USC's Drobnick to receive honor during world trade week

The 85th annual World Trade Week, a major series of events sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the ports, and many others, opens on May 6 with a keynote presentation by Matthew Rose, CEO of BNSF Railway Company and the presentation of the Stanley T. Olafson Award to USC's Richard Drobnick. Drobnick heads USC's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and is co-chairman of the Asia Society's Southern California Center. He previously served as USC's vice provost for international affairs (1994-2005) and was secretary-general of the Association for Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). Drobnick continues to head APRU's World Institute.

The Stanley T. Olafson Award is one of the Chamber’s oldest and most prestigious awards. It was originally presented in 1933. The Olafson Award honors a member of the community who has contributed above and beyond his or her job requirements to the development of world trade in Southern California.

A former Peace Corps volunteer, Drobnick is a Research Professor of Management and Organization at USC's Marshall School of Business. Drobnick specializes in Pacific Rim economic and business issues and U.S. and Pacific Rim trade policies. He is the author of numerous articles regarding international economics and business, as well as the co-author of Neither Feast nor Famine: Food Conditions to the Year 2000 (D.C. Heath, 1978) and co-editor of Small Firms in Global Competition (Oxford University Press, 1994).

The USC CIBER is one of 31 national business resource centers designated and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Under Drobnick's supervision, CIBER engages in extensive research and instructional programs. One of its highest profile programs is the annual Asia Pacific Business Outlook conference held each spring. APBO is co-sponsored with the U.S. Department of Commerce and provides businesspeople with direct contact with veteran businesspeople, trade officials, and Asia specialists.