05-30-06

Media Release

OSU Business Expert To Give Inaugural 'Last Lecture'

CORVALLIS, Ore. – After three decades of inspiring students and analyzing global business trends, Oregon State University educator Steve Lawton will give the university's inaugural "Last Lecture" before his retirement this June.

Lawton's lecture, "Reflections of 30 Years on the Global Economy and OSU," is free and open to the public. It will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 8, in the OSU Memorial Union Lounge.

Sponsored by the university's Memorial Union Program Council, the Last Lecture series is intended to honor retiring faculty, while giving them a chance to present a last lecture on a topic of their choosing.

"I didn't really know what I agreed to when I consented to give this last lecture," said Lawton, an associate professor in the College of Business.

"And talk about how things have changed for me since I came here in fall of 1975," he added. "I was in Mexico when I received a telegram informing me that I had been offered a position here at Oregon State. At that time there were no personal computers, no digital technology and around the office we used mimeograph machines and constantly ran around with purple hands.

"We were fighting the issue of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nixon and the Watergate issue, and gas prices were sky-high."

In some respects, things haven't changed much, Lawton said. Gas prices are once again on the rise and President Bush's popularity rating has dropped lower than Nixon's, he pointed out.

But during the 30 years, there has been a dramatic shift in the global economy. International students who once came to the United States and sought ways to stay in the states are now getting an education and going back to hot economies in their home countries.

India and China have jumped into international markets and the end of the Cold War has touched off a ripple effect throughout the world.

"The world is fundamentally different," Lawton said. "It's an interesting time."