2011 Award Winner

Donald F. Kuratko

Donald F. Kuratko is the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship; Professor of Entrepreneurship & Executive Director; Johnson Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, The Kelley School of Business, Indiana University -Bloomington. Professor Kuratko is considered a prominent scholar and national leader in the field of entrepreneurship. He has published over 180 articles on aspects of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation in journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Small Business Management, Family Business Review, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Professor Kuratko has authored or co-authored 30 books, including the leading entrepreneurship books in the world today, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, 9th ed. (2014), as well as Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation 3rd ed. (2011) with Michael H. Morris and Jeffrey G. Covin, and Innovation Acceleration (2012). In addition, Kuratko has been consultant on Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation to a number of major Fortune 100 corporations. Kuratko also serves as the Executive Director of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC), an organization comprised of over 250 top university entrepreneurship centers throughout the world. Under Professor Kuratko’s leadership and with one of the most prolific entrepreneurship faculties in the world, Indiana University’s Entrepreneurship Program has recently been ranked the #1 Business School for Entrepreneurship Research by the World Rankings for Research Productivity; as well as the #1 Graduate Business School for Entrepreneurship (Public Institutions) and the #1 Undergraduate Business School for Entrepreneurship (Public Institutions) by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, Indiana University has earned the distinction of National Model MBA and National Model PhD Programs in Entrepreneurship. Kuratko’s honors include earning the Entrepreneur of the Year for the state of Indiana and induction into the Institute of American Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. He has been honored with The George Washington Medal of Honor; the Leavey Foundation Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise; the NFIB Entrepreneurship Excellence Award; and the National Model Innovative Pedagogy Award for Entrepreneurship. In addition, he was named the National Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and he was named a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Research Fellow by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. He has been named one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurship Scholars over the last ten years and he was the recipient of the Riata Distinguished Entrepreneurship Scholar Award from the School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. Kuratko was honored by his peers in Entrepreneur magazine as the #1 Entrepreneurship Program Director in the nation as well as being selected one of the Top Entrepreneurship Professors in the United States by Fortune magazine. Professor Kuratko was honored by the U.S. Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship with the John E. Hughes Entrepreneurial Advocacy Award for his career achievements in entrepreneurship as well as the National Academy of Management honoring him with the Entrepreneurship Advocate Award – for his contributions to the development and advancement of the discipline of entrepreneurship. In 2011, Kuratko was the inaugural recipient of the Karl Vesper Entrepreneurship Pioneer Award for his career dedication to the developing field of entrepreneurship.