ITHACA, N.Y.-- Kenneth T. Derr, chairman and chief executive officer of Chevron Corp., will deliver the 1996 Durland Lecture Wednesday, April 17, at Cornell University.

Derr, a Cornell alumnus and emeritus trustee, will present "Competitive Performance: The Master Metric for an Evolving Global Economy" at 4:30 p.m. in David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall. In addition to his lecture, Derr will meet with students in the Johnson Graduate School of Management and in the College of Engineering.

From 1985 to 1989, when he assumed his present position, Derr was one of Chevron's two vice chairmen responsible for the company's U.S. petroleum business, as well as coal, chemicals, land development, research and several major corporate staff groups.

Previously, Derr headed the merger of the Chevron and Gulf corporations. He directed more than 35 Chevron-Gulf teams to develop a new organization, and he oversaw the divestiture of assets during the consolidation of the two companies. From 1979 until the merger in 1984, he was president of Chevron U.S.A., the corporation's U.S. oil and gas subsidiary. Derr is a member of President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development and a former member of President Bush's Commission on Environmental Quality. He is a member of the Johnson Graduate School of Management's Advisory Council.

Derr earned two degrees from Cornell: a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1959 and an MBA in 1960.

The Durland Lecture, coordinated through the Johnson School, is given annually by a major business executive. Roy H. Park, the late chairman of Park Communications Inc., and a small group of donors initiated the lectures to honor former Cornell Treasurer Lewis H. Durland.

Past presenters include Lou Noto, chairman and chief executive officer of Mobil Corp. (1994), and Charles R. Lee, GTE Corp. chairman and chief executive officer (1993).