Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- April 29 -- Daniel Klein, associate professor of economics at Santa Clara University, was one of nine educators nationwide—and only one of four in higher education—to be presented one of the 27^th Annual Leavey Awards for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge.

Klein was honored for his work as the founder and director of the Civil Society Institute at SCU's  Leavey School of Business.

The Civil Society Institute is a program dedicated to educating students in the classic themes of political economy and their relevance to contemporary policy issues. In addition to training top undergraduate students, the institute also hosts public lectures and events to create a regular "coffee-house" for the Silicon Valley community to explore ideas and policy issues in classical liberal / libertarian thought.

The institute’s faculty consists of Matthew Brown, economics; Henry Demmert, economics; Fred Foldvary, economics; Robert Finocchio, management; David Friedman, economics; Kerry Macintosh, law; Jacques Delacroix, management; and Klein, director.

The awards were presented by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge in Philadelphia in March.

“The Leavey Awards in just a quarter century have become the most prestigious honor in the United States for teachers who create and implement programs that teach the free enterprise system to future generations,” said Freedoms Foundation CEO Aaron Siegel.  “The Freedoms Foundation is proud to host this important tribute and to celebrate our 27^th anniversary partnership with the California-based Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation.”

The foundation has underwritten programs at the Leavey School of Business, whose part-time MBA program was most recently ranked among the top 10 in the U.S.

Each of the recipients received a $7,500 cash prize. Klein said he would donate his prize to support programs of the Civil Society Institute.

For more information about the Civil Society Institute, see www.scu.edu/civilsocietyinstitute.

About The Leavey Schoolof Business

The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University began in 1926, and was one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation. The business school’s MBA program was one of the original group of MBA programs in 1961 to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

SCU’s business school offers a professional education emphasizing humanistic and moral development as well as technical proficiency. In the MBA program, 1,022 students were registered in fall 2003, more than 80 percent of them working professionals in Silicon Valley.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is on line at www.scu.edu.

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The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge was founded in 1949 to help Americans preserve the ideals and principles of the United States through educational and award programs for men, women and children from every community in America.  Freedoms Foundation volunteer chapters are located in 27 cities throughout the country.  For more information on the Leavey Awards and Freedoms Foundation visit the Foundation Web site at www.freedomsfoundation.com.