Source: Donald Wilson, 785-532-6725, dywilson@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

YALE EXPERT ON GLOBAL POVERTY AND JUSTICE TO PRESENT UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED LECTURE AT K-STATE MARCH 8

MANHATTAN -- Thomas Pogge, a professor of philosophy and international affairs at Yale University, will present "Human Rights and Global Justice" at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 8, at the Kansas State University Alumni Center.

The lecture is part of the University Distinguished Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.

Pogge has given talks on global justice issues in around 40 countries and is currently working with Incentives for Global Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing market-based, systemic solutions to health challenges faced by the world's poor. The organization aims to increase access to medicines by altering the incentives for innovation in the health sector.

"Dr. Pogge is at the forefront of important work on issues of global justice," said Donald Wilson, lecture organizer and associate professor of philosophy at K-State. "These issues are in danger of being marginalized as we face economic challenges here, but they are no less consequential now and need to be addressed in thoughtful, innovative ways. Dr. Pogge is one of the outstanding thinkers in this field and his work has practical and significant applications."

In his presentation, Pogge will touch on how several factors impact global human rights, including pollution, protectionism, intellectual property rights in pharmaceuticals, the acceptance of illicit financial flows from poor countries, and treaty and arms privileges.

Pogge earned a doctorate from Harvard University. He also is research director at the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature at the University of Oslo, Norway.

His lecture also is sponsored by the departments of philosophy, economics, human nutrition and political science and the School of Leadership Studies, as well as K-State's programs in international and area studies and African studies.