To promote the study of freedom in commerce, the Center will hold an annual conference on topics of interest to students, academics, business practitioners, and the general public.
The talks will cover areas such as business leadership and ethics, finance, monetary standards, and government economic policy.
These presentations will be both published and made freely available online in order to offer an informed discourse on freedom in commerce to a national and international audience.
IMPRIMIS MARCH 2005 | VOLUME 34, ISSUE 3
The Entrepreneur As American Hero
Walter Williams
George Mason University
“When property rights are not well defined, we don’t have strong markets. Markets are only as strong as the property rights that underlie them.”
-Dr. Katherine Wright
Dr. Katherine Wright is an expert in water policy who develops durable, market-based solutions to resource scarcity through institutions, property rights, and stakeholder collaboration. Her research focuses on how water transfers impact agriculture, regional development, and community resilience, with a strong commitment to data transparency, especially in her work on the Great Salt Lake.
Her insights also extend to other natural resources like fisheries and land use, and her work has been featured in outlets like the Deseret News and various podcasts. A Hillsdale College alumna with a PhD from Arizona State, Dr. Wright is also an ultramarathon runner, rock climber, and vocalist who finds creative inspiration in both nature and music.
Two additional faculty chairs in economics or business will be needed to support the activities of the Hutchison Center for Commerce and Freedom to assist in the annual conference, and teach students on campus.
These professors will help lead several new courses and seminars which were recently added to the business curriculum to help students relate their training in the classical liberal arts to their future roles as members and leaders of commercial institutions. Possible names include Chair in American Commerce and Freedom and Chair in Ethics and Business.
Charles Steele has taught economics at the graduate and undergraduate levels in China, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, and has also worked in private consulting.
Learn More
CHARLES N. STEELE
DIRECTOR OF THE Hutchison Center for Commerce and Freedom
csteele@hillsdale.edu
Charles Steele has taught economics at the graduate and undergraduate levels in China, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, and has also worked in private consulting. At Hillsdale College, he teaches a variety of upper division economics courses, among them a two-semester sequence in History of Economic Thought, Environmental and Resource Economics, Mathematical Economics, and Austrian Economics II. His research interests include environmental and resource economics, economics of space development, and economics of institutions and institutional change. Outside of economics, his interests include trail running and running ultramarathons, mountaineering, and other outdoor activities.
Questions on the Center:
DAVID DANFORD
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
ddanford@hillsdale.edu
(517) 607-2682
David Danford served for over 15 years in the U.S. military and, along the way, was blessed to attend Hillsdale College for graduate school. David and his wife fell in love with the place and the College, and wanted to return and raise their family and help Hillsdale in any way they could. David now works to build up Hillsdale’s network in the world of business and industry to advance the mission of the College.