C. Fred Bergsten, a Distinguished Alumnus of Central Methodist University and one of the leading economists in the world, will return to campus to present a lecture Friday as part of the University’s Friday Forum series. He is a 1961 CMU graduate.

The title of Dr. Bergsten’s presentation is “The Global Economic Crisis and the Obama Administration.” The lecture will begin at noon Friday in Stedman Hall Room 200. The public is invited to attend the lecture, which is part of CMU’s homecoming activities for this year.

Bergsten has been director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the only U.S. research institution devoted to global economic issues, since he created it in 1981. The Institute has a staff of about 50. Its team of senior economists is widely regarded as the best in the world and it has been called “the most influential think tank on the planet.”

Bergsten is often interviewed on such programs as the Lehrer Report on PBS Television and other national media reporting on international economic issues. He also testifies frequently before Congress.

Bergsten was previously assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department (1977-81). He also served as undersecretary for monetary affairs during 1980-81, representing the United States on the G-5 Deputies and in preparing G-7 summits. During 1969-71, Bergsten coordinated U.S. foreign economic policy in the White House as assistant for international economic affairs to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, 1972-76; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1981; and Council on Foreign Relations, 1967-68.

Presently co-chairman of the Private Sector Advisory Group to the United States-India Trade Policy Forum, Bergsten has chaired many national and international commissions, including the Eminent Persons Group of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, 1993-95, and the Competitiveness Policy Council chartered by the Congress, 1991-95. He also served as a member of two leading commissions on reform of the international monetary system: the Independent Task Force on the Future International Financial Architecture, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, 1999, and the International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission created by Congress, 2000.