2019 Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professorship Lecture
Restoring Bipartisanship in the Public and Private Sectors
During more than three decades in Washington as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the late Honorable Jacob K. Javits exemplified the highest values of public service: integrity, commitment to justice, and tolerance of different perspectives. Focused on achieving progress, he embraced bipartisanship in public affairs and a results-oriented approach to policymaking. Inspired by this legacy, Professor Michael H. Posner will examine the demise of bipartisanship in Congress today and propose a future agenda for both the legislative branch and the private sector that can help rebuild trust and a sense of common national purpose. In this context, Professor Posner will focus on the work of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, which challenges and empowers companies and future business leaders to make practical progress on human rights.
About the Speaker
Professor Michael H. Posner is the 2019 Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professor at New York University, the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU Stern School of Business, and the Director of Stern's Center for Business and Human Rights, the first human rights center at a business school.
He is recognized as a leader and expert in advancing a rights-based approach to national security, refugee and asylum law, internet freedom, and business and human rights. Prior to joining NYU Stern, Professor Posner served in the Obama Administration from 2009-2013 as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and from 1978 to 2009, he was Executive Director and then President of Human Rights First. He currently chairs the board of the Fair Labor Association, a collaborative effort of universities, civil society organizations, and socially responsible companies dedicated to protecting workers’ rights around the world. Learn more about Professor Posner and his work as Director of NYU Stern's Center for Business and Human Rights here.
About the Professorship
The Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professorship at NYU was established in 2008 with generous support from The Marian B. and Jacob K. Javits Foundation and its President and Chief Executive Officer, Marian B. Javits. The Professorship honors the memory and accomplishments of the four-term US Republican Senator from New York, the late Honorable Jacob K. Javits, an alumnus of the NYU School of Law, and perpetuates the values and intellectual integrity for which he stood. It is awarded to a distinguished individual—an academic, lawyer, policymaker, journalist, historian, philosopher, or former elected official—whose work focuses on an issue close to Senator Javits’s interests. These areas include: health, civil rights, labor, foreign policy, rights of individuals with disabilities, education, and fairness in employment and economic security for working Americans.