Templeton Awards
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Noting the theme of the 2007 Templeton Awards Dinner at the University Club on October 30—Humane Economics in an Age of Globalization—Dr. Richard Brake, director of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) Culture of Enterprise Initiative and Master of Ceremonies at the awards, remarked on ISI’s significance as a publisher for young scholars dedicated to the 54-year old Institute’s motto: Educating for Liberty. With a diverse membership of professionals and academics from all disciplines, ISI has been extending its reach on campuses around the country and particularly in expanding its book and lecture series in order to promote “civic literacy” in the moral and economic value of free societies. As of now, he said, economics, as the heritage of Adam Smith, is poorly taught. ISI wants to “cultivate” and put funding behind new educational efforts. The Institute is a nonprofit educational organization with a mission to identify and promote future leaders of the American ideal of “ordered liberty” which it defines as: “limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, market economy and moral norms.”
An attractive book and periodicals display on hand at the University Club testified to the success of ISI, working together with the John Templeton Foundation’s Culture of Enterprise Initiative, in supporting research that “explore[s] the cultural traits, institutional prerequisites and societal achievements of the free market economy worldwide.” Each year awards are given to three books and three articles that exemplify the groups’ core principles of economic prosperity with moral value. Book winners receive $50,000, article awardees $25,000.
Welcoming remarks by Peter Ressler, a 25-year “Wall Street veteran,” reinforced ISI’s goal of advancing “a more humane vision of corporate business practices inspired by the lessons of 9/11,” including the work of volunteer fire departments. As he said, “We all want to see the world get better.” Keynoter Dr. John Rutledge, Chair of a private equity investment firm and a consultant to numerous major international companies, here and abroad, was a chief architect of President Reagan’s economic plans in the ’80s and is a familiar presence on Fox News, CNBC’s Kudlow & Co, PBS’ Wall Street Week with Fortune and CNN “In the Money.” He is the author of two books and hundreds of articles.
Awards were presented by Dr. John Templeton, Jr. president of the John Templeton Foundation, founded by his father, former Ambassador John Templeton and the Hon. T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., president of ISI. This year first, second and third place book awards went to, respectively, Dr. Tom Downey (Papers of Thomas Jefferson Project, Princeton University) Dr. Samuel Gregg (Acton Institute Pontifical Lateran University), and Dr. James Otteson, Honors Program, Yeshiva University). Article awards went to, respectively, Brian Smith (Graduate Department of Government, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.), Gerson Moreno-Riano (Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia), and Surenda Arjoon (The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad).
The deadline for nominations for 2008 is May 31. Details on www.cultureofenterprise.org.#
