Center for the Study of Free Enterprise
Dedicated to providing economics research and education to the students, faculty, and community of Western Carolina University.
Who We Are
Launched in 2017 as a part of Western Carolina University, the Center for Study of Free Enterprise (CSFE) supports our mission through scholarly inquiry and community engagement. We focus particularly on the areas of economic development, applied research, and free enterprise. We provide research support, student scholarship, teacher training and much more in an effort to promote interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration among faculty, students, and community members.
What We Do
We work to enrich lives in our region by supporting scholars, offering free educational activities for our community, and providing easy-to-access information on public policy and the role of free enterprise in a flourishing society. Explore our current projects, read more about specific issues affecting our region, and find out how to submit your own idea for funding.
For Students
CSFE offers scholarships, fellowships, post-baccalaureate opportunities, and educational lectures for students
For Faculty
Access information, tools, and classroom materials / lesson plans designed for educational professionals of all levels.
For the Community
CSFE offers grants to individuals hoping to advance economic understanding through peer-reviewed research and public promotion.
Register Now
We are excited to welcome Phil Drake, software pioneer, angel investor, community leader, and founder of Drake Enterprises. This special one-night event includes a discussion of his experiences in entrepreneurship, investing, and his thoughts on the system of economic freedom that enabled his, and countless other success stories in America. available.
For more information, and to register, click the link below, or visit speakers.wcu.edu/drake
Thoughts from our Founding Director, Dr. Edward Lopez, and other invited contributors.
Congratulations to Lindsey Elias!
Here recently, the students of Future Business Leaders of American-Phi Beta Lambda have been sharing a lot of their successes—and rightly so. These students are outstanding in more ways than I can enumerate here. But during a recent chat with her, I learned that...
Improving Lives, Step-by-step
This week has been exciting for us at the Center for many reasons, but I am most excited about the launch of our Issue Brief Series. Since we launched CSFE, our mission has always been focused on students, faculty, and community. Our Issue Brief series, I hope, will...
A Special Congratulations to Jonathan Holden
The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise is excited to extend our congratulations to Jonathan Holden on his completion of the President Level of the Career and Membership Achievement Program (CMAP) in Phi Beta Lambda. CMAP is a comprehensive individual membership...
Guest Blog: Welcoming Jeff Percival
As President of Future Business Leaders of America - Phi Beta Lambda, I’m excited to both welcome Mr. Jeff Percival to WCU, and to partner with the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise. This semester, FBLA-PBL has devoted this semester to professional and...
Race Inequality: A Discussion with Steve Ha and Samuel Myers on Race Neutrality
Free Enterprise Speaker Series presents “Race Inequality: A Discussion with Steve Ha and Samuel Myers on Race Neutrality.” A discussion presented by Dr. Steve Ha, and Dr. Samuel Myers at Western Carolina University.
Watch a livestream of the event below:
Building Success with Jeff Percival
On Februrary 6, 2019, The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise hosted Jeff Percival of Percival Enterprises for a workshop on success. The event was cohosted with Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda chapter at WCU.
Jeff Percival has spent the last 33 years building, molding and creating a business that is a living entity. He left teaching to start a training and development company, “Percival & Associates”. After 7 years, he developed the Percival Enterprises’ User/Consultant Group, with over 25 experts in their field, from around the country. This User/Consultant Group acts as a Resource to his clients and prospects.
As an Assessment & Development Company, Jeff has also created his “Success Track Tools” Division within PercEnt %. These are proprietary tools which were designed to keep you “On Track & In Focus”. He uses these tools during training and speaking engagements.
Jeff is also an author. He has written 3 books: “8 Weeks to Successful Employment”, “Job Search Survival Kit”, “Your Combination for Success” and co-authored “Work Makes Me Sick! (Prescribe Something Quick!)” with Kathy Bornheimer. He just finished writing “Creating Artful Sales”.
WCU’s Free Enterprise Speaker Series is a forum for the campus and community to explore all points of view on important issues of the day, hear from renowned experts from a variety of fields and understand multiple perspectives.
Watch our livestream of the event below.
Podcast S2, E3: Jeff Percival and Lindsey Elias
Dr. Edward Lopez continues this seasons’ discussion with an interview of Jeff Percial of Percival Enterprises, and Lindsey Elias, President of Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda. They sit down to talk about Success.