Richard Florida Speaking at CPBIS Distinguished Lecture Series on: The Rise of the Creative Class and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, April 1, 2003 --- Richard Florida was the last speaker in this year's Distinguished Lecture Series presented by the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS), the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), and Buckman Laboratories. The seminar was held on March 28, 2003, from 11:00 a.m. to noon in IPST's Kress Auditorium.

To view the FREE recorded webcast, please click here.

Richard Florida discussed his national bestseller, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure Community and Everyday Life, published by Basic Books in June 2002. The book has been acclaimed in The New York Times and other major media for showing how some of the most profound changes in our workplace and culture stem from the rise of creativity as an economic force.

In the 1880s it was the factory worker. The 1950s gave us the company man. In this new millennium, the most influential class in society is something that professor of Regional Economic Development Richard Florida calls the "Creative Class." Florida gives us a provocative new way to think about why we live as we do today - and where we might be headed. But who are these people and how are they changing society?

Dr. Florida has conducted an exhaustive study of this new social class, which is made up of people whose job is to be "creative." This can include musicians, artists, scientists, teachers, and many other professions. Nearly 40 million Americans - over 30 percent of the workforce - derive much of our identity and values from its role as purveyors of creativity.

As the "norm setting" class of our era, the "Creative Class" will continue to have a huge economic and social impact. The Rise of the Creative Class looks at this fascinating shift in our nation's social fabric and chronicles the ongoing sea change in people's choices and attitudes about work and leisure time.

Dr. Florida is the H. John Heinz III Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is also founder of the Software Industry Center, a Sloan Foundation Industry Center. He has been a visiting professor at MIT and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and is affiliated with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. He is co-author of five other books, including Industrializing Knowledge published by MIT Press; Beyond Mass Production published by Oxford University Press and The Breakthrough Illusion published by Basic Books, and more than 100 articles in academic journals. He is a founding principal of Catalytix, a strategy consulting firm that works with cities, regions and corporations around the world. Florida earned his Bachelor's degree from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Buckman Laboratories sponsors the Distinguished Lecture Series. The series is free to the public.

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About CPBIS: The Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS) is a globally recognized and industry-valued academic center, creating knowledge and tools that support paper industry decision-makers, and producing interdisciplinary graduates who contribute to the long-term success of the paper industry. The CPBIS is co-sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and the Paper Industry.
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