Dr. Maria Blekher, clinical associate professor of digital strategies and director of the MS in Marketing at the Katz School, has had a panel symposium proposal accepted for the Academy of Management Specialized Conference, “From Start-up to Scale-up,” taking place December 17-19, 2018, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The proposal is titled “Entrepreneurship Education as a Foundation for the 21st Century Academy” and focuses on, according to Dr. Blekher, “the organizational challenges of innovation and entrepreneurship studies within the higher education framework.” She and Dr. Paul Russo, vice provost and dean of the Katz School, will be attending the conference and participating on the panel, which will also include Steve Kuyan, Managing Director of Future Labs at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, and Dr. Gali Einav, head of the international undergraduate program in entrepreneurship at the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship of IDC Herzliya.
As she notes, “We are living in a time of rapid technological transformation affecting many facets of our lives, including social and economic structures. As an educator, researcher and entrepreneur, I believe that entrepreneurship is the foundation for a 21st-century education and that entrepreneurship education will play a fundamental role in transforming societies worldwide by providing the tools and the tactics to gain an edge in this competitive world.” The panel will discuss, through case studies from three different institutions, innovative paradigms of entrepreneurship education within academia.
“There is a very direct link,” she observes, “between what the panel will discuss and what we are attempting to do at Yeshiva University and the Katz School through the YU Innovation Lab, which will have its formal launch in Spring 2019. Entrepreneurial skills are fundamental for students to make a difference in their lives and have an impact on the world. This kind of learning requires hands-on experience, experimenting with ideas and working with people who are involved in doing. And this is exactly how the Innovation Lab will function, as a community of local and international start-ups, YU students and faculty, and entrepreneurs and business experts providing YU students invaluable experience that will support their educational and professional development. We will be matching students’ interests and capabilities to internships with the Lab’s cutting-edge partners. We will also encourage students to create their own start-ups.”
Dr. Blekher has also had a research paper accepted for publication in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly titled “It’s All About Control: Understanding Reluctance to Register for Organ Donation.”
