Thanks to the generosity of David and Judy Frey, John Kao was in town to talk about innovation as a Frey Distinguished Visiting Professor. Before his public talk, he came to the studio to talk to me about innovation and related topics. John definitely has the big view of innovation. He has written on the [...]
November 12, 2012 – 10:16 am
In our pop and jazz musical selections, we have been talking a lot about the importance of session musicians to pop music and how they knit together pop music history. The difference between a great song and a great song that becomes a hit record has to do with execution, and getting the right session [...]
April 25, 2012 – 11:16 am
When the history of the university of the last few years is written, April 24, 2012 will be an important date. Whenever a sitting president of the United States visits a college campus, it is an important day in the university’s history. The visits of Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, James K. Polk and others [...]
Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jim Surowiecki, the New Yorker business columnist. Jim’s columns cover a wide range of business and financial topics, and his book (“The Wisdom of Crowds”) was downright clairvoyant when it comes to predicting a lot of what has happened with social media. Jim is one [...]
March 30, 2012 – 12:19 pm
Ryan Allis was a student at Carolina who helped start the entrepreneurship club, a forerunner of many of the things we’re doing around innovation now. Ryan co-founded iContact, an email marketing company, which went from a small office upstairs on Franklin Street to an acquisition last month by Vocus. I had a chance to sit [...]
February 20, 2012 – 8:10 am
The recognition of Professor Mike Cohen’s study on AIDS prevention as the American Association for the Advancement of Science Breakthrough of the Year was a tremendous milestone for Carolina. Over the last decade or so, Carolina has emphasized the importance of our global and international efforts, and Mike’s work in Malawi is an integral part [...]
This post was originally published in the Chapel Hill Herald on August 31, 2011. A successful democracy depends on an educated citizenry. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “With freedom comes responsibility,” and chief among voters’ responsibilities is keeping themselves informed on the issues. Last week, the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University [...]
Israel’s high tech economy is booming, as described vividly in the popular book Start-Up Nation. On our trip, we had the chance to meet with Jon Medved, who is one of the leading figures in the Israel high-tech boom and featured prominently in the book. Medved was born to a Jewish family in the US [...]
This weekend, Patti and I will head off to Israel with seven other presidents or chancellors. The trip is organized and paid for by Project Interchange, which is an effort by the American Jewish Committee to provide greater exposure to our group of the complex issues facing Israel and the region. The trip is co-chaired [...]
North Carolina and Chapel Hill took advantage of a rare opportunity recently when a group of advisers to President Obama on economic policy convened here on the Carolina campus instead of inside the Beltway. About 400 local entrepreneurs, government representatives, faculty, students and others interested in innovation and how it can help drive the economy [...]