Viewpoints Speaker Series Endowed by Bryan Family
09.25.10
A major endowment by Peggy and J.F. Bryan IV, C’ 65 to support the Viewpoints Speaker Series of the Babson Center for Global Commerce has ensured the future of the series. The series provides Sewanee students regular opportunities to hear firsthand from major business, economic, and public policy leaders.
In commemoration of their gift, the series has been renamed the Bryan Viewpoints Speaker Series.
Among previous series speakers are oil and gas entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens, Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher, and Arthur Laffer, the economist and presidential economic policy advisor.
The agreement between the University and the Bryans stipulates that the endowment will be used to “invite distinguished speakers... thus exposing students to timely and important ideas in business, public policy, economic theory, and business ethics.”
In addition to their public talk, Viewpoints speakers meet with students to discuss career issues and teach a class.
The Bryan Viewpoints Speaker Series joins two other endowed series directed by the Babson Center. The Humphreys Residencies focus on entrepreneurship while the Graham Residencies bring senior business executives to the campus for discussions on major challenges of leadership. The two residencies and the speaker series emphasize interaction with students.
“We believe that a broad perspective on our globalized economy is crucial in the education of the future generation of business leaders,” said Nick Babson, founder and director of the Babson Center. “The Bryan Viewpoints Series will play a central role in bringing this perspective to Sewanee and will be a lasting legacy of support by the Bryans for The University of the South.”
