APPLETON, WIS. — William Scott Green, senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education at the University of Miami, delivers the opening address of a year-long Lawrence University initiative focusing on the ways liberal education promotes and fosters entrepreneurial thinking and why entrepreneurial thinking is important for success in today’s global economy.
Green presents “Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts: The Role Values Play” Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall 102. Following Green’s address, a three-member panel of Lawrence alumni will speak on entrepreneurship as it applies to such areas as financial institutions, the arts and social policy.
Participating in the panel will be Larry Domash ’81, a managing partner and fund manager with Ronin Capital in Chicago, Pete Shuster ’81, CEO and owner of Neuromics Antibodies, a Minnesota-based company that provides antibody products for central nervous system research and Rich Agness ’67, a self-employed pottery artist in Neenah. Merton Finkler, professor of economics and John R. Kimberly Distinguished Professor in the American Economic System, will moderate the panel.
While entrepreneurship is typically identified with the study of business, Green believes it can be a basic component of a liberal education, especially when defined as “transforming an idea into an enterprise that generates value.” He will discuss the importance of integrating entrepreneurship more broadly into undergraduate curriculum across disciplines. According to Green, in an educational setting entrepreneurship can become “a way of thinking, an approach to problems, a habit of mind, a framework for interpretation” and colleges and university should utilize entrepreneurship as “a fundamental category of understanding and analysis.”
Prior to joining the administration at Miami in 2006, Green served as dean of the college at the University of Rochester and led the development of Rochester’s undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. He earned a Ph.D. in religion from Brown University.
Green’s presentation and the panel discussion is the first of three events planned during the 2007-08 academic year designed to build awareness and interest in entrepreneurship among Lawrence students and faculty. A Winter Term program will examine ways entrepreneurial activity might play a role in improving our environment. A Spring Term presentation will focus on entrepreneurship as it relates to sustainable development.
