Dr. Donald Kuratko

Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship
Professor of Entrepreneurship
Executive Director, The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Dr. Donald F. Kuratko is the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship; Professor of Entrepreneurship; and Executive Director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University-Bloomington. Previously he was the Stoops Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Founding Director of the Entrepreneurship Program, Miller College of Business, Ball State University. In addition, he was the Executive Director of The Midwest Entrepreneurial Education Center. Dr. Kuratko was the first professor ever to be named a Distinguished Professor for the College of Business at Ball State University and held that position for 15 years.

The academic program in entrepreneurship that Dr. Kuratko developed at Ball State University earned national acclaim with such honors as The George Washington Medal of Honor (1987); the Leavey Foundation Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise (1988); National Model Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Program Award (1990); the NFIB Entrepreneurship Excellence Award (1993); the National Model Entrepreneurship Graduate Program Award (1998) and the National Model Innovative Pedagogy Award for Entrepreneurship (2001).

The Midwest Entrepreneurial Education Center (which Dr. Kuratko developed at Ball State University) received the Quality Improvement Award from the state of Indiana (1998, 1999, & 2000) and the NASDAQ Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award (2000). In addition, Ball State University's Entrepreneurship Program continually earned national rankings including: Top 20 in Business Week and Success magazines; Top 10 business schools for entrepreneurship research (Journal of Management); Top 4 in U.S. News & World Report's elite ranking (including the #1 public university for entrepreneurship); and the #1 Regional Entrepreneurship Program in Entrepreneur magazine.