Babson Faculty Showcase Entrepreneurial Accomplishments

Babson College long has been the No. 1 school for entrepreneurship, both for undergraduate and graduate students. One of the many reasons for the College’s excellence in entrepreneurship education is its highly accomplished faculty, who continue to expand their expertise and influence their fields.

Here are just some of the latest achievements by faculty members at Babson:

New Entrepreneurship Chair

Professor of Entrepreneurship Donna Kelley P’24 was named the chair of the Entrepreneurship Division at Babson College, starting in fall 2021. She also is the Frederic C. Hamilton Professor of Free Enterprise Studies.

Kelley is an expert on global entrepreneurship. Since 2007, she has served as a board member of the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA), the oversight board of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Co-founded by Babson College in 1999, GEM is the largest and most developed research program on entrepreneurship in the world. The leader of the GEM U.S. team, Kelley has co-authored 29 GEM reports on global entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education and training, high-impact entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship in the United States, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Africa.

Kelley also has presented on global entrepreneurship to the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and many other organizations around the world. She also has developed the entrepreneurship curriculum for startup universities in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

Kelley joined Babson in 1999 and teaches multiple courses at the College, including New Venture Creation, and Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME).

Innovation Out of a Pandemic

In a Babson faculty discussion hosted by the Babson Faculty Research Fund, faculty members Sebastian Fixson, Gina O’Connor, Alia Crocker, and Jonathan Sims discussed the innovatively unique supply chains and organizational tactics that have come out of businesses moving to an online model, especially during the pandemic. The team is honing into the intricacies of research and development work in an online setting.

Female Entrepreneurs and the Power of Words

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Lakshmi Balachandra and Franklin W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship Candida Brush wrote and published “Do (Women’s) Words Matter? The Influence of Gendered Language in Entrepreneurial Pitching.”

Balachandra and Brush focused on female entrepreneurs and how they consistently raise less investor funding than male entrepreneurs. The professors specifically focused on comparing the differences between the language that men and women use while pitching.

Extreme Entrepreneurship from Tough Entrepreneurs

Associate Professor Adam Sulkowski recently received an offer to publish his book Extreme Entrepreneurship, a collection of true stories (including student favorites) of entrepreneurs succeeding in tough environments, based on visits to 120 countries. The book features dozens of stories about the perseverance of different entrepreneurs in different circumstances.

A Short Story and Its Long Journey

Professor Mary O’Donoghue’s short story “In the Inn District” appeared in a special place-based issue of the literary journal Stinging Fly x Galway 2020. O’Donoghue’s story follows an emigrant’s return to her homeland, a toxic relationship, the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhand, and more. Stinging Fly has been a leading Irish journal over the past 20 years.

Additional Presentations and Honors

Associate Professor Rob Cross and Assistant Professor Alia Crocker published an article in the Harvard Business Review titled, “For An Agile Transformation, Choose The Right People.” Cross also released another article in the Harvard Business Review with Professor Danna Greenberg titled, “The Secret To Building Resilience.”

Professor Janice Yellin wrote two entries, “Royal and Elite Cemeteries at Meroe” and “Prolegomena to the Study of Meroitic Art,” which appear in the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia.

Associate Professor Tina Opie and her co-author recently published their paper, “Shared Sisterhood: Harnessing collective power to generate more inclusive and equitable organizations,” in “Organizational Dynamics” in ScienceDirect.

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Tagged Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Education, Faculty

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