The Center for International and Comparative Studies has taken a new name after receiving a donation from Roberta Buffett Bialek, Weinberg ’54.

The center, which was renamed the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies, hosts working groups, research teams and summer study abroad programs, as well as guest speakers and conferences, most of which are open to the public.

Neither Buffett Bialek nor administrators would say how much she donated. The donation will make the center financially secure, Center Director Andrew Wachtel said.

“We can use the money to do the back-door things, such as if the building falls down, or the roof caves in,” Wachtel said. “It’s unglamorous but has to be done.”

This is Buffett Bialek’s third significant donation to the center. Her first was in honor of her 50th class reunion. After talking with University President Henry Bienen, she chose to endow a visiting professorship at the center. Professors chosen to fill the position have included Stephen Kinzer, a New York Times correspondent, and Ales Debeljak, an Eastern European poet.

“I think we need to be educating our young people in terms of the whole world and where the United States stands with the whole world,” Buffett Bialek said.

Buffett Bialek said she initially chose to donate to the center because Bienen stressed its importance, but she said her experience with visiting professors’ lectures led her to increase her commitment.

“The most important issue (right now) is how the United States positions itself with the rest of the world, given that we are in a leadership role,” Buffett Bialek said. “What kind of leadership will we provide to the rest of the world?”

– Margaret Rhodes