Legal scholar and USC Provost Elizabeth Garrett welcomed a distinguished group of guests and panelists on Oct. 8 to a USC Global Conversation event focused on lasting recovery during one of the deepest economic crises of the past century.

“During the Global Conversation, we will hear from experts, policymakers and educators from around the world, as we address the challenges still facing our global economy,” said Garrett, senior vice president for academic affairs.

Garrett recognized the distinguished guests in the crowd, which included many London-based Trojans, such as three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and world-record holder Rebecca Soni ’09, hurdler and Olympic medalist Tasha Danvers ’02, and senior administrators and deans from 12 USC schools.

Panelists at the Global Conversation event included leading financial experts from USC and institutions in the U.K.

At a reception held the previous night, Garrett spoke about the university’s international character, in diversity and number of both students and faculty. USC has enrolled the most international students of any university in the United States for more than a decade, and also boasts a highly diverse community of scholars.

“Our long-standing reputation as an engaged institution accessible to scholars around the world makes it even more important that we continue to open and nurture channels of dialogues with friends and peers overseas,” Garrett said in her remarks.

“Our scholarly community — faculty, students, alumni and supporters — extends to every continent, and we rely on this community to represent our institutional values across the world,” she continued. “We believe that rigorous discussion of issues that are important to governments around the world helps us form meaningful connections.”

James G. Ellis, dean of the USC Marshall School of Business, acknowledged the daunting challenges facing world economies and the lack of agreement by policymakers on effective solutions.

“What do we do? What can we do and what can we as an academic institution do as we prepare the next generation of leaders?” he asked, promising a start toward some answers at the next day’s discussion.

With its theme as “The Future of the Global Economy,” the Oct. 9 panel discussion will gather leading economic experts from USC and the U.K., including keynote speaker The Right Honorable Jack Straw, a member of Parliament and former home secretary, foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons under then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.