Wintersession, the Albright Fellows attend classes with a series of prominent speakers, including Wellesley faculty, alumnae practitioners, and thought leaders from outside organizations. The Fellows work together in interdisciplinary groups on a variety of pressing international issues, which culminate in presentations to the Institute’s Distinguished Visiting Professors at the end of the Institute.

The audio from many Albright Institute lectures is available on the Institute's iTunes U site and videos are available on the Institute's YouTube channel.

Schedule for the 2013 Albright Institute

January 7, 2013

New Learning for a New World

• S. Joanne Murray ’81, Director, Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs, Wellesley College
• Video available here

The Challenges of Poverty, Equity, and Social Justice: Ethical and Practical Dimensions

• Katherine Marshall ’67, Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University
• Video available here

Why Care About Global Poverty?

• Helena de Bres, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wellesley College
• Video available here

January 8, 2013

Global Public Goods: What They Are and Why We Need Them

• Joseph P. Joyce, Professor of Economics; Faculty Director, Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs, Wellesley College
• Video available here

The Contested Legacy of Rio + 20

• Maria Ivanova, Assistant Professor of Global Governance, Co-Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Boston

Building a Better World: Leadership, the Liberal Arts, and Engineering

• Amy Banzaert, Visiting Lecturer in Engineering, Wellesley College
• Robert Berg, Professor of Physics, Wellesley College
• Franklyn Turbak, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Wellesley College

January 9, 2013

Imaginative Literature and Global Affairs.  Or, Does Literature Have Any Authority Here?

• Lawrence Rosenwald, Anne Pierce Rogers Professor of English, Wellesley College 
• Video available here

Valuable Disturbances: Two Literary Examples from South Asia

• Margery Sabin, Lorraine Chiu Wang Professor of English, Wellesley College
• Video available here

Climate Change as a Perfect Storm: Complex Science, High Stakes, and the Age of Information

• Alden Griffith, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Wellesley College 
• Video available here

January 10, 2013

Malala: Changing the Face of Pakistan and the Right to Girl's Education

• Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Director, Global Women’s Leadership Initiative, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Video available here

The Fourth Way: Power (Change or Innovation)                                  

• HRH Basmah Al-Saud, CEO/Founder, United Global Lanterns

Ethics of Decision-Making: Yours, Mine, Ours, and Theirs

• Vice Admiral Ann Rondeau (ret.), U.S. Navy; Strategy and Transformation Partner, IBM, Global Business Services
• Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben, Chaplain of the U.S. Marine Corps 
• Video availabe here

January 11, 2013

Freedom, Equality, and Democracy

• Pedro Pires, President of Cape Verde, 2001-2011
• Remarks by: Barney Frank, Former U.S. Representative, 4th District of Massachusetts
• Moderator: Layli Maparyan, Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director, Wellesley Centers for Women
• Video available here

January 12, 2013

Leading by Example: Gender, Leadership, and Communicating on the Global Stage

• Jennifer Madden, Visiting Lecturer, Wheaton College and Brown University

After WikiLeaks? Disruptive News in the Networked Age of Complexity and Uncertainty

• Charlie Beckett, Head of Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics
• Video available here

How the Social Web Works (And Why You Should Care)

• Panagiotis T. Metaxas, Professor of Computer Science
• Video available here

January 15, 2013

Big Business: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

• Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89, Executive Vice President and President of Global Healthcare, Ecolab Inc.

The Role of the Private Sector in International Development

• Patricia Sulser ’79, Chief Counsel, International Finance Corporation
• Video available here

Human Rights and the Challenge of Humanitarian Intervention

• Joshua Rubenstein, Senior Adviser, Amnesty International USA
• Video available here

Quiet Charities in Post-Conflict Societies: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Inela Selimovic, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Spanish, Wellesley College
• Video available here

January 16, 2013

Global Urbanization and Women's Health

• Vivian Pinn ’62, Senior Scientist, Emerita, Fogarty International Center, NIH; Former Director of the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (retired)
• Video available here

A Mission Both Medical and Moral: 25 Years of Partners In Health

• Ophelia Dahl ’94, Executive Director, Partners in Health
• Video available here

January 17, 2013

Complexity, Ethics, and Paradigms: Sustainability in the Built Environment

• Dan Brabander, Associate Professor and Chair of Geosciences, Wellesley College
• Robert Martello, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, Olin College

January 18, 2013

The New, New World of Journalism: The Future is Continuously Open

• Amelia Fawcett ’78, Chairman and Non Executive Director, Guardian Media Group
• Video available here

The Guts and Glory of Using Evidence to Make Decisions in Global Development

• Sarah Lucas ’92, Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Policy and Evaluation, Millennium Challenge Corporation
• Video available here

An Inside Look at Careers in Global Affairs

• Cathryn Cluver, Executive Director, The Future of Diplomacy Project, The Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
• Sarah Kalloch, Senior Advisor, Oxfam America
• Catherine Wiesner, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, U.S. Department of State    
• Video available here

January 22, 2013

Ecological Hot Spots: Forging Bright Spots for Nature

• Wendy Paulson ’69, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Albright Institute
• Brett Jenks, Chief Executive Officer, RARE
• Video available here

January 24, 2013

The United States and China in the 21st Century

• Madeleine Korbel Albright '59, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001
• Henry M. Paulson, Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 2006 - 2009
• Moderator: Cokie Roberts ’64, Senior Correspondent, ABC News & NPR   
• Video available here

​January 25, 2013

Prague Winter: A Conversation with Secretary Albright

• Madeleine Korbel Albright '59, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001
• Video available here