News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host an interdisciplinary conference on the global American South March 2-3 at the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center.

"Navigating the Globalization of the American South" will explore a wide variety of economic, political, cultural and social aspects of globalization in the southern United States, while seeking to further understand the implications of this regional change on the world stage.

More than 70 moderated panel presentations will examine topics such as civic and corporate responses to changing economic realities, migration and labor mobility, urban and rural market and trade adjustments in the region, educational adaptations, alterations in media, innovations in health care, as well as changing political configurations and policy responses to global repercussions across the region.

Besides moderated panel presentations and roundtables, also scheduled are daily plenary sessions, two keynote lunch speakers and an evening reception. This is the second year the conference has been held and it is being made possible with generous funding from Quintiles Transnational Corp.

"This conference is about identifying, exploring and evaluating the prevailing and contested issues of global change in the American South," said Niklaus Steiner, executive director of the University Center for International Studies, which is organizing the event in collaboration with the Center for the Study of the American South.

"It’s an exciting opportunity to bridge academics with practitioners, policy-makers and corporate leaders and make fresh contributions to the debate over globalization’s benefits, consequences and implications for this changing region of contrasts," he said.

The conference kicks off Thursday morning (March 2) with a plenary session on the role of higher education in helping society adjust to global changes. Featured discussants include Harry Watson, director of UNC’s Center for the Study of the American South, UNC President Emeritus Molly Broad and Lawrence Powell, professor and chair of history at Tulane University and executive director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Urban Community in New Orleans.

Both days will also feature keynote lunch speakers. Thursday’s will be Shannon Ravenel, co-founder and former editorial director, now director of Algonquin’s Shannon Ravenel Books Imprints. Ravenel served as series editor of "The Best American Short Stories" anthology for 14 years and inaugurated Algonquin’s annual short story anthology "New Stories From The South" in 1986. She will discuss the changing nature of literature in the South and the impact of globalization as reflected in stories from the region.

John Russell, chief administrative officer at Quintiles Transnational, will speak during the Friday lunch session on corporate leadership in the global American South. He will explore questions including what does it mean to be a corporate leader on the global stage? What are the changing opportunities for leadership and does the South have a unique role to play in providing such leadership?

Friday morning’s plenary will focus on North Carolina’s Hispanic population and its contribution to the state’s economy, featuring the key findings and authors of a newly published study conducted by UNC’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise for the North Carolina’s Bankers Association, in cooperation with the Mexican Consulate of Raleigh. Presenting their study results and conclusions will be John Kasarda, Kenan distinguished professor of management at Kenan-Flagler Business School and director of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, and James Johnson, Jr., William Rand Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of management and director of the institute’s Urban Investment Strategies Center.

This study is the first major comprehensive analysis of the state’s rapidly growing Hispanic population and its contribution of more than $9 billion to North Carolina’s economy. Axel Lluch, director of Hispanic/Latino affairs for the Office of the N.C. Governor, and Matty Lazo-Chadderton, director of Hispanic/Latino affairs for the N.C. Senate Pro Tempore’s Office, will contribute to the discussion about the study. For more information about the research, visit

http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/assets/documents/2006_KenanInstitute_HispanicStudy.pdf

For more information about the "Navigating the Global American South" conference or to register, visit http://www.ucis.unc.edu/globalsouth/conference06/index.htm

-- 30 --

Note: Media representatives are invited to attend conference sessions. For details, contact Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu