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  1. Home
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  5. About
  6. Welcome from the Executive Director
  • Welcome from the Executive Director
  • Institute for Entrepreneurship and Competitive Enterprise
  • Boards
  • National Rankings
  • Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers
  • Entrepreneurial Videos
  • Contact Us

Welcome to the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (JCEI) is out to prove that entrepreneurial thinking isn't just for startups. It's crucial for leadership in any organization. I believe it's a way of life in all organizations because it is a way of thinking, doing, managing, and operating. And it's exactly what companies are trying to train their people to understand right now.

I believe that most of our students here at IU will entertain ideas of entrepreneurship at some point in their careers—whether that means starting up a business or helping the companies they work for innovate with new products, markets, or services. If you look at the Kelley School of Business experience as a laboratory where students are able to test out their ideas and dreams and find innovative pathways in their careers, then JCEI is at the forefront of enhancing the entrepreneurial experience for our students.

Corporate innovation is the new growth area for twenty-first century companies. They are all trying to chase down how to become more innovative companies—and they'll need a new breed of students coming out of universities to accomplish that goal. That means developing leaders who understand the innovative experience, know how to manage innovation, and know how to manage people to think more entrepreneurially. And that's the secret of managing in the twenty-first century.

Our programs aim to provide students with a wide range of classroom and experiential opportunities to discover and develop the “entrepreneurial perspective” throughout the entire campus. The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation is recognized as the focal point for entrepreneurial development of technologies and potential ventures within any discipline at Indiana University through world-renowned academic programs, cross-campus initiatives, powerful networking opportunities, immersive projects, and conferences.

Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Campus of the 21st Century!

Donald F. Kuratko portrait

Dr. Donald F. Kuratko (Dr. K)
The Jack M. Gill Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship
Professor of Entrepreneurship
Executive & Academic Director
The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Dr. Donald F. Kuratko (known as “Dr. K”) is considered a prominent scholar and national leader in the field of entrepreneurship authoring over 200 articles on aspects of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation in journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, Small Business Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, and Business Horizons. Professor Kuratko has authored 40 books, including one of the leading entrepreneurship books in the world, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, 12th ed. as well as Corporate Innovation, and New Venture Management. He has been consultant on Corporate Entrepreneurship to numerous Fortune 100 corporations and he was the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC). Dr. K was honored by his peers in Entrepreneur magazine as the #1 Entrepreneurship Director in the nation as well as being selected one of the Top Entrepreneurship Professors in the U.S. by Fortune magazine. He has received the Entrepreneurial Advocacy Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship and the National Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Advocate Award - for his contributions to the development and advancement of the discipline of entrepreneurship. Professor Kuratko has been named one of the Top 10 entrepreneurship scholars in the world for his research productivity and was the recipient of the Riata Distinguished Entrepreneurship Scholar Award. He was the inaugural recipient of the Karl Vesper Entrepreneurship Pioneer Award for his career dedication to developing the field of entrepreneurship and he received the National Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Mentor Award for development of the next generation of entrepreneurship scholars. In 2022 he was honored with the Max S. Wortman Jr/USASBE Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship. Under his leadership Indiana University has been ranked #1 in entrepreneurship research and the #1 Undergraduate & Graduate Business School for Entrepreneurship (Public Institutions) by U.S. News. In 2023 Indiana University was honored with the National Model Entrepreneurship Program Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship. In 2024 he was honored for his global contributions to entrepreneurship research in Munich, Germany with the Lifetime Achievement Member Award at the Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference banquet attended by 360 scholars representing 42 nations. In 2025 he was honored by the IU Kelley School of Business with the Distinguished Career Research Impact Award (the highest research honor bestowed on a faculty member). Also, in 2025 he was honored by Indiana University – Bloomington with The Tracy M. Sonneborn Award, the highest individual university honor conferred on a professor whose career epitomizes exemplary research and exemplary teaching.

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