As the Elizabethtown College Scholarship and Creative Arts Day (SCAD) committee gathered to discuss details of this year’s activities, one imperative question had yet to be answered. Who would be the keynote speaker? The committee, mindful of balancing disciplines from year to year, sought a business-oriented speaker who would be interesting to students of all majors. Furthermore, the SCAD committee wanted to find someone who would attract those in the local community.
Before long, the decision had been made. Peter Buffett.
While many people might associate him with the success and popularity of his father, renowned investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, Peter Buffett has thrived all on his own. Buffett is an Emmy-award winning musician, most notably for his compositions in the movie Dances with Wolves and some early ’80s MTV bumpers—music played during station promotions. More recently, Buffett has collaborated with artists such as Akon and Angelique Kidjo. Along with his success in the music industry, Buffett also is a writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Dr. Emma Neuhauser, assistant professor of finance in E-town’s Department of Business and SCAD committee member, advocated the selection of Buffett as this year’s keynote speaker because of his versatile career path.
“He was a musician by training, but he is also an entrepreneur,” she said, adding that Buffett’s ability to work as an entertainer, entrepreneur and writer is unique. “Entertainers are not always business-minded. And he writes books. That is, to me, quite impressive.”
He was a musician by training, but he is also an entrepreneur…”
Buffett partnered with Akon to create IsThereSomethingICanDo.com, an online platform that educates and encourages others to take action in battling world issues. Its creation coincided with Buffett and Akon’s collaboration on the song “Blood into Gold,” which is intended to deliver a “powerful message of the human trafficking epidemic in the world.”
When he is not composing music, he is writing. Buffett’s book, Life is What You Make It, encourages readers to work hard, to strive for their goals and to find their own destiny. In this introduction, Buffett describes it as a book about “living in a society that lulls us with unprecedented comforts, but also tweaks us with anxieties – both economic and otherwise – and too often leaves us empty and bewildered in our search for purpose.”
Dr. Brian Newsome—associate professor of history, assistant dean, and chair of the SCAD committee—believes that the book’s messages speak to E-town students who are struggling with real-world concerns, and addresses topics that could help students find ways to answer important questions regarding career path and life purpose. In his text, Buffett addresses those concerns and shows by example that our lives are full of endless possibilities.
In his performance “Life is What You Make It: Concert and Conversation,” Buffett intertwines his love of music with the values he has learned throughout his life. This multimedia and musical event “ultimately conveys that it’s ones values – and what we are able to give back to society – that shape and define us as individuals.”
Buffett’s “Life is What You Make It: Concert and Conversation” takes place Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center, and will be followed by a book signing.
The keynote closes out this year’s Scholarship and Creative Arts Day. Launched in 2007, SCAD is an annual, two-day conference that celebrates the difference Elizabethtown College students make with their ideas and creativity. Each spring, select students present academic research in their respective disciplines, while others showcase talents through recitals and a juried art exhibit.