Jim Kitchen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 15, 1964 |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur and professor |
| Known for | First person to travel to all 193 United Nations recognized countries, deepest part of Challenger deep, and to space |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School |
Jim Kitchen (born August 15, 1964) is an American entrepreneur and professor. He is the first person to travel to all 193 United Nations recognized countries, bottom of the ocean and to space. [1] [2]
Jim Kitchen started his first business in 1985, a marketing business, and promoted low Earth orbit space trips. [3] Afterwards, he started an international tour business as well as several other companies [4] He was instrumental in developing Chapel Hill’s entrepreneurship eco-system, [5] opening up accelerator Launch Chapel Hill and student incubator 1789 Venture Lab. [6]
Kitchen began teaching Entrepreneurship at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2010. [7] The central theme of Kitchen’s course is teaching students to create profits with a purpose. [8] In his course students learn entrepreneurial principles by starting small businesses where profits are donated to non-profits, including Make a Wish [9] and other charities. [10] Kitchen’s classes have given away multiple cars to people transitioning out of homelessness. [11] [12]
Kitchen began traveling internationally in high school and over the past 30 years has visited all 193 countries recognized by the United Nations. [13] [14] He visited his 193rd country, Syria, in 2019. [15] Kitchen is a member of the Travelers' Century Club, recognized as a Gold Member for visiting 100 or more countries. [16]
On March 14, 2022, Blue Origin announced that Jim Kitchen would be a member of the NS-20 mission. [17] Pete Davidson was scheduled to be a crew member on this launch, however Davidson changed his mind. Gary Lai, the chief architect of the New Shepard rocket system replaced Pete Davidson on this space flight. On March 31, 2022, Kitchen became the first person to travel to all 193 U.N. recognized countries and go to space. [18] [19] Several news outlets referred to him as the “Modern Day Marco Polo” who went to space. [20]
On July 5, 2022, Kitchen traveled in the deep diving submersible Limiting Factor to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean to depths between 10,925 - 10,935 meters (35,843ft - 35,875ft). [21] The trench is located approximately 210 nautical miles to the southwest of Guam. [22]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States, occupying 7,000 acres (2,833 ha) in North Carolina and hosting more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profit organization.
Kenan Stadium is a college football stadium located on Stadium Drive in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Opened in 1927, it is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's (UNC) football team, which competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The facility replaced Emerson Field, where the school's football program had been based since 1916. Plans for the stadium began as attendance increased. Ground was broken on the stadium in December 1926 and work completed in August 1927. The stadium hosted its first game on November 12, 1927, when the Tar Heels faced the Davidson Wildcats, where the Tar Heels won 27–0 in front of 9,000 spectators. On November 24, 1927, the stadium was officially opened and dedicated during a game where the Tar Heels hosted the Virginia Cavaliers and won 14–13.
The Confederate Monument, University of North Carolina, commonly known as Silent Sam, is a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson, which once stood on McCorkle Place of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 1913 until it was pulled down by protestors on August 20, 2018. Its former location has been described as "the front door" of the university and "a position of honor".
The UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School is the business school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Founded in 1919, the school was renamed to its current name in 1991 in honor of Mary Lily Kenan and her husband, Henry Flagler.
WCHL is a commercial AM radio station in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is owned by the Chapel Hill Media Group and it has a format of news, talk, sports and adult album alternative music. It is a network affiliate of CBS News Radio. Much of its programming is geared towards the Chapel Hill–Carrboro community, with a focus on local news and community-affairs programming. The studios are on South Estes Drive in Chapel Hill.
John D. Kasarda is an American academic and airport business consultant focused on aviation-driven economic development. He is a faculty member at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, the CEO of Aerotropolis Business Concepts LLC and the President of the Aerotropolis Institute in China. He was the founding editor-in-chief of Logistics, an open-access journal published by MDPI. Kasarda is often referred to as "father of the aerotropolis".
Herbert Holden Thorp is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He is a professor of chemistry at George Washington University. He was the tenth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assuming the position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James Moeser, and, at age 43, was noted as being among the youngest leaders of a university in the United States. At the time of his selection as chancellor, Thorp was the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a Kenan Professor of chemistry at the university.
Eric Ghysels is a Belgian economist with interest in finance and time series econometrics, and in particular the fields of financial econometrics and financial technology. He is the Edward M. Bernstein Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina and a Professor of Finance at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is also the Faculty Research Director of the Rethinc.Labs at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
Over 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students live in campus housing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during a regular school year. Forty residence halls are grouped into 16 residential communities across campus.
The North Carolina Science Festival (NCSF) is a month-long, yearly celebration encompassing hundreds of events throughout the state of North Carolina. The festival is organized by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus with the goal of highlighting the educational, cultural and economic impact of science in the state. NCSF events include hands-on activities, talks, lab tours, exhibits and performances for all ages. The event has grown into the largest science festival in the world.
Buck Goldstein is the Entrepreneur in Residence and Professor of Practice in the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the co-author, with Holden Thorp, of two books: Engines of Innovation – The Entrepreneurial University in the 21st Century, in which they contend that the world’s biggest problems can be effectively addressed by large research universities through a combination of skillful innovation and execution; and Our Higher Calling—Rebuilding the Partnership Between America and its Colleges and Universities in which they contend that the informal compact between American higher education and the public is broken and must be restored. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Information Industry Association and Information America, the company he co-founded, has appeared numerous times on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.
Jim Clifton is the chairman of Gallup, a global analytics and advice firm. Clifton served as the CEO of Gallup from 1988 until 2022, and is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller It's the Manager, the bestseller Born to Build, The Coming Jobs War, and writes The Chairman's Blog. He is the creator of the behavioral economic framework, “The Gallup Microeconomic Path,” a metric-based economic model that establishes the linkages among human nature in the workplace, customer engagement and business outcomes, which is used by over 500 companies worldwide. His father was psychologist, educator, and author Dr. Donald O. Clifton, who founded of Selection Research, Inc. (SRI). Under Jim's leadership, SRI acquired the Gallup Organization in 1988.
Howard E. Aldrich is an American sociologist who is Kenan Professor of Sociology and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Valarie A. Zeithaml is a marketing professor and author. She is the David S. Van Pelt Family Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Zeithaml is an expert in the area of services marketing and service quality.
Douglas A. Shackelford is an American professor and academic administrator. He served as the dean of the Kenan–Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until September of 2022, where he is also the Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation.
Richard A. Bettis is the Ellison Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a former president of the Strategic Management Society and was the Co-Editor of Strategic Management Journal from 2007-2015.
Pamela Somers Hemminger is an American politician who served as the mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from 2015 to 2023. She owns a small real-estate company and previously served on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board of education and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
James Warren Dean Jr. is the current president of the University of New Hampshire since June 30, 2018. Dean earned his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in organizational behavior from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Catholic University Of America.
Nelson Ferebee Taylor was an American lawyer and educational administrator who served as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1972 to 1980.