A gift to UNC-Greensboro’s Bryan School of Business and Economics will fund the creation of a program for studying markets and morality.

Winston-Salem-based BB&T’s philanthropic organization, BB&T Charitable Foundation, recently made the $1 million donation to UNC-Greensboro to establish the BB&T Program in Capitalism, Markets and Morality. The program also will create the Ayn Rand Reading Room in the school’s library. The room will include fiction and nonfiction works by Rand, who was an economic freedom advocate, and other authors.

BB&T Chairman and Executive Officer John Allison IV said the grant would help to promote students’ understanding of concepts outside the technical framework of businesses. “Unfortunately, we find that many students who graduate with business degrees while understanding the ‘technology’ of business, do not have a clear grasp of the moral principles underlying free markets,” Allison said.

The gift will fund an undergraduate course on markets and morality and a separate course for graduate students. It will also provide faculty grants for curriculum development to increase students’ knowledge of capitalism and moral foundations in the economic principle.

Also included in the gift is the creation of the BB&T Distinguished Lecture Series in Capitalism, which will promote discussions on business ethics and values. Dr. Bruce Caldwell, a professor of economics at UNC-Greensboro and editor of The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, will be among the various presenters during the lecture series.

Dr. James Weeks said the programs would provide a “fair and balanced” look at various economic principles of capitalism.

“This program matches our shared interests in giving students a fair and balanced perspective on capitalism and free markets and in giving students across the UNC-G campus a batter understanding of our economy and greater ability to make meaningful contributions to our world,” Weeks said.