Institute to host 4 visiting scholars

Four distinguished international scholars, including a former ambassador, will be on campus this fall, guests of the International Institute and several of its member programs.

The scholars will teach courses, give public lectures, participate in institute research circles, and meet with faculty, staff and students throughout the semester.

The scholars are: Alfred Defago, International Institute Visiting Professor, who will be in residence for the academic year; Bernhard Ebbinghaus, International Institute Visiting Professor; Paloma Aguilar, Edward Larocque Tinker Visiting Professor; and Adolfo Figueroa, Edward Larocque Tinker Visiting Professor.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about the visits of these outstanding world scholars and look forward to their contributions to Madison’s intellectual life,” says Catherine Meschievitz, the institute’s associate director.

Defago, who will teach a course on “U.S.-European Relations” in the International Studies Program this fall, was ambassador of Switzerland to the United States, 1997-2001. Before that, he was consul general of Switzerland, 1994-97. Defago has a doctorate in history and German literature from the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Ebbinghaus is a leading authority on trade unions and the relationship between welfare states and labor relations in western Europe. Ebbinghaus is senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. He will teach an advanced course in comparative industrial relations in developed countries.”

Aguilar is a distinguished scholar who has published widely on issues of democratic transitions, historical memory, and legacies of war and authoritarian regimes. She is the author of “Memory and Forgetting of the Spanish Civil War.” Aguilar is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Administration of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid. She has a doctorate in political science and sociology from the same university. She will teach a course on “The Challenge of Democratization: Memory and Politics in Post-Authoritarian Latin America and Europe.”

Figueroa is one of Latin America’s most distinguished economists. His most recent work, “The Inequality of Nations,” examines why, after decades of reform and revolution, economic inequality still persists across Latin America. Figueroa is a faculty member of the Catholic University of Peru. Figueroa will teach an interdepartmental seminar on “Income Inequality and Social Exclusion in Latin America.”

For information, contact Ronnie Hess, director of communications and publications, International Institute, (608) 262-5590.