Donald F. Kuratko
Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship - 2005
Dr. Donald F. Kuratko is considered a prominent scholar and national leader in the field of entrepreneurship with over 190 articles on aspects of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation in journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Operations Management, Academy of Management Executive, and Small Business Economics. Professor Kuratko has authored 30 books, including one of the leading entrepreneurship books in the world today, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, 9th ed. (2014), as well as Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2011) and Innovation Acceleration (2012). In addition, Dr. Kuratko has been consultant on Corporate Innovation to a number of major Fortune 100 corporations and he is the Executive Director of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC), an organization of over 350 top university entrepreneurship centers throughout the world.
Professor Kuratko's honors include earning the Entrepreneur of the Year for the state of Indiana; induction into the Institute of American Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame; the George Washington Medal of Honor; the Leavey Foundation Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise; the NFIB Entrepreneurship Excellence Award; the National Model Innovative Pedagogy Award for Entrepreneurship; the National Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator; and a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Research Fellow. Dr. Kuratko was honored by his peers in Entrepreneur Magazine as the #1 Entrepreneurship Program Director in the nation and Fortune Magazine named him one of the top entrepreneurship professors in the nation citing him as "legendary." He has been named one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurship Scholars in the world; received the Riata Distinguished Entrepreneurship Scholar Award; and was the inaugural recipient of the Karl Vesper Entrepreneurial Pioneer Award for his dedication to developing the academic field of entrepreneurship. The U.S. Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship honored him with the John E. Hughes Entrepreneurial Advocacy Award for his career achievements in entrepreneurship and corporate innovation and the National Academy of Management honored Professor Kuratko with the prestigious Entrepreneurship Advocate Award for his contributions to the development and advancement of the discipline of entrepreneurship. Under Dr. Kuratko's leadership Indiana University's Entrepreneurship Program has been ranked the #1 Graduate and Undergraduate Business School for Entrepreneurship (Public Institutions) by U.S. News & World Report as well as the #1 ranked Entrepreneurship Program by Fortune Magazine.