Media Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627
kwent2@unm.edu

Feb. 6, 2008

UNM Professor to Discuss Economics of Privatizing War

Michele Chwastiak, an associate professor in the Anderson Schools of Management Department of Accounting, will deliver a lecture, “War, Incorporated: Private, Unaccountable and Profitable,” as part of the University Libraries Faculty Acknowledgement Award on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 2 p.m. in the Willard Room of Zimmerman Library.

Chwastiak’s current research involves a look at the way the war in Iraq has been outsourced. Her talk will explore the benefits of privatizing war to the political and economic elite and how it has created new opportunities for war profiteering. She will discuss how stresses between increasing profit and serving the nation have impacted the conduct of the Iraq war in a negative way.

Chwastiak has taught at UNM since 1999. Her area of expertise is managerial and cost accounting with an emphasis on defense contracting. Her published research examines the extent to which accounting is intertwined with the rationalization and normalization of a permanent war economy in the United States. It has focused on how accounting helps rather than deters unethical behavior in the U.S. defense industry.

The University Libraries Faculty Acknowledgement Award is given to members of the UNM faculty in appreciation of their contribution to the body of scholarly knowledge. This is a forum for colleagues, students and community members to learn about the achievements of faculty members. The event is free and open to the public.

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