Abe Lowenthal Wins 2010 Stanley T. Olafson Award

The professor of international relations at USC College and expert on global California will receive the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s oldest and most prestigious award.
ByLaurie Moore

Abe Lowenthal, a renowned expert on United States foreign policy, has been chosen to receive the World Trade Week 2010 Stanley T. Olafson Bronze Plaque Award to recognize his accomplishments in international trade.

Presented by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the award is the Chamber’s oldest and most prestigious, and honors a member of the community who has made significant contributions to the development of world trade in Southern California. 

Among his many research interests, Lowenthal, the Robert F. Erburu Professor of Ethics, Globalization and Development and professor of international relations in USC College, studies California’s global role and the international interests of the Western region of the United States.

He is the founding president, and now President Emeritus, of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a non-partisan international affairs organization focused on West Coast policy issues. In his latest book, Global California: Rising to the Cosmopolitan Challenge (Stanford University Press, 2009), Lowenthal addresses why California is at the crossroads of globalization, and how its citizens need to learn to understand and respond to global challenges and opportunities.

“I am very pleased and deeply honored that the Chamber of Commerce has chosen to recognize the work I have done at USC, with the Pacific Council on International Policy and in my book on global California to help southern Californians focus on how much is at stake in understanding and improving our region’s international connections,” Lowenthal said. “In today’s world, the local is global.”

“Abe has earned a reputation as a leader and a major scholar in the international community,” said Howard Gillman, dean of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. “The recognition of his career achievements through this award is well-deserved and a source of pride for the College.”

Lowenthal will accept the award at the 84th Annual World Trade Week Kickoff Breakfast on May 3, 2010, in Los Angeles.