September 2005
President Raveché participates in high-level UN Roundtable
Stevens' president responds to invitation from UN Secretary-General
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- At the invitation of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Stevens Institute of Technology President Harold J. Raveché will participate in a special high-level roundtable to be organized at the United Nations in New York at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, in the afternoon of Tuesday, September 13, 2005, immediately after the opening of the Sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Roundtable on "Innovation and Investment: Science & Technology to Meet the Millennium Development Goals" is co-sponsored by the United Nations Millennium Project, the United Nations ICT Task Force, the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships and member states. It will focus on the critical role of science, technology and innovation, especially information and communication technologies, in scaling up grassroots, national and global responses to achieve the Millennium Development Goals within the agreed time frame. The Chair of the session will be H.E. Atta-ur-Rahman, Federal Minister and Chair of the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. Moderators will include Dato Lee Yee Cheong, President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, and Denis Gilhooly, Director, ICT and Development, United Nations.
Specifically, the roundtable will build on the special significance afforded this theme in the Secretary General's report "In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All," and build on the Millennium Project's report "Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals."
The multi-stakeholder roundtable will gather together the champions of science and technology for development from government, business, civil society and academia in an effort to stimulate continued momentum and reinforce leaders' commitment to scaling up innovation and attracting investment in support of the broader United Nations development agenda.
"Given the strategic importance of this area as an engine for poverty reduction and wealth creation in a globalizing world economy and society," said Dr. Raveché, "Stevens' invitation to participate in the UN Roundtable sends a strong message about our global solidarity and our commitment to work with governments at the highest level to enlarge freedom, and to bring technology self-sufficiency to those most in need in the cause of banishing poverty."
Among various heads of state, His Excellency Leonel Fernàndez Reyna, President of the Dominican Republic (D.R.), who last year named Dr. Raveché as the D.R.'s Presidential Advisor for Technology Issues, will participate in the roundtable discussion. Eddy Martinez, Minister of Investment and Exportation for the Dominican Republic will also participate, as will Carlos Morales Troncoso, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the D.R.
Additionally, earlier this month in San Jose, Costa Rica, before Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias and the Arias Foundation, Dr. Raveché presented a talk on "The University as Economic Driver: Academic Entrepreneurship." Costa Rica is a fast-rising nation in the area high-technology development and outsourcing.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science, management and technology management, as well as a baccalaureate in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. Located directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, the university has enrollments of approximately 1,780 undergraduates and 2,700 graduate students, and a current enrollment of 2,250 online-learning students worldwide. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.Stevens.edu.
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