The Perspectives Program
The Perspectives on Business in a Changing World Program is a continuing program of visiting faculty, executives-in-residence, lectures, symposia, and other activities designed to discuss and evaluate business as an institution in our society. The particular visitors, speakers and activities in any given academic year are intended to broaden the campus discussion of business to include a variety of fields and points of view. Faculty and students from different disciplines come together with visitors experienced in operating and observing business. Together, they explore, from a liberal arts perspective, the social, political, ethical, and technological dimensions associated with the varied and rapidly changing role of business in the world.
Intended as a flexible "umbrella" over these activities, the Perspectives Program is designed to accommodate other programs and change as student needs and the critical dimensions of the business world evolve.
Schlessman Visiting Executives-in-Residence Program
A generous endowment by the Schlessman Family Foundation of Denver allows the Economics and Business Department to invite several mid-level and senior executives to campus each year for prolonged periods of time (a week up to a full 3 1/2 week block) during which they examine the role of business in society. This program bridges the gap between abstract knowledge about, and practical involvement in, the business world. Individuals are brought to campus who can provide a record of active leadership in and a solid contemplation of business in America and the world. They help teach a departmental course, serve as a visiting lecturer in other courses, meet with students both individually and in groups, talk to gatherings within the Pikes Peak region, and enjoy time for their own reading, discussion, and contemplation. Often it is mutually desirable for a prospective Visiting Executive to come to campus initially as a department visitor and experience the rapid pace of the Block Plan.
Schlessman Distinguished Visiting Professor
This program brings a business scholar to campus for a block of teaching. It gives us yet another opportunity to keep the study of business alive by offering special elective courses to our students while also exposing departmental faculty to noted scholars in the field of business.
Schlessman Distinguished Visiting Alumnus
This program is designed to give students exposure to more recent graduates who have met with early success and promise to attain executives status in the course of their careers.
Departmental Visitors Program
This program brings to the Colorado College campus a broad range of individuals active in business. While many of these people cannot commit to the time involved in a prolonged stay at Colorado College, they can for a few days share with students and faculty their expertise and insight. The Visitors Program is designed to take advantage of such expertise to provide each visitor with an opportunity to participate in a class, meet with smaller groups of students, and talk with faculty on campus.
Visitors coming to campus each year under this program can combine their visit with business in the region. Often informal invitations are made for individuals to visit campus next time they have business close to Colorado Springs or know that they will be traveling through the region.
Food for Economic Thought Program
Begun informally as an opportunity to let the students have Visiting Executives all to themselves for a time, the Food for Economic Thought program has become one of the most active aspects of the Perspectives Program. As least once per block, visitors, faculty members and sometimes students involved in independent research, gather with other majors and some departmental faculty in a classroom with soft drinks and fast food to carry on a free-wheeling discussion of topics of particular interest to students.
For additional information about any of the programs mentioned on this site, please send inquiries to:
Professor Mark Smith
Director of the Perpsectives Program
Economics and Business Department
Colorado College
14 East Cache La Poudre
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
(719) 389-6411