Yale Professor Receives Inaugural Award

By Phin Upham

Yale announced on Sep. 4 that the International Sociology Association (ISA) has honored Yale sociology professor Immanuel Wallerstein with the inaugural Excellence in Research and Practice Award.

He received the award because of his numerous contributions to the field of sociology, from various publications and lectureships to numerous books. Some of his books include “The Modern World-System,” “Historical Capitalism,” “The Road to Independence: Ghana and the Ivory Coast,” and “European Universalism: The Rhetoric of Power.” Wallerstein is also Binghamton University’s director emeritus of the Fernand Braudel Center.

He is the senior research scholar in Yale’s Department of Sociology, and joined the department in 2000. He was honored with the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association in 2003.

Created in March, the Excellence in Research and Practice Award will be granted every four years to a sociologist who helps promote the study and practice of sociology by exceptional contributions to the profession and the field. Wallerstein will be given the award in July 2014 at a ceremony at the World Congress of the ISA in Yokohama. From 1994 to 1998, Wallerstein served as president of the ISA.

Read the official press release:

http://news.yale.edu/2013/09/04/immanuel-wallerstein-honored-inaugural-award-international-sociological-association

CEO Longevity: Phin Upham

By Phin Upham

Here’s a new SlideShare I created from my essay “CEO Longevity.” The presentation covers the main points of William Ocasio’s essay “Political Dynamics and the Circulation of Power: CEO succession in U.S. industrial Corporations,” including the two models through which he analyses CEO longevity: The institutionalization of power model and the circulation of power view.

You may also Download the same article on below site:

http://www.slideserve.com/phinupham/ceo-longevity

http://www.slidepoint.net/v/hprk/ceo-longevity

Forest Fire Investing

By Phin Upham

How does one analyze something as complex as investing from a global perspective? Sometimes it’s easier to see what others don’t see by looking at the forest instead of the trees. For instance, if there was a contest to see which professionals could predict what would be the tallest tree in the forest ten years from now, how would different professionals approach the competition? The botanist who specializes in tree species might select the fastest growing tree. An immunologist, someone who specializes in tree disease, might notice a certain disease in the forest and select the tree that was immune to it. An expert in soil, or a pedologist, might go for the tree planted in the most fertile land.

All We Need Is a Paradigm by Phin Upham

By Phin Upham

“All We Need Is a Paradigm” is a collection of essays on science, economics, and logic from The Harvard Review of Philosophy. I had the privilege of editing this collection, which was published by Open Court Publishing Company in 2009. This book contains fourteen philosophical essays exploring topics such as physics, mathematics, and music. At the Harvard Review of Philosophy we stress the value of philosophical rigor for exploring the widest range of fields and issues. Perhaps one of the chief strengths of philosophy is that it is useful as a versatile methodology for analysis, that it can be used in conjunction with other disciplines rather than only in isolation from them.

We believe philosophy can be as enriching to the lawyer, the physicist, the craftsman, and the musician as to the professional philosopher. In particular, the authors in this collection employ philosophy to better understand important topics in the hard and social sciences. There is a burgeoning and productive study at the intersections of philosophy and science of evolving scientific paradigms and of the assumptions underlying the ‘laws of nature’. Many of the authors in this collection find philosophy particularly helpful in understanding the principles that underlie the experimental and theoretical ideas in these other fields and in unfolding and resolving the paradoxes that confound traditional approaches. Three major themes come up again and again in the essays and often lead to fruitful philosophical insight—the nature of language, the nature of causality, and the nature of human cognition. This book is on sale at Amazon and on eBay.

A Great Biography on Theodore Zoli

Considered the engineer of the moment, Theodore Zoli is a bridge builder, lead engineer, and the topic of the article “Theodore Zoli, Genius Bridge Engineer,” by Tom Chiarella. This brief but intimate biography of Zoli reveals a man who sees poetry in building bridges. In the article, Zoli discusses Hart Crane’s long poem “The Bridge,” and explains why it’s not his favorite of Hart’s poems, although most people consider it as Hart’s best work.

In addition to revealing Zoli’s love of poetry, the article sheds light on his love for building bridges. It also goes into what it takes to be a successful engineer and bridge builder today as opposed to generations ago. According to the article, the engineer of the moment must specialize in a special dance between rebuilding on what has been done before and improving ancient strategies of his profession. Zoli comments on why the George Washington Bridge is a good bridge, why the Queensboro Bridge is a bad bridge, and why the Manhattan is just a “so-so bridge.”

Read the entire article: http://www.esquire.com/features/brightest-2010/theodore-zoli-bio-1210

A Brief Biography of Phin Upham

Phin Upham is an investor for a U.S. family office / hedge fund where has worked in global macro and illiquid investing. He works mostly in San Francisco and New York City. He previously worked for Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. Phin Upham is also a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Previously, before business school, Phin Upham worked as a writer for United Press International in Washington. During his stint at UPI, Phin Upham authored a nationally syndicated column. Prior to his role at UPI, Phin Upham was a journalist for Toronto’s National Post.

For graduate school he went to Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. For college he went to Harvard University, where he studied philosophy under Robert Nozick.

Phin Upham has served in numerous community service programs. While a high school student, he taught social studies at the East Harlem Tutorial Center; in college he helped expand awareness of Caribbean and South American cultures through an anthropological institute; and for the past five years he has been an active board member of the University of the Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology’s Young Friends.

Phin Upham loves to climb mountains in New Hampshire and California.

 

To find out more about Phin Upham, visit:

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Financing and Investing Advice from Professionals

It has been considered that investing is one of the most important activities for people in the United States for decades. Investing is one of multiple ways to prepare for retirement and to make sure that you have enough money to survive off of, and live comfortably after you stop working. It's very difficult to invest on your own since market trends are hard to keep up with, so it is important to hire someone who can take care of your investments for you.

For a lot of people and companies to maximize their potential for investments, they will normally hire an investment advisor or firm to take care of their finances for them. If investments are placed badly, they normally mean you will get weak returns, or possibly no return at all and a loss of money. It's obvious that this isn't what you want to happen when you're investing the money you worked hard to make. Investing for the future is important.

Taking the first steps are always the most difficult, but it's very important to getting your financial security in order. You'll be much better off the second you start investing. The best place to get started, is your own savings.

If you want to get your finances moving in the right direction, a good starting point is to save up at least three to six months' of emergency savings. Learn what benefits your employer potentially offers for investing. This money that you will put aside can literally be a life saver when you have medical expenses that come up and have to be paid immediately. An IRA, or Individual Retirement Account, is an absolute must when you are planning for retirement. It's also very important to set up monthly deposits to your IRA account, from your bank account. When you have properly invested your money, you won't be tempted to keep the money "laying around" and available for spending.

When it comes to investing, a financial advisor is the person to consult with to get the best results. You have a very busy life, don't try to complicate things even more by trying to do your own investments, let a professional take care of them for you.