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Join us for an address by His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly at its 78th session, followed by a dialogue with Professor Darrick Hamilton, Founder of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy. The evening will explore the opportunities and challenges of multilateralism for advancing peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability.
This event is part of The Henry Cohen Lecture Series, which will bring leading thinkers, changemakers, policymakers, journalists, and activists to the New School to present their perspectives and explore the intersections of race, social stratification, and political economy to inspire economic and racial justice.
Presented by the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment and the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the Schools of Public Engagement at The New School.
Effective February 23, 2023, event guests and/or visitors to the New School are no longer required to provide proof of up-to-date vaccination or negative result from a PCR test and do not need to use the CLEAR app to present their vaccination status.
Wearing a mask is recommended but not required on campus.
The Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment offers graduate degrees that combine progressive theory and influential research with real-world experiences. Based in New York City, Milano is a graduate school designed for pragmatic idealists who want to leverage their passion for positive social change to become transformative leaders. Our faculty of renowned scholars and experts are deeply engaged in social, economic, and environmental issues and works actively to solve the major social and organizational challenges of our time.
Ambassador Dennis Francis has had a career spanning approximately 40 years in the Diplomatic Service of Trinidad and Tobago. For 18 of those years of unbroken service, he held the rank of ambassador until his compulsory retirement from career service in 2016. According to Mr. Francis, he has the distinction of being his country’s longest-serving ambassador.
Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and
Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political
Economy at The New School. Darrick examines social stratification and political
economy in order to move policy and practice in fundamentally new directions that promote economic inclusion, social equity, and civic engagement.
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Ambassador Dennis Francis has had a career spanning approximately 40 years in the Diplomatic Service of Trinidad and Tobago. For 18 of those years of unbroken service, he held the rank of ambassador until his compulsory retirement from career service in 2016. According to Mr. Francis, he has the distinction of being his country’s longest-serving ambassador. Before demitting office as Director of Multilateral Relations, he functioned as Senior Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on all multilateral-level matters, including climate change and the negotiations on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
His transfer back to Port of Spain in 2011 capped Ambassador Francis’ posting as Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Geneva, as well as Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization and to the UN Human Rights Council. He was also accredited concurrently to the U.N. Specialized Agencies in Vienna and Rome, besides having bilateral accreditation as Ambassador to Austria and Italy. Ambassador Francis was also appointed Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.
In 2010 at a period of renewed engagement in Multilateral Trade Negotiations, Ambassador Francis was elected to the sensitive Chairmanship of the Negotiating Group on Rules of the WTO, namely Anti-Dumping, Subsidies and Countervailing Duties and Fisheries Subsidies. He also served as Chairman of the Committee on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in Regular Session as well as Chairman of the Commonwealth Group of Developing Countries (2007/8).
He has led many national delegations including to the First Universal Periodic Review of Trinidad and Tobago in the UN Human Rights Council in October 2011 and to UNCTAD 12, which was held in Accra, Ghana in 2008.
Ambassador Francis’ assignment in Geneva in 2006 followed a seven-year tour of duty as High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago to Jamaica and Permanent Representative to the International Seabed Authority. During this period, Ambassador Francis was also accredited as Ambassador (non-resident) to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba. When he demitted office in Jamaica, he had held the position of Dean of the Diplomatic Corps for almost two years. Ambassador Francis took an active interest in the issues before the International Seabed Authority, leading to his election to the Chairmanship of the Assembly in 2003.
In July of 2021, he completed a three-year assignment as Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO.
Ambassador Francis co-facilitated a training course entitled “Protocol and Diplomacy: A Guide for the Modern Professional,” at the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean; an institution in the conceptualization of which he was intimately involved as Lead Technical Adviser to the Foreign Minister. In 2018, Ambassador Francis also co-authored a book entitled “Heads of Mission-A Handbook,” which has received regional and international acclaim. In 2020, Ambassador Francis returned to The University of the West Indies, his alma mater, as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Relations at the St. Augustine Campus. He is also a graduate of The School of Advanced International Studies, the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. (1985).
Ambassador Francis is married to his best friend, Joy Thomas-Francis and they have three adult sons.
Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and
Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political
Economy at The New School. Darrick examines social stratification and political
economy in order to move policy and practice in fundamentally new directions that
promote economic inclusion, social equity, and civic engagement.
Considered one of the nation’s foremost public intellectuals, Darrick has been profiled in
the New York Times, Mother Jones, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2017, he was
featured in Politico's50 Ideas Shaping American Politics and the People Behind Them
issue. In 2020, Darrick was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey
Foundation and the Group Health Foundation.
Darrick has been involved in crafting policy proposals that have garnered media
attention and inspired legislative proposals at the federal, state, and local levels,
including baby bonds, guaranteed income, and a federal job guarantee. In 2020, Darrick
served as a member of the economic committee of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task
Force. He has testified before several Senate and House committees, including the
Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Banking Committee.
Darrick was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York.
He is a graduate of Oberlin College and received a PhD in Economics from the
University of North Carolina.
