The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI) in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business proudly announces its 2024-2025 ACEI Fellows cohort, as well as an exciting new addition to the program. 

The ACEI Fellows Program seeks to create a community of UT faculty members conducting academic research or teaching on the subjects of entrepreneurship and/or innovation from a business development perspective. The initiative launched in 2023 with an inaugural cohort of seven ACEI research fellows. New for this year, there are now two types of ACEI fellows: research fellows and teaching fellows.

The selection of the 2024-2025 ACEI research fellows was highly competitive, with numerous applications from across the university. “I am delighted that the incoming group includes faculty members from several colleges,” says Melissa Cardon, ACEI research director. “Together we will build on the work of the previous ACEI research fellows to continue collaborating and developing new ideas across the university for how we can best showcase and support academic research that helps practicing entrepreneurs and innovators address the challenges they face with their firms or careers.”

Shawn Carson, ACEI academic director, will oversee the ACEI teaching fellows cohort and is enthusiastic about what the cohort will accomplish. “We have a big, audacious goal of giving every student at UT an encounter with entrepreneurship while they are here,” he says. “The ACEI teaching fellows will build the foundation of how we accomplish that. I am excited to work with this interdisciplinary team and I can’t wait to see what happens.”

Eleven teaching fellows and eight research fellows were selected for the latest ACEI Fellows cohort. “It is a tremendous honor to be selected as an ACEI research fellow and join a community that promotes policy-relevant, stakeholder-driven research emphasizing innovation and entrepreneurship,” says Aaron Staples, ACEI research fellow and assistant professor in the UT Institute of Agriculture. “During my appointment, I look forward to developing cross-campus collaborations, learning from other fellows and fostering trust with industry groups.” 

Meet the 2024-2025 ACEI Research Fellows and Teaching Fellows

The 2024-2025 ACEI Research Fellows cohort includes: 

• Stuart Brotman, College of Communication and Information
• Celeste Carruthers, Haslam College of Business
• Joan Heminway, College of Law and Institute for Professional Leadership
• Jessica Jones, Haslam College of Business
• Aaron Staples, UT Institute of Agriculture
• Tomer Stein, College of Law
• Maurice Stucke, College of Law
• Zihan Ye, Haslam College of Business

The 2024-2025 ACEI Teaching Fellows cohort includes: 

• Edwin Armbrister, Haslam College of Business
• Dustin Gilmer, UT Oak Ridge Innovation Institute 
• Susan Hébert, College of Nursing
• Bill Hicks, Tickle College of Engineering
• Kurt Jacobs, Haslam College of Business
• Brian Krumm, College of Law
• Myra Loveday, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences and Rocky Top Institute
• Haseeb Qureshi, Haslam College of Business
• Ryan Sharp, UT Institute of Agriculture 
• Dave Williams, Haslam College of Business
• Fatima Zahra, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences

About the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation 

The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a university-based resource for entrepreneurship in the region and the state of Tennessee. Its mission is to foster an entrepreneurial culture at UT and across the state by developing student skills, providing experiential learning opportunities, conducting meaningful entrepreneurial research and connecting students with mentors and resources that enable them to successfully start and grow new businesses.

Photo, L-R: Joan Heminway, Bill Hicks, Susan Hébert, Zihan Ye, Tomer Stein, Celeste Carruthers, Myra Loveday, Don Bruce, Shawn Carson, Melissa Cardon, Edwin Armbrister, Aaron Staples

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CONTACT:

Brennan Hullett, brennan@utk.edu