Committee on Global Thought
The Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University was established in 2005 to "serve the expanded needs of knowledge and society in the twenty-first century". It was established by Lee Bollinger to work toward his goal of creating a more global university.
The name is taken from the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, a similarly interdisciplinary body (although the Chicago committee actually accepts graduate students and has degree-granting powers).
CGT is an interdisciplinary research group which focuses on the consequences of globalization and "calls for a collective reflection on the way we teach, analyze, and make our way in the world". It has piloted courses on topics including globalization, global governance, and issues of secularism and diversity. These courses are led by committee members and CGT's post-doctoral fellows. The committee also sponsors a number of events and conferences each year devoted to its focus.
Current committee members include: Joseph Stiglitz, Akeel Bilgrami, Patrick Bolton, Partha Chatterjee, John Coatsworth, Mamadou Diouf, Nicholas Dirks, Michael Doyle, Sherry Glied, Carol Gluck, Jose Antonio Ocampo, Katharina Pistor, and Saskia Sassen.
