By Matthew Keck —
The University of Louisville College of Business announced Nov. 14 that they received a $2 million grant from the Joseph W. Craft III Foundation. The College of Business plans to use this grant to increase research and expand faculty.
This funding will go towards the Center for Free Enterprise to continue its exploration of entrepreneurship’s advancement in the well-being of society. “This helps students see real life applications to what they are studying,” said Stephan Gohmann, director of the Center for Free Enterprise.
“The Center for Free Enterprise is tackling seemingly intractable problems with a fresh perspective and innovative solutions,” said president, CEO and chairman of Alliance Resource Partners LP, Joseph Craft. “It gives students the opportunity to work alongside university scholars to discover how the free enterprise system in the United States preserves our freedom and contributes to the prosperity needed to apply critical thinking to solve the challenges in their own lives, their communities and the world.”
The center will expand by adding two tenure-track faculty in entrepreneurship, up to five doctoral fellows plus staff for the center. Gohmann said doctoral fellows will be recruited within U of L and outside of the university.
It will also partner with the Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship to examine ideas related to free enterprise through the lens of principled entrepreneurship. “We will be able to use these synergies for better programming and better classroom experiences for students,” said Gohmann. “This can occur when we bring in speakers who can give talks to the general public and also talks in entrepreneurship classes. Likewise, we often bring in authors of books that our reading groups are reading.”
Since operations began in 2015, the center has hosted speakers on topics such as criminal justice reform, transformation of China, crypto-currency and entrepreneurship in Senegal.
In addition, the center hosts reading groups throughout each semester that attract students from across the university. The purpose is to get students reading and exchanging ideas outside of the classroom. Students who attend these reading sessions also have the opportunity to receive a scholarship if they meet participation requirements.
“Our students benefit from the rich experiences the Center for Free Enterprise provides,” said U of L President Neeli Bendapudi. “We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to inspire our community’s future business leaders through these generous gifts.”
File Photo // The Louisville Cardinal
