Amar Bhidé, Launch Pad Distinguished Fellow and author of the forthcoming book A Call for Judgment: Sensible Finance for a Dynamic Economy, will present a lecture on Thursday, April 8. A reception at 6 p.m. will be followed by the 7 p.m. presentation. The event will take place at Shoma Hall at the University of Miami School of Communication.

Bhidé was previously the Laurence D. Glaubinger Professor of Business at Columbia University. His new book is scheduled to be published by Oxford University Press in September. His book The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World (Princeton University Press 2008) won the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Business, Finance, and Management, and was in the “Best of 2008” lists of the Economist, BusinessWeek and Barrons. The author of The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses (Oxford 2000), and Of Politics and Economic Reality (Basic Books 1984), Bhidé been studying entrepreneurship for more than 20 years.

Bhidé is a member of the Center on Capitalism and Society and spearheaded the launch of its eponymous journal, Capitalism and Society (published by the Berkeley Electronic Press), which he now edits (with Prof. Edmund Phelps). He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Bhidé served on the faculties of Harvard Business School (from 1988 to 2000) and the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. A former Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company and proprietary trader at E.F. Hutton, Bhidé served on the staff of the Brady Commission, which investigated the stock market crash. Bhidé earned a DBA (1988) and an MBA with high distinction as a Baker Scholar (1979) from Harvard. He received a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1977.

The Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence, a partnership with Florida International University and the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Miami, with the sponsorship of the Program of Cultural Cooperation of Spain, will host Francesc Serra, of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, who will present “The EU’s Relations with Russia and Other Eastern European Countries” on Monday, March 29 from 5 to 6 p.m. at Merrick 307.

Support the Miami Hurricanes Women’s Tennis team on Tuesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. as the they take on the Brown University Bears at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the UM’s Coral Gables campus. Help the Canes support breast cancer research as Pink U tennis T-shirts will be available with any minimum donation of $10. In addition, the Canes will be wearing special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off online with proceeds benefiting breast cancer research and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities is cosponsoring the second annual Autism Awareness Forum on Monday, March 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Books and Books Coral Gables, 265 Aragon Avenue. During the event, a panel of experts will answer questions about autism and share their life experiences.

Panelists will include Jennifer Stella-Durocher, assistant director of UM-NSU CARD; Lula Folgosa, executive director of Autism Speaks: Miami-Dade; Haley Moss, author of Middle School: The Stuff Nobody Tells You About – A Teenage Girl with High Functioning Autism Shares Her Experiences; and Benjamin Lebish, financial services professional for Mass Mutual Financial Group, specializing in financial planning for individuals with disabilities. Jennifer Eldredge-Bird of Books and Books, a mother of two children with autism, will moderate the forum.

From 6 to 9 p.m. on the day of the forum, Books and Books will donate 10 percent of the evening’s sales to UM-NSU CARD and Autism Speaks.

The event is open to the community, but child care will not be provided. Parents are asked to use their discretion.For additional information, please contact Jennifer Eldredge-Bird at Books and Books at 305-442-4408 or via e-mail at [email protected]. You may also contact Natalee George Thornburgh at UM-NSU CARD at 305-284-5901 or e-mail [email protected].

The Department of International Studies and the Center for Latin American Studies will present “A System of Response: From Search and Rescue to Public-Private Partnerships in Disasters” on Tuesday, March 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Center, Flamingo Ballrooms A and B.

Panelists will include Dave Downey, assistant fire chief with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and leader of Florida Task Force 1, who recently led a search and rescue team to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to assist in the aftermath of the devastating January 12 earthquake; Carlos J. Castillo, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, a former FEMA assistant administrator and director of emergency management for Miami-Dade; and Gregg Phillips, founder of the technology company AutoGov, the Gulf Coast Relief Network, Faith and Families, and other programs designed to combine the best of grassroots program design and technology-based collaboration to deliver services to people. Sherri Porcelain, a faculty member in UM’s Department of International Studies, will moderate the forum.

The event is free and open to the public.