Associate Professor Elena Kennedy served in a leadership role at the USASBE conference.
Associate Professor Elena Kennedy played a leadership role in the 2024 annual meeting of the .
At the conference, held from Jan. 10-14 in Birmingham, Alabama, Kennedy served as the Social Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group Chair and led several educators on a walking tour through Birmingham’s Woodlawn neighborhood to showcase how local and socially focused entrepreneurship can contribute to fair economic growth.
She also moderated a panel discussion about social entrepreneurship study abroad experiences with educators representing four national universities. While at the conference, Kennedy facilitated a module for the USASBE Social Entrepreneurship Certificate on “Funding Social Ventures”.
“Social entrepreneurship is still an emerging topic and there isn’t a lot of agreement about the best ways to teach it, or even how to define it,” Kennedy said. “I was able to have rich conversations with faculty at other schools to better understand their classes, study away experiences and support given to students.”
Kennedy presented her co-authored research “Early Career Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Graduates,” which she produced with 鶹Ƶ Associate Professor Sean McMahon and colleagues from Towson University and William & Mary University. The research won “Best Empirical Paper” and “Best Overall Research”.
USASBE, established in 1891, is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship education through innovative teaching, research and practice. The organization, known for its academic journal ‘Entrepreneurship Education & Pedagogy’, offers resources and development opportunities for educators in this field.
The 2024 conference attracted about 400 participants, including educators, researchers, and program directors, under the theme “Forging the Future Together.”