September 15, 2009

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – Dutchess Community College is partnering with the World Affairs Council of the Hudson Valley to host Shahid Javed Burki, the former finance minister of Pakistan and current visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics.

Burki will deliver a speech titled “Dealing with a Troubled Pakistan” on September 21 at 7 p.m. in the James and Betty Hall Theatre on DCC’s main Poughkeepsie campus.

He was a Rhodes Scholar who earned his MA from Oxford University in 1963 before undertaking graduate study at Harvard. Burki served as senior economist and later vice president at the World Bank from 1974 to 1999, taking a leave of absence from 1996 to 1997 to serve as finance minister of Pakistan. He has authored many books including his latest, “Changing Perceptions, Altered Reality: Pakistan’s Economy Under Musharraf” (2007).

Burki’s lecture will address three issues: How troubled Pakistan is today, why the country’s situation should matter to the rest of the world, especially the U.S., and how the world can help Pakistan deal with its issues.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact DCC Department of History, Government, and Economics Department Chairperson Dr. Andrew Rieser at 845-431-8513 or rieser@sunydutchess.edu, or Professor Seemi Ahmad at ahmad@sunydutchess.edu, or Martin Charwat at macharwat@yahoo.com.

Founded in 1957, Dutchess Community College is a two-year community college with more than 50 years of service to the residents of Dutchess County. Visit www.sunydutchess.edu.