Earlier this month, RPI appointed Robert A. Chernow to the newly created position of Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship. The position was created “to strengthen our culture of entrepreneurship that integrates and supports the continuum of technological entrepreneurship across the campus,” according to President Shirley Ann Jackson.
Chernow explained that, in his opinion, while universities are very good at generating ideas, they are “less good at transforming those ideas into enterprises that add or create value to society in some way.” He pointed out that these enterprises need not be for-profit businesses or even non-profit organizations but could be academic or social enterprises.
According to Chernow, one of the reasons he took the position here was his interest in technology and innovation. He also pointed out that at many universities entrepreneurship is only a focus in courses taught within the business school, but that the stress here now will be to make it a cross-campus focus.
The Rensselaer Plan states that RPI will “teach the fundamentals of entrepreneurship—and intrapreneurship—to students across all majors, establishing a general curriculum requirement in this area.” Increasing “scientific and technological entrepreneurship” is one of the six strategic goals of The Plan. Chernow stated that by creating the position of vice provost, this will not be an effort that is based solely in the management parts of the Institute.
He said it was too early to say what changes students could expect to see in the curriculums—but that it’s possible to add entrepreneurial ideas into current courses as well as creating new classes. The new vice provost continued by saying, “I think it goes beyond curriculum.” He noted that in order to bridge what he called the learning-doing gap, there are both formal and informal activities to help foster entrepreneurial ideas.
Provost G. P. “Bud” Peterson stated that entrepreneurship at RPI is comprised of three different components. First, there is study, scholarship, and research which he said is handled by the The Paul J. ’69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship. Next, he said there is the practice of entrepreneurship at the Rensselaer Incubator Program and the Rensselaer Technology Park. Finally, he said that there is the education of entrepreneurship—to infuse it in the curriculum “so that it continues to be an even stronger characteristic of our graduates.”
Peterson emphasized that “this is about much more than how to start small businesses;” it is about applying its ideas to different areas. He said the idea is to convey to students how to evaluate risk, identify opportunities, and assess potential value, all of which have application outside of business as well as within it.
According to the provost, Chernow will work with the deans and other administrators to “give us a cohesive and forward-looking program.” He will be working with the newly established Class of 1951 Entrepreneurship Award and the Change the World Challenge that was created last year.
Chernow said that he hopes he will be able to sponsor some guest lectures and eventually set up an entrepreneurship website for RPI—one that would allow any student to look at both the ideas behind the practice and actual examples of it happening at the Institute.
The new vice provost founded two companies in the health care management area and also served as senior vice president and head of entrepreneurship at the Ewing Kauffman Foundation. Among his accomplishments there was creating ways to introduce entrepreneurship across a campus in all disciplines. He also has done consulting work for several universities on how to add entrepreneurship to their curricula and has served as a guest lecturer.
Peterson said that the search to fill the position lasted about three years. He explained that it was important to fill the vacancies at the Severino Center and the dean of the Lally School of Management and Technology so that the vice provost would have a full understanding of his responsibilities and so that he would be able to work with those individuals as well. He said that the search for the dean of the School of Science is coming to closure and that the search for a dean of enrollment management has been restarted.
Peterson said, “I’m very excited about [Chernow] joining us.” Chernow holds a B.A. in Economics from Colgate University and a Master of Public Health degree in Health Career Management from the University of California, Berkeley.
