Buck Goldstein, J.D., M.Ed.

Professor of the Practice, UNC School of Education and University Entrepreneur-in-Residence | UNC-Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC, UNITED STATES

Expert in entrepreneurship, venture capital, research universities as agents of societal change, university governance & strategic planning.

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Biography

Buck Goldstein is the University Entrepreneur in Residence and Professor of the Practice in the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Goldstein joined the University faculty in 2004 to help build The Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative, a multi-year, multi-million-dollar project to make entrepreneurship, broadly defined, part of the intellectual fabric of the campus. The UNC entrepreneurship curriculum has been named by a variety of national publications as among the nation’s best. In 2010, he co-authored, with Holden Thorp, Engines of Innovation—The Entrepreneurial University in the 21st Century, making the case for the pivotal role of research universities as agents of societal change. He and Thorp’s new book, Our Higher Calling—Rebuilding the Partnership between American and its Colleges and Universities was published by UNC Press in September 2018.

Goldstein has been involved in entrepreneurship most of his professional life. He is the co-founder of Information America, an online information business that evolved over a 15 year period from start-up through venture financing to public company before it was ultimately acquired by the Thomson Corporation. He later founded NetWorth Partners, a venture capital fund focusing on information-based enterprises with Mellon Ventures as its largest investor and subsequently became a partner in Mellon Ventures, the venture capital arm of Mellon Bank where he served on the Board of Directors of numerous early stage information companies.

Goldstein serves as an advisor to Medfusion, a Raleigh, North Carolina based medical information technology company. He also serves on the Think Tank for the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC and on the board of the Institute of Arts and Humanities at UNC. He previously served as a Board Observer for iContact, an email marketing company based in the Research Triangle Park until its acquisition by Vocus in 2012 and as an advisor to Liquidia, a nano-technology company founded in the UNC chemistry department.
Goldstein was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Information Industry Association and Information America appeared numerous times on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina and an honors graduate of its law school. He lives with his wife Kay in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Industry Expertise (1)

Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise (8)

Financial Service

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Leadership

Entrepreneurial Education

Business Planning

Venture Capital

New Media

Healthcare Technology

Accomplishments (2)

Entrepreneur of the Year (professional)

1991 Awarded to Professor Goldstein by the Information Industry Association and Information America.

Featured on Inc. 500 list of rapidly growing companies (professional)

Professor Goldstein has been featured on Inc 500 list of rapidly growing businesses on several separate occasions.

Education (3)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: J.D., Juris Doctor 1976

Served on the Editorial Board of the UNC Law Review.

University of Massachusetts: M.Ed., Master of Education 1973

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: B.A., Bachelor of Arts 1970

Graduated with honors; elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Links (7)

Media Appearances (4)

Is The Partnership Between American Universities And The Public Broken?

WUNC's "The State of Things" radio

2018-09-12

Former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chancellor Holden Thorp along with UNC-Chapel Hill professor Buck Goldstein think that partnership between American colleges and the public is experiencing fundamental flaws. They point to what they say are unsustainable costs of running the schools and high burden on students for tuition costs as signs of that breakdown.

Exploding MOOC Myths -- What We've Learned Half Way Through

The Huffington Post online

2014-11-02

Holden Thorp and I are half way through our MOOC, What's Your Big Idea? By MOOC standards our enrollment is modest (34,000) but the level of engagement is relatively high-over 7,000 students have taken the end of module exams, and many others are working on projects to be presented at the end of the course...

Innovation Economics: The Pie Must Get Bigger

The Huffington Post online

2010-09-29

If you work long enough, even in high growth businesses or organizations, the inevitable bump in the road comes along, and sometimes that bump is more like a pot-hole or a ditch. When the pie is getting smaller, no one is happy. This axiom applies equally to companies, institutions, governments and world economies, and the ultimate remedy is almost always the same as well...

Just-In-Time Innovation

Forbes online

2010-08-12

Buck Goldstein and Holden Thorp on student entrepreneurship and lasting change: "[s]tudents are eager to learn and apply basic economic and strategic principles to the most important issues facing the planet."

Event Appearances (10)

Instructor

Seminar, "The American Professoriate" UNC Chapel Hill

2019-09-17

Speaker

Fireside Chat with Jeff Selingo of the Washington Post for North Carolina Leaders in Higher Education

2019-09-10

Address

Deloitte Convergence Forum Toronto, Canada

2019-06-24

Commencement Address

Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship UNC Chapel Hill

2019-05-11

Reinvention Collaborative 2018 National Conference

Meet the Author Session with Buck Arlington, Virgina

2018-11-09

Keynote Address

Phi Beta Cappa UNC Chapter

2018-11-05

Brookings Institution Event

Holden and Buck discuss the challenges in the American higher education system with educational leaders Brookings Institution

2018-10-24

Keynote speaker, Phi Kappa Phi

Academic honorary and service society Annual meeting

2016-07-30

University of Kentucky Speaker Series

Presentation University of Kentucky

2014-05-08

Buck Goldstein on Broadening the definition of entrepreneurship, and more

Entrepreneurial University Leadership Programme University of Oxford

2013-01-26

Articles (2)

Turning Adversity into Opportunity—Entrepreneurship and the Information Professional

Information Professionals 2050: Educational Possibilities and Pathways

2012 ABSTRACT: Nothing about these three events is particularly unique and by themselves they are merely isolated experiences. Multiplied across millions of consumers they suggest fundamental changes are taking place in the nature of what those in the business have referred to as “content” ever since Bill Gates’ famous essay, Content is King...

The Entrepreneurial University

Inside Higher Ed

2010 ABSTRACT: What is an entrepreneurial university, and how does it address the worldís biggest problems? It is a question that weíve been asked regularly the last few months in the run-up to the recent publication of our book, Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the 21st Century (University of North Carolina Press)...

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