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Larry Chavis

Larry Chavis

Clinical Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship

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McColl 4418, CB 3490 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490

Larry Chavis is an economist who teaches and conducts research across a range of economic issues.

He is integrating issues of mental health, race and inequality into his coursework and writing. He sees these as core topics in business education.

Dr. Chavis is the former director of the UNC American Indian Center, and his work with the center has been transformational for him. As a public service center, the American Indian Center both supports Native students at UNC and engages tribal communities across North Carolina on educational, health and economic issues. Seeing Native American students grow and thrive during their time at UNC challenges Dr. Chavis to be the best version of himself.

Dr. Chavis is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and grew up in Lumberton.

In 2019, Dr. Chavis was appointed by Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz to the University Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward. He also serves on the Faculty Council Agenda Committee. He has represented UNC Kenan-Flagler on the UNC Faculty Council, and has served on the Faculty Welfare Committee and the Faculty Governance Nominating Committee.

During the 2021-22 academic year, Dr. Chavis participated in the American Council on Education Fellows Program. He focused on issues related to minority faculty recruitment, retention and promotion. He also plans to examine programs aimed at supporting Native American students, and research how development funds can be used to create more inclusive universities.

Dr. Chavis has been recognized for his passion for engaging students with teaching awards in the Executive MBA and Undergraduate Business programs. The dream of teaching is why he spent 11 years in graduate school and he will maintain time in the classroom as he moves to a career in academic administration. He shares stories of grappling with anxiety and adult ADHD with his students in an effort to inspire them to better understand their own strengths and weaknesses.

His research focuses on institutions in developing countries and has appeared in the International Journal of Cultural Policy, Journal of Comparative Economics, World Bank Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, and Quantitative Marketing and Economics.

His work with economist Phillip Leslie on boycotts has been widely cited in a range of news outlets including, The Guardian, U.S. News & World Report, Los Angeles Times, Knowledge@Wharton and the “ABC News Start Here Podcast.”

Dr. Chavis is working with AN Damodaran of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore on the market for classical art as part of an Obama-Singh Grant.

He received his PhD in economics from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, his MS in applied economics and management and MA in Asian studies from Cornell University, and his BA in anthropology from Duke University.