eProfessors and ePractitioners

Professors of Practice Entrepreneurship Professors and Entrepreneurship Practitioners have been selected from across partner campuses and the community. They will play significant leadership roles in teaching, research, and service within their respective discipline, campus, or in the community. eProfessors and ePractitioners will engage in campus-community entrepreneurship projects that involve faculty, students, and the community.

Entrepreneurship Professors and Entrepreneurship Practitioners serve 2-year terms. Each receives up to $20,000 to support their Enitiative project. eProfessors/ePractitioners are expected to attend a lunch once each semester to share best-practices. Applicants are eligible to receive support to attend the Entrepreneurship Experiential Workshop given in the spring semester by the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises program in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The following professors and practitioners have been chosen to launch the first Enitiative projects.

Nasir Ali, ePractitioner
VP, New Venture Development, Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director, Seed Capital Fund of CNY, LLC

The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce’s New Venture Development programs are based in the Syracuse Technology Garden and focus on providing support services for the region’s high-tech entrepreneurs as well as building an ecosystem of personal, regional and inter-organizational relationships necessary for sustained entrepreneurial growth.

The Syracuse Technology Garden is a key sponsor and supporter of the newly formed Seed Capital Fund of CNY, LLC (SCF). The fund’s members are 40 highly successful business people who are committed to assisting start-up companies in Central New York by providing management guidance and early stage funding. The fund’s primary goal is to help entrepreneurs define and shape ideas into ventures which can develop into successful companies that create wealth and jobs for the region. MBA students will apply the fund’s specially developed due diligence process to a number of prospective investments and evaluating how the results of the process square with the gut instincts and business experiences of the fund’s members. By participating in this process, students and professors will have a first hand opportunity to interact with successful business people and learn about business/investment decision making in a real-time, high uncertainty environment.

Dennis Connors, ePractitioner
Curator of History at the Onondaga Historical Association

Dennis Connors will work with Syracuse University students to publish a 20-page booklet combining text and images to paint a general history of the West Side neighborhood, its architecture, industrial and entrepreneurial heritage, and ethnic legacies using historic resource material available through the Onondaga Historical Association. Publication of this booklet will complement the efforts of the West Side Initiative by highlighting the historic character of the neighborhood, as evidenced in both the physical character of the buildings as well as in the more intangible, historichighlighting the historic character of the neighborhood, as evidenced in both the physical character of the buildings as well as in the more intangible, historic “feel” or story of the neighborhood. This will appeal to artists who could relocate to the neighborhood as well as engender and maintain a pride in the neighborhood for current residents.

Julia Czerniak, eProfessor
School of Architecture
Syracuse University

As Director of the UPSTATE: A Center for Design, Research and Real Estate, Professor Czerniak will guide a group of architectural students to the Netherlands to see some of the most progressive models of urban design in the world and meet with the architects, landscape architects, and city officials responsible for realizing them. Upon returning to Syracuse, these students will translate the innovative work they have seen into the context of the post-industrial American city, more specifically the “Rust-belt,” of which Syracuse is a part. These students will be involved in implementing phases of this large-scale project as young architects encouraged to begin their professional careers in Syracuse.

Bio link: http://soa.syr.edu/index.php

Steve Davis, eProfessor
Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University

Professor Davis will lead the South Side Newspaper Project, a joint project between Syracuse University’s S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications and the South Side Community Coalition. The project will create a community newspaper that shares news, events, history, and happenings from the perspective of residents of Syracuse’s South Side. The project will train and employ community members and student journalists, side-by-side, as the chief writers, photographers and graphic artists. The newspaper will be turned over to community members to be owned and operated as a self-sustaining enterprise.

Bio link: http://newhouse.syr.edu/bio.cfm?id=35

Norman Faiola, eProfessor
College of Human Ecology (CHE)
Syracuse University

Professor Faiola will develop a new college-wide course designed to prepare CHE graduates to view their professional expertise as a spring-board for small business creation or as the inspiration for new technology solutions to existing problems in their work world. Faiola’s long-term plans include the creation of a new Center for Food, Health and Nutrition located in downtown Syracuse. This center would provide training, counseling, and professional development in the areas of food, health, and nutrition to the community by faculty, supervised students, and professional staff of CHE. His research focuses on food safety and the development of products to minimize the risks of foodborne illnesses. He has developed and holds patents for several widely used food safety products.

Bio link: http://hshp.syr.edu/faculty/facultymember.asp?id=35

Jill Hurst-Wahl, ePractitioner
Founder, Hurst Associates, Ltd.

Jill Hurst-Wahl will launch a CEO Discussion Series in which Central New York CEOs will share their experience with aspiring business people in the community.

Potential topics include: how I located people to invest in my business; how I found million dollar product and service ideas; and how the government helps me make money.

The series will be held at various locations in the Syracuse area in order to reach a wide audience, including all five Enitiative campuses. In addition to leading Hurst Associates, Jill is a frequent author and presenter on a variety of topics including the use of social networking tools to expand the market of a business. She is also a senior instructor for Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, teaching graduate classes that challenge students to use information and technology in new ways. In 2007, Jill was honored as the "Minority Small Business" Champion by the Syracuse office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Bio link: http://www.hurstassociates.com/About.htm

Can Isik, eProfessor
L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science
Syracuse University

Professor Isik will lead a team of seven faculty members to develop and deliver the course Environment, Energy, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, which will serve as an educational outreach for activities in environmental and energy systems supported by The Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) in Environmental and Energy Systems. Isik is a professor and the Senior Associate Dean for Academic & Student Affairs in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at S.U.

Bio link: http://www.ecs.syr.edu/facultystaff.aspx?id=1905

James Kelly, eProfessor
School of Business
Morrisville State College

Professor Kelly will oversee Morrisville’s new bachelor’s degree program in entrepreneurship and small business management. He will develop curriculum, advise students, and participate in hiring new faculty for the program. Kelly will teach three entrepreneurship courses: ENTR 317 The Entrepreneurial Process, the gateway course in the new program; BSAD 320 Entrepreneurship, an elective course for several programs at Morrisville; and ENTR 338 Legal Issues for the Entrepreneur a required course in the new program.

Bio link: http://www.morrisville.edu/programsofstudy/schoolofbusiness/entrepreneurship/facultystaff.aspx

Karl Klein, eProfessor
Onondaga Community College

Professor Klein will create an interdisciplinary survey course in the Computer Studies Department at OCC that will prepare students for entry into careers in the exciting, rapidly changing, and increasingly interconnected world of energy, technology, and the environment. The course will have a strong entrepreneurship component to provide students with skills they would need to start a small business in this rapidly growing field. OCC’s Small Business Development Center will provide information and assistance with the creation and preparation of business plans and sources of funding/capital.

Gary Lim, eProfessor
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Professor Lim will develop a new workshop series on Green Entrepreneurship for professionals, infuse Green Entrepreneurship into current and planned continuing professional education programs through a portfolio of green E-ship case studies, and enhance linkages among and between academic and professionally-focused curricular and co-curricular activities. Lim founded Aurarius LLC, a consulting firm with expertise in the areas of corporate strategy, organizational excellence, marketing/competitive strategies, and new product development.

Bio link: http://www.esf.edu/eship/garylim.htm

Edward Lipson, eProfessor
College of Arts and Sciences
Syracuse University

Professor Lipson will develop a new course, Entrepreneurship and Human-Computer Interface Applications, which will involve students in creative projects including the use of provided electronic and software tools for applications in environmental and energy systems and in assistive technology to enable individuals with physical disabilities. Professor Lipson will work closely with the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems and the Burton Blatt Institute. Lipson is a professor in the Department of Physics. His research interests include photosensory transduction in microorganisms; medical imaging and nuclear medicine; telemedicine and distributed medical intelligence; and human-computer interfacing. He is a founding partner of two technology companies, MindTel LLC and SenSyr LLC, that are affiliated with the CASE Center at Syracuse University.

Bio link: http://physics.syr.edu/~edlipson/

Tom Paczkowski, eProfessor
Cayuga Community College

Cayuga Community College, the Stardust Foundation, The Fred L. Emerson Foundation, and State Senator Michael Nozzolio have combined forces to create the Stardust Institute for Entrepreneurship in Auburn to serve as a stimulus for economic and social development; complementing existing public and private agencies and services as they prepare the next generation of leaders. Professor Paczkowski will manage several major projects in this initiative including preparation of an entrepreneurship education plan for CCC, developing and teaching an introductory course in entrepreneurship, developing an Incubator Center housed at the college, launching a Student Enterprise Competition, creating a Scholarship in Entrepreneurship funded by a local entrepreneur, creating a CNY Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, and exploring entrepreneurial programming opportunities with public schools.

Laura Reeder, ePractitioner
Executive Director, Partners for Arts Education

Partners for Arts Education (www.arts4ed.org) will be working with Imagining America (www.imaginingamerica.syr.edu) to create a cultural incubator that does for the arts and cultural sector what technological incubators do for practitioners and students in the technology field. She will institute a program in which people at any stage in developing artistic and cultural expertise can identify how to make a life and a living in these fields, ideally in Central New York. A combination workshop/interdisciplinary seminar series will be established to provide a way for people to continue to expand their skill set and, more than that, to include an entrepreneurial component, through which people explore the transfer and enhancement of arts and cultural skills that translate into a livelihood.

Bio link: www.arts4ed.org

David Rezak, eProfessor
College of Visual and Performing Arts
Syracuse University

Professor Rezak will use Enitiative funds to enhance the Soyars Leadership Lecture Series, which puts top level music executives in direct contact with students on a weekly basis, by attracting prominent speakers and opening some events to students at partner campuses and to community members. He will also acquire cutting-edge subscription services currently in use in the music industry, so that students in experiential learning classes can gain practical real time experience in digital distribution and e-commerce and touring. Rezak is Director of the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University.

Bio link: http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/bio/id/141

Frank Ridzi, eProfessor
Le Moyne College

Professor Ridzi will develop a new entrepreneurship course in the sociology department at Le Moyne College. The course, Human Services Caseload Management – Theory and Service Learning, will provide an introduction to human services caseload management, as well as to the processes, skill base, and understandings involved in social entrepreneurship in the human services workplace. Additionally, Professor Ridzi will coordinate a lecture series on social entrepreneurship. Ridzi is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Urban and Regional Studies. He also directs the Center for Urban and Regional Applied Research (CURAR). His current research projects include applied policy research and research concerning changing workplace dynamics in careers that include public welfare structures and higher education.

Additional Bio Link: http://www.lemoyne.edu/curar/
Bio link: http://www.lemoyne.edu/sociology_anthropology/ridzi.htm

Dominic Robinson, ePractitioner
Director, Northside Collaboratory

Dominic Robinson will lead the Northside Asset Development Initiative (NADI). NADI intends to identify those individuals who possess significant personal assets, work with them to overcome their barriers to economic viability, and link them to employers who will particularly benefit from their skills and talents. Initiative partners recognize the desire of many community members to become business owners, and NADI seeks to empower many of them to achieve that goal. NADI will develop a network of social business ventures within Franciscan Collaborative Ministries, which will provide employment and/or training opportunities to project participants, as well as generate income to supplement the project. Robinson will work with Le Moyne College to provide opportunities for students to participate in this initiative.

Eileen Strempel, eProfessor
College of Arts and Sciences
Syracuse University

Professor Strempel is the Director of Strategic Planning for a new Master’s Degree program in Arts Administration/Arts Leadership being launched at Syracuse University. As an eProfessor, Strempel will assure that from the very inception of the program, its curriculum will be infused with entrepreneurship, foster student internships that bring “intellectual entrepreneurs” into local arts organizations, and embody both entrepreneurial theory and best practices while simultaneously benefiting local arts organizations and their communities.

Bio link: http://finearts.syr.edu/strempelbio.htm

Johan Wiklund, eProfessor
Martin J. Whitman School of Management
Syracuse University

Professor Wiklund will join the faculty of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in Spring 2008. As an eProfessor, he will focus on research in the field of entrepreneurship. His research interests include small business growth, the decision to be self-employed, new venture creation, and corporate entrepreneurship. He is chairman of the International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. He is also Associate Editor for Small Business Economics, Editorial Board member of Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal.

Bill Williams, ePractitioner
Vice President of Construction Management, Allied Environmental, Inc.

Bill Williams will work with Scott Ruff, Assistant Professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture, to develop the Builders Teaching Builders Partnership. This program will train laborers and supervisors, giving them the opportunity for gainful employment and the ability to become productive members of the local economy, while bringing real world experience and the notion of entrepreneurship to architecture students. Ruff will create a new design/build course in which students will rehabilitate a building on Syracuse’s south side, providing students insight into how to start a new business venture. Students will be equipped with more design flexibility, hands-on construction project management experience, and will learn entrepreneurial skills from practitioners in the construction industry.

Ronald Wright, eProfessor
Department of Business Administration
Le Moyne College

Professor Wright will develop a new course, Management Consulting, that offers exposure to basic consulting skills that are relevant to any internal or external management consulting experience but with an emphasis on the skills needed to effectively participate in entrepreneurial neighborhood consulting projects. Wright is Professor of Management Science in the Management Division at Le Moyne College. He has over twenty years of experience as a successful management consultant. Professor Wright is an active member of the North-Side Neighborhood Collaboratory. He has also formed a Le Moyne alumni group that provides volunteer consulting services to not-for-profit organizations.

Bio link: http://web.lemoyne.edu/~wright/