Stephen Barrows, Ph.D., joined Acton this past summer as the managing director of programs. Before joining Acton, Dr. Barrows served 21 years in the U.S. Air Force and then moved with his wife, Kimberly, and their family to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and taught economics at Aquinas College, where he later served as the executive vice president, the provost and the dean of faculty. When asked what drew him to Acton, Dr. Barrows reflected on his youth living as an “army brat” in Germany during the Cold War. A particularly formative experience stood out when young Dr. Barrows took a train across East Germany into West Berlin. “I saw the stark contrast between the two: West Berlin’s vibrancy and dynamism compared to the cold, dreary atmosphere in the East. I knew then, the political philosophy that was behind East Berlin was not good for humanity.”
Decades later, still impacted by his firsthand experiences, Dr. Barrows was introduced to the work of the Acton Institute. He fondly remembers discovering the Acton-produced documentary “Call of the Entrepreneur,” which he quickly integrated into his economics classes. “It was a tremendous opportunity,” Barrows noted, “to illumine students to the goodness of business, the value of entrepreneurship and the creative capacity of humanity.”
A valuable lesson for us all!
