First one is last year:

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to alumnus

_{by Jim Patterson}

Muhammad Yunus, who earned a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt in 1971, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 13 for his work combating poverty through a bank that gives small loans to poor people.

Yunus’
concept of micro-credit – small loans given to poor villagers in
Bangladesh to help them buy livestock or fund an enterprise – has grown
from $27 he loaned out of his own pocket into the Grameen Bank,
which has loaned more than $5.7 billion to some 6.61 million borrowers.
Despite lack of collateral or signed loan documents, 99 percent of the
loans have been paid back. The Grameen Bank provides services to more
than 71,000 villages in Bangladesh through 2,226 branches.

“Lasting
peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in
which to break out of poverty,” the Nobel Committee said in its
citation. “Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also
serves to advance democracy and human rights.”

“Very few people
have made as profound a difference in the lives of so many as Muhammed
Yunus,” said Chancellor Gordon Gee. “The Nobel Prize is a recognition
of his enormous contributions to society, and the Vanderbilt community
joins in the celebration.”

Yunus, who has visited the Vanderbilt
campus regularly since his graduation, was named the university’s first
Distinguished Alumnus in 1996. He refers to Vanderbilt as his “second
home” to this day.

“His
parents were determined that he become a physician,” said James Foster,
professor of economics at Vanderbilt. “I think he’s achieved that by
becoming a physician to the economy. Vanderbilt’s economics department
and all of Vanderbilt are thrilled at this richly deserved recognition.”

The
Grameen (which means “rural” in Bengali) Bank began in the village of
Jobra in 1976, when Yunus gave $27 to 42 self-employed crafts workers.
He reasoned that if financial resources are made available to the poor
on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, “these
millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add
up to create the biggest development wonder.”

In a January 2005
lecture at Vanderbilt’s Wilson Hall, Yunus told a standing-room-only
crowd that his return to Bangladesh following graduation was initially
overwhelming. Armed with a top-notch education and high hopes, in the
face of the poverty of his homeland he felt powerless to help.

“Arrogance
makes you think you can solve any problem,” he said, “but you see how
incapacitated you are in the face of real problems. I thought I would
go into a village and do something to help, even for a day. That was my
mission every day. I did a lot of little things.”

Over time
Yunus developed the system that would later be coined micro-lending or
micro-credit, in which people without means are loaned a small amount
of money – in some cases a few cents or a few dollars – to fund an
enterprise and get out of the cycle of poverty.

“When I was able
to help, it made them so happy,” Yunus said. “They thought it was a
miracle. I thought, if you can make so many people happy with so little
money, why not do more of it?” Yunus describes this mission in his
autobiography The Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty.

 “I
once asked Yunus what he did for fun,” Vanderbilt’s Foster said. “He
told me he spent his spare time thinking of new strategies to help
people help themselves. That’s the kind of person he is.”

Click here to listen to a Vanderbilt lecture delivered by Yunus on Jan. 28, 2005.

_{Posted 10/23/06}

Second one is this year:

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