Talk explores international development, religion

Katherine Marshall, a longtime World Bank official and Princeton graduate alumna, will discuss the interplay between international development efforts and religion in a lecture set for 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, in 16 Robertson Hall.

"Development and Religious Actors: The State of Play" is the title of the talk by Marshall, who is a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and a senior adviser for the World Bank.

Marshall's work has focused on international development in some of the world's poorest countries. She worked at the World Bank from 1971 to 2006 in a wide range of leadership assignments, many of which focused on Africa. From 2000 to 2006, as counselor to the World Bank's president, her mandate covered ethics, values and faith in development work. As a longtime manager with the World Bank, she was involved in many task forces that addressed leadership issues, conflict resolution, the role of women and issues for values and ethics.

Marshall is the author of several books about religion and development, including "Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together" (with Marisa Van Saanen) and "Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight Against Poverty" (with Lucy Keough). She writes a blog, "Faith in Action," for the Newsweek/Washington Post website "On Faith."

Marshall is a core group member of the Council of 100, an initiative of the World Economic Forum to advance understanding between the Islamic world and the West. She serves on the board of the International Development Ethics Association and is a former trustee of Princeton University. She earned her master's in public affairs in 1969 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

The lecture is the first in this year's "Crossroads of Religion and Politics" series, which is sponsored by the Wilson School and the Center for the Study of Religion.