Heard on Campus: M. Peter McPherson at the Forum

Annemarie Mountz M. Peter McPherson, president of Michigan State University

"You start with the people, the individuals, not the government. The individual is willing to strive to get ahead just like you and I. They are willing to work hard; they want their wives and husbands and babies to live in a home and have income. I emphasize that because it's a concept we as Americans have a hard time realizing … There are limits to what they can do that are placed upon them. The job of governments and foreign aid people is to figure out how to remove those burdens. Not tell them how to do it, but remove those burdens. I think that's a lesson that is pervasive in progress we've made."
-- M. Peter McPherson, president of Michigan State University and former administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, speaking Friday on the topic "Progress Can Be Achieved in Africa" at the Penn State Forum, a speakers series sponsored by the Faculty/Staff Club at the University Park campus. McPherson has worked in numerous capacities on the growth of developing nations, including his most recent role as financial coordinator for reconstruction in Iraq.

For information on upcoming Forum speakers, visit http://www.psu.edu/dept/fsc/pennstateforum.html