The theme for the Friday Forum lecture series this spring at the University YMCA will be "Creative Approaches to Global Development."

The series will offer a comparative exploration of global development models for the 21st Century, according to the University Y. Speakers will provide analysis of comparative approaches to different policy problems and the different approaches and policies offered by various countries, regions and types of institutions.

Speakers include Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research; a group from Empower African Children; Rev. Axel Gehrmann of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign; Ashwini Chhatre, a professor in the UI's Department of Geography; and several others.

Friday Forum is a free, weekly lecture series open to the public and held during the fall and spring semesters. All lectures begin on Friday at noon at the University YMCA, 1001 South Wright St., C. A sign language interpreter is available with a 72 hours notice. Contact Carol Nunn at 337-1500. All forums are radio broadcast at 6 p.m. on WEFT 90.1 the Monday following the lecture.

The schedule follows.

— Feb. 3: "Scientific Animations Without Borders: Using Mobile Media to Promote Global Development" with Barry Pittendrigh, Professor, C.W. Kearns, C.L. Metcalf and W.P. Flint Endowed Chair in Insect Toxicology at the UI.

— Feb. 10: "Art as Empowerment" with Alexis Hefley, Founder/President, Peter Kasule, Artistic Director, Peter Mugga, Audio Supervisor & Assistant Production Manager, and Rukia Nalwoga, Teacher, Empower African Children/Spirit of Uganda.

— Feb. 17: "Wisdom on Wall Street" with Gehrmann.

— Feb. 24: "From Structural Adjustment to the Post-Washington Consensus and Beyond: Paradigm Shifts in Development Aid" with Matthew Winters, professor in the UI's Department of Political Science.

— March 2: "Assisted Development: Foreign Aid in the New World" with Chhatre.

— March 9: "Comparing Religions in the Anthropocene" with Robert McKim, a professor in the UI's Department of Religion and Department of Philosophy.

— March 30: "Can Globalization Promote Human Rights?" with Rhoda Howard-Hassmann, Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights (2003); Professor, Department of Global Studies and Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University.

— April 6: "The Making of a Successful Multilateral Environmental Agreement: Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol" with Sotiria Koloutsou-Vakakis, a lecturer and research scientist in the UI's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

— April 13: "Debts and Deficits: Combating Recession in the U.S., Latin America, and Eurozone" with Weisbrot.