The J. Thomas Clark Professorship in Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise

The Clark Professorships were established in 1992 by J. Thomas Clark ’63, MBA ’64, and Nancy Williams Clark ’62, M. Ed. ’64, to expand and/or enhance the educational opportunities for undergraduates, professional and graduate students in the areas of entrepreneurship, small business and personal enterprise. The Professorships provide funding for a limited term to faculty members selected in a competitive process to develop new courses, integrate entrepreneurship into existing courses or engage in research in the areas of new business creation, innovation and/or development. 19 professors from eight Cornell schools and colleges have held Clark Professorships.

CURRENT CLARK PROFESSORS:

• Susan Christopherson, Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, College of Architecture, Art and Planning, for the period through June 30, 2011. Christopherson will develop courses and experiential learning projects that help students gain a better understanding of the creative economy. Her project will include: 1) research on entrepreneurial skills adapted to the particular needs and aspirations of creative economy entrepreneurs with a focus on those in architecture and art; 2) development of courses to help students in creative fields develop entrepreneurial skills that mesh with their working style and career aspirations; and 3) projects and courses to help students who will be entering more conventional business enterprises learn how to draw on and effectively utilize the talents and creativity of design professionals. Her work will result in two new courses, an undergraduate course on the “creative economy” and an experiential workshop that will enable students to learn about and document entrepreneurial skills in art, architecture and other creative fields. She will also create a Web site documenting entrepreneurial strategies in the creative economy.

• Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, Division of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Applied Economics and Management, for the period through June 30, 2011. Pinstrup-Andersen’s work focuses on enhancing undergraduate and graduate training in policy analysis for the global food system, with the overall purpose of reducing poverty and hunger and promoting sustainable development – including sustainable management of natural resources. Pinstrup-Anderson will develop new courses at Cornell and collaborating institutions — Wageningen University, The Netherlands; The Danish Agricultural University, Copenhagen and the CGIAR Open University. Instruction will include a social entrepreneurship approach and involve participatory training based on cases of real policy issues facing decision-makers in the public and private sector, as well as civil society. Between 50 and 60 cases will be developed during the three-year duration of the program.

• Wesley Sine, Assistant Professor, The Johnson School, for the period through June 30,2011. Sine’s research focuses on entrepreneurship, institutions and the emergence of new technology sectors. He has examined these topics in a diverse set of economic contexts, ranging from the electric power industry to the Internet sector. As a Clark Professor, he will build on his past research to develop courses and research projects related to technology entrepreneurship, emphasizing in particular the commercialization of university technology and entrepreneurship in nascent technology industries such as the renewable energy sector. Sine will incorporate this research into two graduate level courses he has recently introduced: Commercializing University Technology (NBA 6520) and Management of Technology and Innovation (NBA 6650). Sine also organized a conference on Institutions and Entrepreneurship, in conjunction with McGill University, which brought more than 65 researchers from across the country to Ithaca to discuss the topic in the summer of 2007.