Q&A With Buck Goldstein, Next Speaker in "see tomorrow." Speaker Series

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2014) — What does it mean for a university to be entrepreneurial?

That's the topic of the next "see tomorrow. The University of Kentucky Strategic Plan" speaker series this Thursday.

Buck Goldstein is the University Entrepreneur in Residence and a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UNC and an honors graduate of the UNC Law School. He will speak Thursday, May 8, at 9 a.m. in the Lexmark Public Room.

UKnow recently had the opportunity to speak with Goldstein about his upcoming talk and the importance of entrepreneurship in the context of public higher education.

What will you be speaking about at UK?

Great research universities like UK have the ability and the responsibility to attack big, complex problems. Entrepreneurship, which operates at the intersection of innovation and execution, can increase the impact of the research and teaching that goes on at places like UK.

In your recent book "Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century" you and Holden Thorp (provost at Washington University) discuss how a university becomes more entrepreneurial? What do you mean by that and why is the concept important?

We think the real opportunity is to develop a culture that embraces innovation and tolerates failure. We suggest a number of ways such a culture can be encouraged, and I plan to discuss them in my talk.
 

What are some of the barriers or challenges to that goal?

Every institution is different but great universities have traditions and processes that have endured for centuries. On the other hand universities are facing existential threats that cannot be ignored. The challenge is to thoughtfully understand how innovation can be encouraged within a framework that has stood the test of time. Of particular interest to me is online learning, and I plan to discuss the MOOC I taught with Holden this past spring to 39,000 students called What's Your Big Idea?

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan 859-257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu