Anderson Center
ACEI Fellows Program
The ACEI Fellows Program seeks to create a community of faculty members across the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who are conducting academic research and/or teaching focused on entrepreneurship and/or innovation from a business development perspective. There are two types of ACEI fellows: research fellows and teaching fellows.
For more information, please email Melissa Cardon, [email protected].
ACEI Research Fellows
Program Goals
- Generate ideas concerning ways (e.g., ACEI website, newsletters) to share our academic research with practitioners so they can utilize it to address problems they face with their firms or careers.
- Bring together academics and practitioners at least once a year for an event focused on bridging academic research and practice related to entrepreneurship and innovation. The specific topic for each event will be determined jointly by the ACEI leadership team, ACEI research fellows and practitioners.
- Foster understanding among disciplines about research and publications that focus on entrepreneurship and/or innovation.
Expectations of Fellows
- Meet monthly to work toward the above goals and share ongoing Fellows research.
- Help us plan the Bridging Research and Practice event and attend it.
- Let ACEI know when you have an academic paper, book or presentation related to entrepreneurship and/or innovation so we can showcase it.
- Provide input and/or serve as a judge of ACEI grant applications.
- Raise awareness of ACEI and its programming across campus.
Support for Fellows
- Fellows will carry the “ACEI Research Fellow” title from July 2025 to June 2026.
- Fellows will receive a stipend of $1,000 per semester of appointment.
Contact
- Melissa Cardon, ACEI research director, [email protected]
Apply
ACEI Teaching Fellows
Program Goals
- Share best practices for teaching and developing entrepreneurship and innovation skills and capabilities in our students.
- Make students aware and encourage participation in ongoing ACEI events and programs to enrich their skills and knowledge.
- Foster collaboration in the development of entrepreneurship curricula within and across different academic programs.
- Coordinate and promote student participation in the interdisciplinary entrepreneurship minor.
- Build upon a foundation of developing the entrepreneurial mindset as a standard across all disciplines.
Expectations of Fellows
- Meet as a group once or twice per semester to brainstorm ideas to accomplish the goals stated above.
- Disseminate information to your respective students, faculty and administration.
- Serve as an ambassador in your college on the purpose and goals of the program.
Support for Fellows
- Fellows will carry the “ACEI Teaching Fellow” title from July 2025 to June 2026.
- Fellows will receive a stipend of $1,000 per semester of appointment.
Contact
- Shawn Carson, ACEI academic director, [email protected]
Apply
ACEI Research Fellows
Alvin and Sally Professor of Media Law, Enterprise, and Leadership, College of Communication & Information
William F. Fox Distinguished Professor of Labor Economics and Haslam Family Faculty Research Fellow, Haslam College of Business
Rick Rose Distinguished Professor, College of Law; interim director, Institute For Professional Leadership
Assistant professor, Haslam College of Business
Assistant Professor, UT Institute of Agriculture
Assistant Professor, College of Law
Douglas A. Blaze Distinguished Professor of Law, College of Law
Assistant Professor, Haslam College of Business
ACEI Teaching Fellows
Assistant Department Head for Marketing, Haslam College of Business
Dustin Gilmer
Current- Post-Doctoral Fellow with UT Oak Ridge Innovation Institute
Assistant Dean of Simulation & Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
Lecturer, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Tickle College of Engineering
Associate Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Haslam College of Business
Associate Professor of Law, College of Law
Director, Retail Strategies and Rocky Top Institute, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences
Lecturer, Haslam College of Business
Associate Professor, UT Institute of Agriculture
Professor of management and entrepreneurship; director of the Ph.D. in Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Organizations Program; William B. Stokely Distinguished Scholar, Haslam College of Business
Assistant Professor of Evaluation, Statistics, and Methodology, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences