As of November 21, international alumni, parents, and friends made new pledges and gifts of $131 million to the BrownTogether fundraising campaign—about 11 percent of the $1.19 billion raised by the University. Donors from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Brazil, and India led international constituent giving.

The $3 billion BrownTogether fundraising campaign will allow the University to implement Building on Distinction, the strategic plan that will guide the University’s growth and development over the next decade.

Brown Ranks among Top Universities
Brown ranked 14th in the Best National Universities category in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “America’s Best Colleges.” Brown also placed 6th in the top 10 U.S. colleges with undergraduate public health programs according to College Factual.

Celebrating 25 Years of Watson
To commemorate its first quarter century and celebrate its future, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs is presenting two exhibits this fall. The first, Milestones, traces the history of the Institute, from its beginnings in the 1980s as a Cold War think tank imagined by then-Ambassador to the Soviet Union Thomas J. Watson Jr. ’37, to the present day.

CineBrasil 2016
The Brazil Initiative presented CineBrasil 2016, an annual film festival that highlights some of the best recent works in Brazilian cinema. CineBrasil this year included documentaries and feature-length films of great artistic quality. Films touched on rodeo culture and gender, the use of archival footage, indigenous culture, the borderline between acting and living, and family relations through soccer.

A Lecture on China at a Turning Point
The Department of Economics sponsored the Frederic B. Garonzik Lecture, organized by the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at Brown. Fabrizio Zilibotti, professor of macroeconomics and political economy at the University of Zurich, discussed “China at a Turning Point: The Difficult Transition from Investment-Led to Innovation-Led Growth.” Watch video

O.P. Jindal Distinguished Lecture Series on India
The Center for Contemporary South Asia presented the O.P. Jindal Distinguished Lectures featuring Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research, India’s leading think tank. He delivered two lectures titled “The Melody of Discord: The Self and History in Iqbal” and “Metaphysics of Avoidance: Self and History in Aurobindo.”

Teach-in: The Coup, the Purge, and the Future of Democracy in Turkey
Middle East Studies presented a teach-in focused on four main themes: Impact on academic freedom in universities and the health of the educational system; Future of democracy in Turkey; Geo-political consequences for the Middle East region, especially in relation to Syria and the Kurds; and U.S.-Turkish relations. Watch webcast

Provost Locke Recognized for Work on Fairness and Human Rights
The Society for Progress has named Richard Locke, provost and professor of political science and international and public affairs, recipient of one of five inaugural Progress Medals awarded to leaders across the globe for scholarship on issues of fairness and well-being. The award recognizes Locke’s work on labor justice in global supply chains and the influence and limits of private standards in integrating equity and efficiency.

Reda Awarded a JESOR Grant from Egypt
Associate Professor of Engineering Sherief Reda has been named a recipient of a JESOR grant from Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. The grant will support Reda and his collaborator Mohamed Shalan, professor at American University in Cairo (AUC), for silicon tape-outs and travel exchanges between Brown and AUC. The proposal was titled, “Open Cloud-based Digital ASIC design Environment.”

Singh Wins Book Award
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Bhrigupati Singh was recently selected by the American Academy of Religion as the recipient of the 2016 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Analytical-Descriptive Studies. The award was given for his book Poverty and the Quest for Life: Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India.

Syrian Scholars Come to Brown to Study
Through the efforts of Provost Richard Locke and others, Brown has welcomed three scholars displaced by the violence in Syria to continue their research and education. In his letter to members of the Brown community in November 2015, the provost wrote, “Brown has a proud tradition of responding to crises, locally and globally, in ways that advance our mission to contribute to the community, the nation, and the world through teaching, research, and service.”

Photo: Dr.Khaled Almilaji, a physician who has helped to lead several important medical missions during the conflict in his home country Syria, is now studying to earn a master’s in public health at Brown.
Credit: Nicholas Dentamaro/Brown University.

Student Launches a Startup Company in India
This past summer, Krishna Aluru ’17 launched a company that facilitates communication between doctors and patients in his native India. There are about 1,000 patients for every doctor in India, Aluru says, which makes post-appointment follow-up difficult. His solution, a mobile app called DocTalk, helps streamline those interactions. The company already has 2,000 customers and more than 100 participating doctors.