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Societal Impact Scholars Seminar series begins

The University of Utah kicked off its new Societal Impact Scholars Seminar series with a visit from American Enterprise Institute economist Michael Strain last week.

“It’s our hope that these seminars will connect academia to action by highlighting research that increases our understanding of the world, and the ways thought leadership can improve the decisions we make as a society,” said Taylor Randall, U president.

Created in partnership with the Utah Economic Council, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and the Hinckley Institute of Politics, the new speaker series is intended to inform, engage and empower students, faculty and staff, as well as the wider Utah population.

During his visit, Strain spoke to multiple audiences including economic professionals, community leaders, elected officials and University of Utah students. He covered a variety of economic topics including the national debt, social security and Medicaid/Medicare reform, tariffs, and trade wars.

While speaking to students at the Hinckley Institute of Politics, Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, asked Strain what advice he’d give to students interested in economics, politics and public policy. In addition to encouraging them to take classes that will help them learn about the issues and to read a newspaper every day, Strain urged attendees to seek out people with different views.

“Read articles and essays and columns by people who you don’t agree with and learn from them,” he said. “Find people in your community who you don’t agree with and talk to them. Develop a habit of intellectual humility and a habit of civil, respectful dialogue with people who don’t share your views. You will learn so much. Maybe your mind will change. Maybe your mind won’t be changed, but you will have a stronger sense of why you believe what you believe.”

The seminars follow other efforts at the university to support broad public discourse and facilitate respectful disagreement, including a new campus dialogue program manager and the president’s Viewpoint Representation and Expression Taskforce.

Future Societal Impact Seminar invited guests include: Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity Insights; Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and former U.S. secretary of energy; Shaylyn Romney Garrett, social entrepreneur and author; Yuval Levin, editor-in-chief of National Affairs; and Mark Zandi, chief economist Moody’s Analytics.