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Tuskegee University forum to examine economic inequality in United States

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Tuskegee University will bring together a group of nationally-recognized economists, financial analysts and policy advisers to discuss America's economic issues and future. The Brimmer Forum on Education, Economic Growth and Opportunity Will be held March 16-18 in the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center at Tuskegee University.

"The global economic crisis that started in 2008 is considered to be the second in severity to only the Great Depression of the 1930s," said Charlotte Morris, associate dean and professor at the Andrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science.

"Although the U.S. and the world economies have recovered from the depths of the crisis, there is a need for profound revision of the approach to building social policy, competitiveness, and the economy based on knowledge."

The series of panel discussions will cover America's economic outlook and inequalities. The event will feature speakers and panelists such as David G. Bronner, CEO of the State Retirement Systems of Alabama; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., president and CEO of TIAA-CREF; Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities! Valerie R. Wilson, economist and vice president of research at the National Urban League, and Esther Brimmer, J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.

Financial leaders

The keynote speaker for the event is Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. TIAA-CREF is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields and a Fortune 100 financial services organization. Ferguson is the former vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the U. S. Federal

Reserve System.

He represented the Federal Reserve on several international policy groups and served on key Federal Reserve System committees, including Payment System Oversight, Reserve Bank Operations, and Supervision and Regulations.

As the only governor in Washington, D.C. on 9/11, he led the Fed's initial response to the terrorist attacks, taking actions that kept the U.S. financial system functioning while reassuring the global financial community that the U. S. economy would not be paralyzed. He later served on President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness as well as its predecessor, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

David G. Bronner is the speaker for the forum banquet on March 17. The Retirement Systems of Alabama, is a public pension fund with assets in excess of $36 billion providing benefits for over 325,000 public employees and retirees. The RSAis ranked 117 of all private/public pension funds in the world, and 45th in the top 1,000 U.S. funds.

Organized and coordinated by the university's Brimmer College of Business and Information Science, the forum is named in honor of Andrew F. Brimmer, the first African-American to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank and a longtime member of the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees. Brimmer died in 2013.

"Dr. Brimmer was not only a consummate economist, but also remained deeply concerned about inequality, particularly racial inequality, in America," Morris said.

"The Brimmer Forum will honor the legacy of Dr. Brimmer with frank discussions on the effectiveness of generally accepted economic theories and financial institutions in addressing economic and racial inequality."



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