The College of Business will use a new $1 million grant from BB&T to create a professorship in free enterprise and to develop an economics course and lecture series focusing on philosophies put forth by novelist Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged and other of her works, Dean R. Charles Moyer announced today.   
     A new 300-level course will be based on the philosophy of objectivism and the moral foundations of capitalism as described in Rand’s novels. 

     “The centerpiece of our programs is entrepreneurship,” said Dean Moyer. “This grant helps us provide students a deeper understanding of the history and outcomes of capitalism and builds their entrepreneurial experience.  It also expands classroom dialogues by adding different points of view.”
     The grant also will fund The BB&T Free Enterprise Lecture Series, faculty research and student travel in pursuit of the topic. Additionally, all juniors majoring in economics will receive a copy of Atlas Shrugged.
     Moyer said UofL Professor of Economics Stephen F. Gohmann, PhD, will be recommended to become the BB&T Distinguished Professor in Free Enterprise. Gohmann would develop and teach “The Moral Foundations of Capitalism,” a three-credit-hour economics course, and would participate in community outreach efforts to discuss the concepts with diverse audiences, including secondary school students. An award-winning instructor and researcher, Gohmann has been a member of the economics faculty since 1988.
     BB&T has funded similar programs at other major universities and is using grants to help the academic community expand intelligent discussion of Rand’s concepts and the moral principles underlying free markets.
     “This course increases intellectual diversity on campus,” said Gohmann.  “We’ll include writings and podcasts from a variety of experts, including Milton Friedman, John Kenneth Galbraith, Friedrich Hayek and others. We will discuss the outcomes of individual actions in free markets and the effects of government intervention.”
     According to Dean Moyer, the new course will be available in the 2009-10 academic year.
     The UofL College of Business undergraduate programs are ranked among the top 7% in the U.S. (U.S. News & World Report). The graduate program in entrepreneurship has been named one of the Top 10 in the U.S. (The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine). 

     With more than $136 billion in assets, BB&T operates nearly 1500 bank branches in 11 states and Washington D.C.

(posted 8/4/08)