UD Professor, Paul Solano, Selected to Participate in Salzburg Global Seminar

12:48 p.m., May 28, 2010----University of Delaware professors Darryl Flaherty and Paul Solano are among the leading thinkers around the globe who have been selected to participate in Salzburg Global Seminar programs this year.

The Salzburg Global Seminar is a non-governmental organization that challenges present and future leaders to solve issues of global concern. Attendees meet for intensive, week-long discussions of major international issues at the Schloss Leopoldskron, a rococo palace in Salzburg, Austria, that was the inspiration for a number of settings in the film The Sound of Music.

More than 60 UD faculty have been selected to attend, and many have been invited back to lead programs, since the Salzburg Global Seminar's inception in 1947. In 2008, Stephen Salyer, Salzburg Seminar president and CEO, and UD President Patrick Harker signed an agreement affirming and enhancing the long-term collaboration.

The University of Delaware has a long-time relationship with the Salzburg Global Seminar, a general agreement with Salzburg, and more than 60 faculty alumni -- this program is really important to us and critical to the ongoing globalization of our campus, says Lesa Griffiths, director of UD's Institute for Global Studies.

Flaherty, assistant professor of history at UD, will participate in Colleges and Universities as Sites of Global Citizenship, July 9-16. Flaherty specializes in Japanese social and political history and teaches courses in East Asian and world history.

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the challenge remains -- how to cultivate global perspectives among scholars trained to think nationally, Flaherty notes. In terms of teaching, global awareness can help students better understand their life choices -- including consumption and career choices -- in a global context.

Besides enriching his approach to East Asia in world history, Flaherty says the Salzburg Global Seminar will yield other benefits, ranging from helping him refine ideas for a graduate course in world history now in development, to increasing understanding of how the University fits into the world community as a global citizen.

Solano, associate professor of urban affairs and public policy, will participate in Reforming Health Care: Maintaining Social Solidarity and Quality in the Face of Economic, Health, and Social Challenges, Nov. 7-12.

Since I am a health economist and public finance specialist, these sessions should contribute an international perspective and be very beneficial to both my teaching/curriculum and research roles within the University, says Solano, who is director of the Health Services Policy Research Group in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy. Solano also is a participant in the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance, a collaboration of UD, Christiana Care Health System, Nemours, and Thomas Jefferson University, focused on the improvement of health and health services for all Delawareans.

Solano says he hopes to learn more about how other governments have chosen to provide access to health care, including financing mechanisms they employ and how the economy has impacted service delivery, and how health outcomes of countries are affected by their health care system.

Founded by three Harvard alumni and chartered in the United States, the Salzburg Global Seminar convenes imaginative thinkers from different cultures and institutions, organizes problem-solving initiatives, supports leadership development, and engages opinion-makers through active communication networks, all in partnership with leading institutions from around the world and across different sectors of society.

UD has been a participant since 1977, when Arno Loessner, associate professor emeritus of urban affairs and public policy, became the first faculty member to attend the Salzburg Global Seminar.

Article by Tracey Bryant Photo by Ambre Alexander

Originally published by UDaily.