KANSAS CITY, MO. – The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Black Studies Program will host John S. Butler, Ph.D. as the keynote speaker for its Black Studies Scholars’ Forum. Butler’s presentation – “Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation: Lessons from Past Generations for a New Black America” – will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at the Black Studies office, 5305 Holmes, Kansas City, Mo.
Currently serving at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Butler is the Dallas Taca Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts, Arthur James Douglass Centennial Professor in Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses, Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship and Sam Barshop Centennial Fellow, Department of Management.
The Black Studies Scholars’ Forum was created to maintain a continuous scholarly dialogue with students, faculty and the community. The Program invites scholars to campus – as well as provides a forum for faculty and students – to present scholarship that can enhance and illuminate the Black Studies enterprise.
“The Black Studies Program has invited Dr. Butler to provide his timely insights on the significance of self-help and entrepreneurial traditions among African Americans,” said Clovis Semmes, Ph.D., Professor and Director of The Black Studies Program. “His visit supports our current course on African American business development and contributes to a broader dialogue regarding how to sustain and elevate Black communities during these difficult economic times.”
Butler directs the IC2 (Innovation, Creativity, and Capital) Institute at the University of Texas and the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship – a globally-recognized “think and do” component of UT. The mission of the Institute is to engage in cutting-edge research to increase finding solutions to unstructured problems, which relate to market economies, wealth creation, growth, and prosperity through entrepreneurial activity and the commercialization of technological innovation.
Butler has published “Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans: A Reconsideration of Race and Economics” and numerous scholarly books and articles. He is editor of the National Journal of Sociology and a Series Book Editor for the State University of New York Press.
Among his numerous accomplishments, Butler also is a decorated Vietnam War veteran and has served as a member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
The Forum is free and open to the public. RSVP at (816) 235-2636 or umkcblackstudies@umkc.edu.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 15,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience. For more information about UMKC, visit www.umkc.edu. You can also find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and watch us on YouTube.