On October 30, UH Mānoa Chancellor Tom Apple hosted a reception to welcome and celebrate Christina Romer, this year’s chair-holder of the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals. The reception was held in the Ethnomusicology Courtyard and was followed by a free public presentation, "What’s At Stake – Economic Issues & the Presidential Election." Chancellor Apple and College of Social Sciences dean Denise Konan thanked donors to the Inouye Chair for their role in helping to bring thought leaders of the highest caliber to our community to share their expertise and insights.
Christina Romer is one of the country’s most renowned economists, an expert on macroeconomic volatility and the causes of the Great Depression. She served as the first chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, is the recipient of numerous awards, and writes a column for the New York Times. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Romer received her Ph.D. from MIT and is currently the Class of 1957-Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics at University of California, Berkeley.
Fundamental economic questions have dominated one of the most consequential presidential election campaigns of our time. During her lecture, Romer shed light on policy choices that the winner of the presidential election will face, and offered her own evidence-based recommendations to rebuild the American economy.
The Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals engages scholars and public figures dedicated to sharing their knowledge and experiences. Held jointly in the Williams S. Richardson School of Law and the Department of American Studies in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, this visiting faculty position emphasizes democratic processes and the importance of public life while enhancing understanding of the unique context of Hawaiʻi, Asia, and the Pacific within the traditional positions of power and influence in the U.S.
The Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair honors two distinguished UH alumni who have helped shaped America. Senator Dan Inouye is a 1950 graduate, American war hero, long-time senior senator from the great state of Hawaiʻi, and champion of progressive change. His late wife Maggie was a 1946 graduate and an educator, who was dedicated to the people of Hawaiʻi and played a key role in her husband’s achievements.
Past Inouye Chair Holders have been historian John Hope Franklin, film-maker Fred Wiseman, Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya, Citi-group CEO Richard Parsons, and former U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin.
Photos by: Scott Nishi | University of Hawaiʻi Foundation
