Grant funds new Koch Student Scholar program

Funded by a grant from one of the nation’s largest industrial companies, the first-ever scholar program in the nation dedicated to exploring economic principles has been created at USU.

Thirteen USU students and three faculty advisers from a variety of different backgrounds and majors are part of the newly created Koch Student Scholar program that started this semester, said Chris Fawson, Koch Student Scholar program adviser and senior associate dean for academic and international affairs in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

“The whole idea of the project is just to stimulate creative thought, to help students be exposed to different ideas, to be exposed to a literature that they may not have picked up otherwise, and benefit from a civil dialogue with their peers and a couple professors,” Fawson said.

The Koch Student Scholars meet together every Wednesday in the political science conference room to eat dinner and discuss assigned readings on economic principles, Fawson said. The readings come from a variety of backgrounds, from theoretical books to science fiction to romance novels, Fawson said, and the point of the readings is to encourage ideas of economic freedom and how those principles apply to society at large.

“There’s some kind of fun exchange that takes place as we struggle with these ideas,” Fawson said. “We have some fun books in there as well that kind of lightens the mood and stimulates thought. It really, for me, it opens up economics and ways to talk about economics that’s way outside the bounds of your conventional textbook or your conventional class. We kind of mix it up a bit so it’s not just hardcore economic principles and a debate about the fate of the world, and poverty. It’s about what does it really mean when you strip off all the language and the formality, how does it apply to us and help our thinking about the world.”

Fawson said the program was the result of an idea he and two other professors in the political science department – Randy Simmons and Roberta Herzberg – had to create a type of partnership with Koch Industries to help the company meet its broader social goals and to help students learn economic principles that will help them when they enter the workforce.

Koch Industries is headed by Charles Koch, one of the wealthiest industrialists in America, Fawson said, and part of his business strategy is to link “business methods to concepts of liberty and freedom and foundations of economics and economic philosophy.” Encouraged by his business success, he created the Koch Foundation in Washington, D.C., to continue to promote his principles of success, Fawson said.

“We started thinking about things we could do to really anchor the profile of the Huntsman school. We contacted the foundation and said we had some ideas about how we might bring a group of students together and really create an intensive learning experience that would be aligned with some of the ideas that Charles Koch thinks are important in creating free societies and sustainable societies,” Fawson said.

The result? A $32,500 grant, a partnership with one of the largest industrial companies in the world and a unique program Fawson said is found only “at elite Ivy League schools, not necessarily funded by Koch Foundation, but by other foundations that are interested in students having an intimate experience with faculty to talk about great ideas, to read books, to have a dialogue among very divergent interests and to learn to be respectful of that dialogue.”

So what does Koch Industries get out of this? Fawson said they are interested in “the broader social objective of helping students learn” and using this program as a away to find talent and potential hires that understand their business philosophy.

Before the Christmas break, this program was opened to applicants. Out of 40 applicants, 13 were chosen and were each given a $1,500 stipend for the semester to participate, Fawson said. The selected students come from a variety of backgrounds – biology, natural resources, philosophy, political science and business – and range from freshmen to graduate students, Fawson said.

Will Israelsen, a Koch Student Scholar and senior dual majoring in biology and economics, said, “It’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I’ve never really been in a setting like this before where you have a lot of diverse opinions and ideas being able to share.”

Another Koch Student Scholar, Natali Naegle, said, “It’s such an opportunity because I had opinions before, but it’s just opened up my eyes because what we discuss is not a typical conversation you’d have with friends on the weekend, not a typical conversation you could have in a class because it’s too big. It’s just an opportunity for me to hear opinions that are very different from my own, and a way to broaden my horizons, my views of the world and understand why people think the way they do. It helps strengthen my own and sometimes weaken my own, and think maybe I’m wrong and there are other ways to see the world that I’d never even thought about before.”

Fawson said the varied backgrounds help the students bring different ideas to the table and encourage a productive dialogue. Kjersten Adams, a sophomore majoring in economics and accounting and a Koch Student Scholar, said even though there are many different ideas, the conversations are always civilized.

“There’s sometimes when one person has a very strong opinion and everyone else kind of attacks their idea, but it’s always in a civilized manner, and we always listen and learn from those because there are so many different perspectives that we’re listening to that sometimes it can completely change my opinion about something. We’re always civilized. No food fights yet,” Adams said.

Not only does this program allow students to discuss economics in an open forum setting, it increases the marketability of the students and the quality of education students at USU are receiving, Fawson said.

Whitney Larsen, a senior Koch Student Scholar majoring in accounting, said, “It’s obviously increasing my human capital and marketability. I think that’s the biggest thing because it gives me an edge, because for one, it’s the only program, not only in the U.S., but in the world, founded by Koch, so that alone will give me an edge.”

“We look at it as a way to demonstrate to the world that we have incredible students at Utah State University, and we’re using the Koch Foundation to help demonstrate that,” Fawson said. “One of the core messages is it’s really a way for Utah State students to differentiate themselves as scholars and as students that can compete with the very best students in the world, and to be exposed to literature that allows them to create a framework for building confidence about their place in the world.”

-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu