A year after its official launch, the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization officially got a home Tuesday.
Yale administrators dedicated the Betts House, formerly Davies Mansion, as the Globalization Center’s new home Tuesday afternoon. The dedication followed renovations to the Prospect Street building, which were sponsored by Yale Corporation Member Roland Betts ’68 and his wife Lois Phifer Betts. At the dedication, Yale President Richard Levin also officially launched YaleGlobal, an online magazine for the center.
“We have been trusted with the responsibility not only to study globalization — but also to disseminate ideas on how to make globalization inclusive,” Globalization Center Director Ernesto Zedillo said.
The World Fellows Program, which brings international scholars to Yale for a semester, is also based in the Betts House.
The new YaleGlobal publication will be an objective, structured and “quiet place to study globalization” without pop-up advertisements, said Nayan Chanda, Director of Publications for the Center for the Study of Globalization.
Chanda said there is a lot of heated debate about globalization.
“We thought we could bring light rather than heat,” Chanda said.
The online magazine will have about three original articles a week, depending on supply, and a section for academic papers, Chanda said. It will also include articles originally published elsewhere. The site will also make all the speeches sponsored by the center accessible to people all over the world, Chanda said.
Daniel Esty, who directs the World Fellows Program, said having a building showed the program’s importance.
“The space has helped us show them how important they are to us,” Esty said. “[Yale’s] commitment to globalization — is emblematic in this building.”
The University purchased the building, located near the Divinity School on Prospect Street, from the Culinary Institute of America in 1972. But the building was not used for many years because of deferred maintenance, Levin said.
Roland Betts said the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and the World Fellows Program are some of the most important things going on at Yale.
“Serving Yale and being generous to Yale is a pleasure,” Betts said. “I’m delighted Yale is at the forefront and I am particularly glad that Ernesto Zedillo is heading it.”
Zedillo said it is important that the Center is not isolated from the rest of the University, but works with scholars and students.
“Crucial to our mission is to work with the University,” Zedillo said.
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