But he apparently sees things differently. In addition to
serving as an envoy in the Middle East, starting his own foundation and
serving as a consultant to two financial giants, Blair will soon add
another duty to his growing portfolio: teaching a seminar at Yale.
Blair — whose eldest son, Euan, will graduate this spring a
two-year master’s program in international relations at the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences — has been appointed the Howland
Distinguished Fellow for the 2008-’09 academic year, the University
announced March 7. In addition to teaching a course in the fall
semester, the former head of government will also participate in a
number of public events around campus, the University said in a
statement.
Blair’s seminar, to be organized by the School of Management
and the Divinity School, will focus on issues of faith and
globalization. The topic of the seminar reflects one of Blair’s primary
interests. The former prime minister, who finished his stint in
parliament in June, plans to launch a foundation aimed at fostering
interfaith dialogue later this year.
“As the world continues to become increasingly inter-dependent,
it is essential that we explore how religious values can be channeled
toward reconciliation rather than polarization,” University President
Richard Levin said in a statement.
“Mr. Blair has demonstrated outstanding leadership in these
areas and is especially qualified to bring his perspective to bear,”
Levin continued. “We are honored that he is planning to join the Yale
community.”
Blair’s seminar may be structured like the Studies in Grand
Strategy program, with a competitive application process, according to
a officials involved in the planning process, and the seminar is
tentatively planned to be open to students in the graduate and
professional schools as well as Yale College.
But that could change, as planning for the seminar is in the
early stages; indeed, precise details about Blair’s fellowship and the
duties it will carry remain scarce. The announcement of the former
prime minister’s appointment was not planned until at least later this
spring, but with a British newspaper about to break the story on the
eve of spring break, the University rushed out a press release with the
announcement, according to reports in the Guardian, a UK newspaper.
Yale officials first reached out to Blair more than a year ago
— before he left office — with the suggestion that he come to Yale and
teach, said Harold Attridge, the dean of the Divinity School. At that
time, Blair was not yet ready to decide on his post-office plans, Yale
officials said.
But late this past fall, an aide to Blair contacted the
University and said Blair was indeed interested in coming to Yale,
Attridge said. In particular, the former prime minister had an interest
in issues of religion and contemporary political science — an interest
that meshed with work already underway at the Yale Center for Faith and
Culture, which runs a program focused on the reconciliation of
Christians and Muslims.
Levin met with Blair at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, in January, and the former prime minister’s aides have
been working out details with the University and the faculty who will
teach the course with Blair since then.
University officials said they are overjoyed at his decision to come to Yale.
“In our communications with him, he has indicated a deep
interest in issues related to the intersection of religion with
society,” Attridge said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing
his insights on ethics, values and leadership to bear on life at the
Divinity School as we carry out our core mission of preparing leaders
for service in church and world.”
Joel Podolny, the dean of the School of Management, also released a statement praising the appointment.
“I anticipate that not only will his course focus on an
important dimension of values-based leadership, but he himself has
embodied that model of leadership in his life and his career,” Podolny
said. “At the Yale School of Management, we put tremendous emphasis on
values-based leadership… Therefore, we are doubly thrilled that the
former Prime Minister will be joining Yale as a Howland Fellow.”
The Howland Distinguished Fellowship, created in 1915,
recognizes a “citizen of any country in recognition of some achievement
of marked distinction in the field of literature or fine arts or the
science of government.”
Former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi once held the
appointment, as did composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and journalist Sir
Alistair Cooke.
In addition to his class, Blair — who British media outlets
reported in 2006 had expressed interest in setting up a school of
government at the London School of Economics — will take part in a
number of panels around campus and also will likely deliver a lecture
open to the University community, Levin said in a telephone interview
this weekend.
Those will be far from Blair’s only responsibilities; since
leaving office in June, he has kept busy. Blair is also rumored in the
European press to have an interest in becoming the first president of
the European Council, the group of leaders of the member states of the
European Union.
Even without that job, however, the former prime minister is highly active and has kept a hand in world affairs.
Most notably, Blair serves as the special envoy in the Middle
East for the so-called diplomatic quartet of the United States, Russia,
the European Union and the United Nations. The former prime minister
also serves as an adviser to Rwanda, helping the developing country
attract private investment.
Those roles are unpaid, but in several other capacities, Blair
has been able to cash in, with consulting roles at the investment bank
J.P. Morgan and the Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services.
Those two jobs, along with a lucrative spot on a lecture
circuit frequented by many former world leaders, are expected to pay
him several million dollars annually, in addition to the reported $10
million book deal he struck with Random House for his memoirs.
University officials declined to release any details about what Blair
would be paid for his teaching job, although several news reports said
his compensation would exceed $200,000.
The average tenured Yale professor earned $165,000 this year, according to the Office of Institutional Research.
In 2006, Blair’s son, Euan, who will receive his degree this
spring, received a fully paid $92,000 scholarship from the University,
which was vying with Harvard and Princeton to attract him to campus.
That scholarship offer raised controversy at the time, since Euan Blair
had middling grades as an undergraduate, and some observers speculated
that the free ride might have come with a promise from the elder Blair
that he would teach at the University.
Asked whether there was any connection between the scholarship offer and Blair’s appointment, Levin replied: “Absolutely not.”
Blair is not the first world leader whom the University has successfully lured into accepting a teaching job.
Former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo GRD ’81 embraced the
University’s overtures and is now the director of the Yale Center for
the Study of Globalization. Levin said he tried to woo Bill Clinton LAW
’73, too, at the end of his presidency, although the president turned
out to be uninterested in a teaching job.
But, still, it never hurts to ask, Levin said.
“It’s my habit,” he said. “Why not?”
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发表于 2008-4-2 23:14:00
