Donn Young
How to Think Like an Entrepreneur
New assistant professors Jiayi Bao (left) and Abhisekh Ghosh Moulick draw on their strengths in business and social entrepreneurship in teaching students.
BY PATTY COURTRIGHT (B.A. ’75, M.A. ’83)
New faculty in the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship are bringing their backgrounds in public policy and creative teaching methods to help students learn how to think like an entrepreneur, and how to turn opportunity into possibility.
S
tudents in the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship learn to think like entrepreneurs, whatever career path they choose. “We don’t expect all of our students to be entrepreneurs, but we want them to be entrepreneurial in their thinking — to be curious and innovative as they engage with the world,” said Bernard Bell, the program’s executive director. With a blend of academic research and real-world perspective, the faculty teach students to visualize opportunity and possibility. The newest faculty members, Jiayi Bao and Abhisekh Ghosh Moulick (both are assistant professors of public policy and entrepreneurship), have hit the ground running as team players since they came on board last summer, Bell said. • A SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION AND SYNERGY
Bao’s research focuses on the human capital aspect of
12
|
CA RO L I N A A RT S & SC I E N C E S
|
entrepreneurship. She examines ways that business and government can enhance support for workers in various company settings.
“The theory behind what I study is not specific to one type of company, and entrepreneurship is the overall context. New innovative ventures are of special interest to me in terms of job creation and economic growth as well as global competitiveness.” — J I AY I B AO
Currently, she is studying how innovative perks and creative approaches to vacation and sabbatical programs, as well as the benefits of child care or educational assistance programs — or even restructuring the workplace itself — can lead to more motivated and productive employees. “The theory behind what I study is not specific to one type of
S PR I N G 2 021
|
CO LLEGE.U N C. EDU
company, and entrepreneurship is the overall context,” she said. “New innovative ventures are of special interest to me in terms of job creation and economic growth as well as global competitiveness.” Before she came to Carolina, Bao assisted with teaching MBA and Executive MBA students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where she earned a master’s degree in applied economics and managerial science and a doctorate in applied economics. At Carolina, she teaches a public policy class in research design as well as Economics 125, “Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” a foundational course focusing on the basic principles and mindset needed to create new ventures. Despite its size — last fall, the class had 400 students — and the synchronous online format, the course is very hands-on. Students work in five-person teams to turn the entrepreneurial skills they learn into a new project or venture.
