Babson Educators Influence Future Leaders, Scholars

Babson faculty and thought leaders are impacting future scholars through women’s leadership organizations, academic journals, and by sharing advice for new managers.

Developing Future Female Leaders

Vice President for Programming and Community Outreach Jane Edmonds was inducted into the Massachusetts Women’s Forum. The organization was formed in 1991 to bring regional leaders together to ensure women advance to top positions in institutions and organizations, so that they could influence the futures of other women.

In her career, Edmonds has served as a member of Governor Mitt Romney’s cabinet and was head of the Department of Workforce Development. She also previously founded and ran her own consulting firm, Jane C. Edmonds & Associates Inc.

Professors Published in Statistics Journal

Assistant Professor of Statistics and Analytics Davit Khachatryan and Professor of Accounting and Law Brigitte Muehlmann published an article in the Journal of Applied Statistics. In “Measuring technological breadth and depth of patent documents using Rao’s Quadratic Entropy,” indices are proposed for the length and depth of patent documents, and Khachatryan and Muehlmann compare and contrast indices in current literature.

Why Evaluators Back Early-Stage Inventions

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Phillip Kim’s academic study, “Taking leaps of faith: Evaluation criteria and resource commitments for early-stage inventions,” was published in Research Policy. Kim analyzes why organizations back early-stage inventions due to the difficulty of evaluating potential as well as involved risk. Almost 700 evaluation reports from a technology transfer office were considered, and it was determined evaluators favored inventions based on maturity, background familiarity, and scientific complexity.

Advice for New Managers

Distinguished Professor in Global Leadership Allan Cohen offered tips for new managers in a video on Accel5. His advice? Be transparent—new managers are constantly under the microscope. He also advised new managers to be aware of how they handle tough issues and make decisions, and to be willing to help their employees in order to achieve success.

Inspiring International Entrepreneurs

Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations Management Jennifer Bailey addressed the University of the West Indies Mona School of Business and Management at an entrepreneurship conference in Jamaica last week. In her speech, she called on future entrepreneurs to take risks, and praised listeners as innovators and creators. Bailey later told the Jamaica Observer, “the perception of risk is very important for entrepreneurs who are urged to weigh every situation and to make the best decisions for growth.”

Posted in Insights

Tagged Advice, Entrepreneurship Education, Faculty, Global, Leadership, Research, Women's Leadership

More from Insights »