Wake Forest professors earn national honors for entrepreneurship work
Two Wake Forest University professors have been named Justin G. Longenecker Fellows for 2008 by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Pat H. Dickson, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy; and Stan Mandel, executive professor of entrepreneurship at the Babcock Graduate School of Management, received the honor during the USASBE Conference held Jan. 10-13 in San Antonio, Texas.
George Vozikis of California State University, Fresno, was the third recipient for 2008.
The fellows award, presented annually, honors individuals for extraordinary contributions and exemplary leadership in scholarship, teaching and research in entrepreneurship that reflects the highest ideals, standards and commitment in support of small, entrepreneurial and family businesses.
Mandel, director of the Babcock School’s Angell Center for Entrepreneurship, was ranked as the No. 3 entrepreneurship program director in the nation by his peers in Entrepreneur magazine in 2004 and 2005. He received the Irwin McGraw-Hill Award for Innovation in Entrepreneurial Pedagogy from the Academy of Management in 2001.
Under Mandel’s direction, the entrepreneurship program at Wake Forest’s Babcock School was named a model program by the USASBE for 2003, and has been ranked among the nation’s best in surveys by Entrepreneur and Fortune Small Business magazines.
Mandel joined Wake Forest’s Babcock School in 1998. His service with the USASBE has included terms as vice president of finance and vice president of marketing-membership.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tulane University, a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University and a doctorate from Texas Tech University. He has participated in the start-up of more than 15 organizations within the medical device, biotechnology, education, retail, financial services, health care, consulting and nonprofit sectors. He also advises and serves on the boards of student- and alumni-led start-up companies.
Dickson spent 15 years as an entrepreneur and corporate executive co-founding companies in the automotive service industry. Since embarking on an academic career in 1997, his research has appeared in several leading management journals and his work has been awarded a Certificate of Distinction for Outstanding Research by the Academy of Management and the National Federation of Independent Business Education Foundation. Student teams mentored by Dickson have founded multiple technology-based ventures and collectively raised several million dollars in equity funding and commercialization grants.
Dickson joined Wake Forest’s Calloway School in 2006 from Georgia Tech. With the USASBE, he has served as proceedings editor and vice president of publications, and he was elected this month to a two-year term as senior vice president of operations.
Dickson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication from Mississippi College and a doctorate from the University of Alabama. Among his teaching and research interests are entrepreneurship, technology innovation, internationalization of entrepreneurial firms, and entrepreneurial orientation and firm strategy.
Founded in 1957, the USASBE is a comprehensive organization of outstanding researchers, scholars, teachers, administrators and public policy makers interested in entrepreneurship and small business. It works to advance knowledge and foster business development through entrepreneurship education and research.
