ABBY STONE | Reporter
The Langenberg Speaker series will host the “Culture and Opportunity in America” event in the J. Scheidegger Center on Tuesday, May 8.
This event, coordinated by William Rogers, an associate professor in the Plaster School of Business, will focus on how culture, skill, diversity and luck plays a role in opportunity in the U.S.
Rogers said the speakers have done a lot of work dealing with how luck plays a role in the success and how to deal with a wide diversity of people.
There will be two speakers at this event. Charles Murray and Robert Frank will be speaking and Bill McClellan from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will be the moderator.
Murray is the author of “Coming Apart” and is also an Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Frank is the author of “Success and Luck,” and is also a professor of economics at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Rogers said he is hoping to pull the audience out of their “bubble” and surprise them a little. Rogers refers to the Bubbly Quiz Charles Murray created which can be taken here.
“If you read Robert Franks title, read Charles Murray’s title, right away you can come up with assumptions about who these people are,” Rogers said. “We’re trying to surprise them and have them think, oh maybe Robert Frank or Charles Murray does have some interesting ideas.”
With the speakers they invite, Rogers said they are trying to make the audience think about things they wouldn’t normally think about.
Rogers said the Langenberg Speaker Series is new to this academic year. He said they work hard to bring in speakers beneficial for a variety of people.
“A lot of the speaker series is about how are we going to deal with the future world,” Rogers said.
Rogers said the Langenberg Speaker series will return the next academic year. He said the goal is to have one speaker in the fall and one in the spring.
Rogers also said he wishes it were more available to students. However, May 8 was the only date that worked to bring all of those involved together.
The event is free to Lindenwood students with an ID, or $10 to the public.
For more information on the event or to buy tickets, click here.
