Event Details

The Rise of the Creative Class - Richard Florida

Richard Florida, Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in Human Sciences Fall Lecturer, is one of the world's leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. He is professor of business economics and the Academic Director of the newly established Centre for Jurisdictional Advantage and Prosperity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Senior Scientist with the Gallup Organization. Florida is the author of the 2002 bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class and he more recent The Flight of the Creative Class, an examination of the global competition for creative talent. Florida's ideas on the "creative class," commercial innovation, and regional development have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple, and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies. The Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in Human Sciences Fall Lecture and part of a community-wide celebration of Iowa State's sesquicentennial. Richard Florida earned his bachelor's degree from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. Previously, he was the Heinz Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University, and he has been a visiting professor at MIT and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Florida is the founder of The Richard Florida Creativity Group (RFCG), a global think tank headquartered in Washington DC, that develops pioneering strategies for business, government and community competitiveness. He was the Hirst Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. Florida's publications include The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production, both of which paved the way for his provocative looks at how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy. He has authored pieces for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, The Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The Chronicle for Higher Education, U.S. News and World Report, and more. He is also the author of "The University and the Creative Economy," a report published in December 2006 funded by the Heinz Endowment. His next book, a look at the way that people choose the places they live and how that affects everything from their real estate to their families, is due out in 2008. Cosponsored By: College of Human Sciences Helen LeBaron Hilton Fund Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB)

Lectures Program, 2582 Memorial Union, 50011-1130
Phone (515) 294-9934,

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