Past Conferences

Starting out as a workshop in 1973, the Third World Conference has encompassed a number of challenging issues that concern developed and developing societies in the North and South. Ten years later, the conferences were formalized under a nonprofit organization, the Third World Conference Foundation, based in Chicago. Over the years, we have addressed issues that range from global inequality to global interdependence and global development. Here is a listing of our past conferences:

1st
April 26, 1975
Governors State University, University Park, IL
Content & Career Opportunities of African, Asian, & Latin American
Studies Programs
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Victor Uchendu
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

2nd
September-October 1976
Governors State University, University Park, IL
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Winberg Chai
Asian American Studies, City University of New York

3rd
March 19-20, 1977
Governors State University, University Park, IL
New Problems & Dimensions in the Third World
Keynote Speaker: Professor John Henry Clark
Hunter College, City University of New York

4th
March 15-18, 1978
Pick Congress Hotel
The North South Dialogue
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency Leslie Harriman
Former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations

5th
March 28-31, 1979
The Conrad Hilton, Chicago, IL
The Third World in Transition
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency Alex-Quaision-Sackey
Former Ghanaian Ambassador to the United Nations

6th
March 26-29, 1980
Pick Congress Hotel
Global Inequality: A Humanist Perspective
Keynote Speaker: George Lamming, Writer

7th
March 28-28, 1981
McCormick Inn, Chicago, IL
Global Interdependence & National Development I
Keynote Speaker: Honorable Mabel Murphy Smythe
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

8th
March 24-27, 1983
McCormick Inn, Chicago, IL
Global Interdependence &National Development II
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency K.R. Narayanan
President of India & Former Indian Ambassador to the United States

9th
March 23-26, 1983
McCormick Inn, Chicago, IL
Governance in a Multi-Ethnic City
Keynote Speaker: The Honorable Harold Washington
Former Mayor of the City of Chicago

10th
March 28-31, 1984
McCormick Inn, Chicago, IL
Global Interdependence and the Third World: A Policy Perspective
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency, the Right Honorable Michael Manley
Former Prime Minister of Jamaica

11th
April 4-6, 1985
Hotel Continental, Chicago, IL
Peace & Mutual Cooperation as Tools to Aid Third World Development &
Global Interdependence
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Guillermo Ungo
Former President of El Salvadoran Peace Council

12th
April 3-5, 1986
Allerton Hotel, Chicago, IL
Peace, Mutual Development, & Global Responsibility

13th
April 9-11, 1987
Americana Congress, Chicago, IL
Development for a Better World: Crisis, Assessments, & Strategies for Third World Development
Keynote Speaker: Her Excellency Dr. Lucille Mair
Former Undersecretary General to the United Nations

14th
April 7-9, 1988
Congress Hotel, Chicago, IL
Third World Development Strategies for the Future: The 1990s & Beyond

15th
April 5-8, 1989
The Palmer House, Chicago, IL
A 15 Year Retrospective on Social Movements & Social Change in Third
World & Diaspora Communities
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency Val McComie
Former Assistant Secretary General, Organization of American States

16th
April 5-7, 1990
Radisson Hotel, Clayton, St. Louis, MO
New International Order in the 1990s: Impact on Third World Development
Keynote Speakers: His Excellency Tebego Mafole
Former Chief Representative of the African National Congress to the United Nations
Dr. Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor , University of the West Indies-Mona

17th
April 4-6, 1991
The Westin Hotel Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI
Technology, Development & Culture: A New Global Interdependence
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ali A. Mazuri
Professor of Political Science, State University of New York

18th
May 6-9, 1992
Jamaica Conference Center, Kingston, Jamaica
Post-Cold War Challenges for the Third World
Keynote Speaker: His Excellency, the Right Honorable P.J. Patterson
Prime Minister of Jamaica

19th
April 29-May 1, 1993
Governors State University, University Park, IL
The Resiliency of the Human Condition, Change & Survival in the Intercultural Global Society
Keynote Speaker: Dr. George Wald
Nobel Laureate in Physiology, Harvard University

20th
April 6, 1994
The Congress Hotel, Chicago, IL
The Third World &Diaspora at the Turn of the Century: Redefining Concerns, Directions, & Policies
Keynote Speaker: Dr. P. Anyang Nyong'o,
Head of Programs, African Academy of Sciences,
Secretary-General, African Association of Political Science

21st
March 22-25, 1995
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Peace, Democracy, & Development into the 21st Century
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joann Horton
President of Texas Southern University

22nd
March 27-30, 1996
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Reconceiving the Meaning of Emerging Global Changes into the 21st Century
Keynote Speaker: Ms. Beverley Manley
Former First Lady of Jamaica

23rd
March 19-22, 1997
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Connecting Theory and Practice for the Emerging Global Changes into the 21st Century
Keynote Speaker: Quentin Young, MD
President-Elect, American Public Health Association

24th
March 18-21, 1998
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Visioning, the 21st Century: Globalization, Transformation, & Opportunity
Keynote Speaker: Andaiye
Social Activist at University of Guyana

25th
March 17-20, 1999
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Third World & Global Development Reconstruction & Redefinition
Keynote Speaker: Professor Amartya Sen
1998 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences

26th
March 15-18, 2000
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Third World & Global Development: Continuing the Search for a New Paradigm
Keynote Speaker: Professor Jan R. Carew
Emeritus Professor, Northwestern University

27th
March 21-24, 2001
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Development: Critical Issues for the 21st Century
Keynote Speaker: John Coatsworth
Professor of History and Monroe Guttman, Harvard University

28th
March 27-30, 2002
Embassy Suites Hotel Chicago Downtown Lakefront, Chicago, IL.
Development in the Latest Era of Globalization: Reassessing Opportunities & Formulating New Approaches
Keynote Speakers Forum: John Calloway, WTTW, Channel 11
John Mearshimer, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
Janet Afary, Professor of History Purdue University
P. Anyang Nyongo, Director, African Academy of Sciences
Stephen Schwartz, Director and Publisher, Bulletin of Atomic Scientist

29th
March 27-29, 2003
Embassy Suites Hotel Chicago Downtown Lakefront, Chicago, IL
Development, Global Security & Sustainability: Growth, Redistribution, & Social Justice in the 21st Century
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eugene B. Shultz, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Technology & Human Affairs, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

30th
March 3-6, 2004
Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel, Chicago, IL
Keynote Plenary Session: Global Change: Development, Peace, & Security
Richard C. Longsworth, Executive Director, Global Chicago Center
Chicago Council on Foreign Relations
Gwendolyn Mikell, Professor & Director,
Program African Studies, Georgetown University
Clifford E. Singer, Professor & Director, Center for Peace, Disarmament, & International Security, University of Illinois-Champaign

31st
March 24-26, 2005
Wyndham Chicago Hotel, Chicago, IL
Keynote Address Session: Power, Alliances, & Partnerships for Social Change
Intercultural Perspectives
The Honorable Joyce Mpanga, First Woman Member of Uganda Legislative Council
& First Minister of Women in Development, Uganda
The Honorable Dr. Carol Adams
Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services

32nd
March 16-18, 2006
The Swissotel, Chicago, IL
Aging Is an Important Part of Development
Keynote Speaker: Donna Butts, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Generations United
U.S. Representative to International Consortium of Intergenerational Programmes, Washington, DC

33rd
March 29-31, 2007
Chicago Hilton, Chicago, IL
Development: Exploring Local & Global Change II

34th-41st
International Consultancies, Leadership Development, & Youth Development
Chicago, IL, & London, UK

42nd
TBA
Chicago, IL

Contact us today for more information about conferences we have held over the past four decades. Based in Chicago, Illinois, our foundation serves people around the globe.