Columbia University honors Onassis Foundation
Some Greek sunlight shone in wintry Manhattan at the Pierre Hotel last Tuesday, as the Fifth Annual Global Leadership Awards from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs honored the Alexandros S. Onassis Benefit Foundation in recognition of its continuing excellence in providing global education. The dean of the school, Dr Lisa Anderson, presented the award to the foundation’s president, Stelios Papadimitriou. Awards also went to Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as assistant to the president for national security affairs to presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush, and to Kenneth J. Knuckles, president and chief executive officer of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ). In his acceptance speech, Papadimitriou stressed the fact that an important program supported by the foundation concerns the dissemination of Hellenic culture. «Classical studies do not earn the recognition of the ‘market’ and do not usually earn a ‘salary,’» he said, adding that the foundation, in supporting endangered classical studies, believes they are a must for a proper education. «I am pleased to emphasize that the program of Hellenic Studies at the Department of Classics at Columbia University is also the recipient of funds offered by the foundation for this purpose,» he said.
