PACIFIC DREAMS: California Gov. Gray Davis, '64, underscored Asia's importance to California's economic future at a June conference on Silicon Valley sponsored by the Asia/Pacific Research Center. Other speakers included Sabeer Bhatia, MS '93, who co-founded Hotmail, a web-based e-mail service, and venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, '88, MS '89. At least one Pacific nation -- the Philippines -- is focusing less on high tech and more on trying to "restore productivity in agriculture through government intervention," said José Trinidad Prado, minister of industry and commerce for the Philippines in a May campus appearance.
POLITICS AND VALUES: U.S. Sen. John McCain criticized the current system of funding political campaigns for "selling the country to the highest bidder" in a July speech at the Hoover Institution. McCain, who touted his own proposals for campaign finance reforms, is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry, now a Stanford professor of engineering-economic systems and operations research, spoke in late May about his path from math major to major government official. His talk was part of the lecture series "What Matters to Me and Why."
LEARNING LANGUAGE: Former U.S. Rep. Leon Panetta, who served as chief of staff in the Clinton White House and as a member of a 1979 presidential commission on foreign language education, pleaded at a conference in June for a strategy to improve foreign language skills in the United States. "The fundamental point is that overall this nation is lacking the kind of commitment that it needs to have in order to advance foreign language training," said Panetta, who learned Italian at home from his parents and grandfather.
