PULLMAN, Wash. — Burton W. Folsom Jr., a senior fellow in economic education with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan, returns to Washington State University to deliver his second Freedom Philosophy lecture. His address, “Entrepreneurship and the Climate of Freedom,” is set for 7:30 p.m. April 21, in Todd Hall, Room 276.
“Folsom is a solid scholar and a good thinker, and his comments and presentations are rooted in facts,” says Rom Markin, event organizer and director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and former dean of the WSU College of Business and Economics. “Dr. Folsom’s forthcoming presentation is an outgrowth of his extensive knowledge and research which resulted in his most recent book, ‘Empire Builders.'”
Folsom presented the Freedom Philosophy Day lecture in 1996. He is a nationally-recognized economic historian, author and speaker who applies history and economics to present-day problems in a way that captures everyone’s attention. He received his doctorate in history from the University of Pittsburgh and has taught American history at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Nebraska, Northwood University, and Murray State University, where he was a tenured full professor.
Specializing in U.S. economic history, he has authored dozens of articles in such national magazines, newspapers and journals as The American Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, The Freeman, The Pacific Historical Review and Human Events. He has written several books, including “Urban Capitalists” (Johns Hopkins University Press), “The Myth of the Robber Barons” (Young American’s Foundation), and most recently, “Empire Builders” (Rhodes & Easton).
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan, free-market think-tank based in Michigan. The research and educational organization is “devoted to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions.” It is supported by foundations, individuals, and businesses and “neither seeks nor accepts any government funding.”
At WSU, Freedom Philosophy Day celebrates the university as a marketplace of ideas. Proponents of the Freedom Philosophy believe in “maximum individual liberty and responsibility, limited governments and the free enterprise system.”
The program at WSU is sponsored by funding from the late WSU alumnus Geoff Maughmer and wife, Florence. They believed that individual members of an organized society can and have achieved their greatest overall material advancement and personal satisfaction within the freedom philosophy context. The Maughmer’s purpose in underwriting this unique program in the WSU College of Business and Economics was to broaden the knowledge of, stimulate interest in and encourage study and discussion of the Freedom Philosophy.
A new Maughmer Marketing Freedom Philosophy Professorship is being created according to provisions established in a trust by the Maughmers.
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