The Citadel forges new relationship with BB&T to advance leadership studies
June 11, 2010
CHARLESTON, SC – June 11, 2010 – BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C., has given The Citadel School of Business Administration a $1 million gift to establish an endowed professorship and create an undergraduate and graduate academic program focused on the moral and ethical foundations of free enterprise and capitalism and the implications for ethical business behavior.
Adjunct professor Robert E. Freer, Jr. is serving as the interim BB&T Visiting Professor in Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership to launch the program. An attorney, Freer has been teaching in the School of Business since 2004. He also is founder and president of the Free Enterprise Foundation, a non -profit organization that educates the public on the role of free enterprise and ethics and civic responsibility in business.
“I am privileged to represent the high ethical standards of BB&T and to honor the full intent of The Citadel’s mission to educate principled leaders in all walks of life,” Freer said.
BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly King said BB&T is proud to be partners with The Citadel “as we all strive to institute the highest ethical values in corporate governance worldwide.”
This week the School of Business announced the 2010 winners of the first BB&T Economic Freedom Award – an essay contest for students studying free enterprise, capitalism and humanism. Entries were judged on quality of research and expression.
First place and $1,000 went to Aaron Buchhop for his essay “The Humanity of Capitalism: A Philosophy for the Future.” Second place and $500 went to Michael Budney for his essay “Your Days Are Numbered…Capitalism in a Humanist World.”
Buchhop is a 2009 graduate of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets now working on his MBA at The Citadel. He lives in Charleston. Buchhop is working as a graduate assistant this summer in the offices of The Citadel Regimental Band and Pipes.
Budney, who lives in Mount Pleasant, is a finance graduate of Rutgers University now working on his MBA at The Citadel. He works at First Command Financial Planning.
