Washington University in St. Louis Provost Holden Thorp and UNC Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship founder Buck Goldstein launched their book "Our Higher Calling: Rebuilding the Partnership between America and its Colleges and Universities" Monday evening.
Thorp served as UNC's chancellor from 2008 until 2013. Goldstein is an entrepreneur-in-residence and professor of the practice with the Shuford Program.
Chancellor Carol Folt introduced the speakers. She said "Our Higher Calling" is special because most education books are written by people who are no longer involved with education themselves.
“It’s written by two people who are still very much in the way of doing it," Folt said. "This is very much a book about right now and where we want to go tomorrow."
Thorp and Goldstein also co-authored "Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century" in 2010 about entrepreneurship in universities.
“What’s different around this book, I think, is that it’s built around the idea that there is a partnership,” Goldstein said. “Our hope is to begin a conversation about this implied compact.”
The launch started as a panel discussion, then audience members submitted questions for the authors.
“I’m in professor Goldstein’s 'Intro to Entrepreneurship' class, so it was really cool to see how big of a crowd came out to hear about this new book,” said sophomore Callie Barnard.
Topics discussed included the worth of a four-year college degree and incorporating entrepreneurship into higher education. Goldstein and Thorp said that despite increasing costs, college degrees are worth earning.
