GW inaugurated its new president last week, and I attended or was involved with a number of events surrounding the festivities. The highlight for me was a lunch, where the new President, the President of the Alumni Association, and a Senator who is an alum spoke. It wasn't the speeches, however, that made the lunch.
The lunch was rather made by the two undergraduates who sat at my table--one was a freshman, and one a junior. They were engaged, curious and highly intelligent, and just lots of fun to talk with. We spoke largely about potential opportunities for real estate development in China and India. The conversation centered around the fact that the challenges facing developers in these fast growing places are more grounded in politics than economic feasibility: if one can build a block of flats in Mumbai, they will sell. The issue is getting the government to give permission to build them. We also discussed the problems of property rights in China, and the remaining suspicion of foreign investment in India.
Other than a few seminars, I think the last time I taught undergraduates was 2004, when I taught 120 undergrads at Wharton. I need to get back into undergraduate teaching....
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