U. hosts AISEC meeting

This weekend, the University City Sheraton Hotel was the setting for a conference of more than 250 business students from across the northeastern United States. The students flocked to the University to attend the AIESEC Northeast Regional Conference, hosted by the campus-based branch of the organization. AIESEC, a French acronym for the International Association of Students in Economics and Business Management, is the largest student organization in the world. "We have over 80,000 students at 800 universities in 81 separate countries," said AIESEC spokesperson Nancy Loh, a Wharton sophomore. The local chapter won the opportunity to host the conference when AIESEC's central U.S. office selected its proposal over those submitted by numerous other regional universities. But while AIESEC-U.S. determined the time and location of the conference, responsibility for organizing and financing the event fell to the local chapter. "It wasn't easy," Loh said. "We had to rent the hotel space and arrange for the speakers." They invited seven speakers to give lectures during the central phase of the conference, called the "Intellectual Jungle." The distinguished set of speakers -- some of whom were from the University -- addressed a range of topics concerning the international business environment. Among the speakers were Richard Atkins, a graduate of the University's Law School and founding attorney of the International Legal Defense Council, Steven Goodman, adjunct Legal Studies lecturer and Clark Callahan, director of the Wharton Small Business Development Center. When not packed with speakers, the conference schedule was filled with inspirational meetings and training seminars which brought together students from across the world. "It's about getting people from country to country to speak a common language," said Wharton sophomore Ben Nelson, AIESEC vice president in charge of sales and customer service.

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