The University of Pittsburgh to Present the Inaugural Burkart Holzner Lecture on International Issues Oct. 21

PITTSBURGH-In honor of Pitt Emeritus Professor Burkart Holzner, director of the University Center for International Studies from 1980 to 2000, the University of Pittsburgh will present an inaugural lecture in the Burkart Holzner lecture series on International Issues. The free public lecture, "Redirecting Technological Progress: Greener, Profitable, Sustainable," presented by Ernst von Weizsäcker, dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 21, 2500 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland.

Holzner is Distinguished Service Professor of International Studies and emeritus professor of sociology and public and international affairs at Pitt. He joined the Pitt faculty in 1960, pursuing studies in sociological theory, the sociology of knowledge, and international affairs. He taught and lectured at many universities abroad, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong; University of Augsburg, Germany; Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing; among others.

"Dr. Holzner's extraordinary contributions and commitment were instrumental in establishing the University of Pittsburgh as a leader in international education," says Lawrence Feick, Pitt senior director of International Programs, director of the University Center for International Studies, and acting director of the Global Studies Program.

Von Weizsäcker previously served as policy director at the United Nations Center for Science and Technology for Development and was director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn, Germany. He was the founding president of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy in the North Rhine/Wesphalian Science Center in Germany and served as its leader for nearly a decade. After its founding in 1991, the Wuppertal Institute became the largest climate policy think tank in Europe and earned von Weizsäcker recognition as one of the most respected climate policy experts on the continent.

Von Weizsäcker is a member of the Club of Rome, a global think tank devoted to improving society, and he served on the World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization. Prior to joining the Bren School, he chaired the Environmental Committee of the Bundestag, the German parliament, overseeing the establishment of the carbon trading regime and the introduction of a powerful incentive system for renewable energies in Germany. From 2003 to 2004, he served as Germany's representative on then prime minister Tony Blair's study group on climate policy, which prepared UK polices for the Gleneagles G8 Summit.

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