Haslam College of Business - UT Entrepreneurship Center Welcomes Largest Faculty Fellows Cohort

The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business has named 21 faculty to its 2026-2027 Faculty Fellows program, its largest cohort since the 2023 launch.

The program brings together tenured, tenure-track and teaching UT faculty whose research, teaching and service advance entrepreneurship and innovation. In monthly working sessions, fellows test early ideas, share research progress, solve common challenges and build collaborations that would be difficult to create within a single department or college.

According to Mehmet Aydeniz, professor in the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education in UT’s College of Education, Health and Human Sciences and a member of the new cohort, the interdisciplinary aspect of the program makes it and the university stronger.

“UT’s greatest impact happens when knowledge travels, when an insight becomes an opportunity for a student, a solution for industry or new capacity for a community,” said Aydeniz.

Conversation Meets Research Impact

In under three years, nearly 30 faculty members from eight colleges have participated in ACEI’s Faculty Fellows program. This year’s cohort expands that reach to 11 colleges, creating one of UT’s broadest faculty networks focused on entrepreneurship and innovation.

The program has created measurable impact beyond the number of faculty served. In 2024, conversations among an interdisciplinary group of fellows led directly to a $300,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant supporting the Tennessee Longitudinal Survey of Ideas. Running from 2024 through 2027, the project examines how innovative ideas, not just ventures, emerge, develop and move across Tennessee.

Brian Bergman, ACEI research director and assistant professor in Haslam’s Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, believes the Tennessee Longitudinal Survey of Ideas exemplifies the goal of Faculty Fellows program: to facilitate faculty connection among faculty, linking questions, methods and expertise across fields, then helping promising work grow into research with practical relevance for Tennessee.

“Rigorous, relevant academic research is core to all we do as faculty and among the main public goods we create as a university,” said Bergman. “The ACEI, through its Faculty Fellows program, is directly seeding and creating collaborative environments for this work to grow and inform our classrooms, leading academic conferences and our community.”

Brandon W. Kliewer, associate professor of civic and organizational leadership in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences’ Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, examines how communities and organizations navigate complex, adaptive systems change. He believes the program can help build the human capacity that entrepreneurial ecosystems need to thrive.

“Entrepreneurial ecosystems aren’t built by ideas alone; they’re built by people with the adaptive capacity to navigate complexity,” Kliewer said. Through the fellowship, he hopes to deepen interdisciplinary coursework and community-engaged scholarship grounded in evidence-based leadership development, work that can help students and communities build the capacity to work across differences and sustain entrepreneurial ecosystems in Tennessee and beyond.

Meet the 2026-2027 Cohort

• Mohamed Akrout – Assistant Professor, Tickle College of Engineering Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Mehmet Aydeniz – Professor, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education
• Andrew Bliss – Associate Professor of Percussion, Director of Percussion Studies, Natalie L. Haslam College of Music
• Tim Chamberlain (UT MPH, ’19; UT DVM, ’20; UT MS, ’24) – Clinical Instructor, College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences
• Amy Engstrom Clugg –Director, Haslam Business Honors Discovery Experience; Assistant Professor of Practice, Haslam College of Business Department of Marketing
• Molly A. Cross (UT, ’17) – Lead Representative, Patent and Trademark Resource Center; Assistant Professor, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Librarian, University Libraries Health, Wellness and Professional Programs
• Vermont P. Dia – Associate Professor, Herbert College of Agriculture Department of Food Science
• Maged Guerguis – Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Design School of Architecture
• Susan Hébert (UT PhD, ’22) – Assistant Dean of Simulation, Assistant Clinical Professor, College of Nursing
• William Hicks (UT, ’91) – Lecturer, Tickle College of Engineering Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• S.K. Jeong – Assistant Professor, Haslam College of Business Department of Supply Chain Management
• Eric Kelley – Professor, Haslam College of Business Department of Finance
• Andrew Kim – Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology
• Brandon W. Kliewer – Associate Professor of Civic and Organizational Leadership, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
• Brian Krumm (UT JD, ’92) – Associate Professor, Winston College of Law
• Myra Loveday (UT, ’99; HCB MBA, ’20) – Director, Rocky Top Institute of Retail; Assistant Professor of Practice, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management
• Eduardo Meléndez – Assistant Professor, Haslam College of Business Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
• Rania Rizk – Assistant Professor of Teaching, College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Jorge Variego – Assistant Professor, Natalie L. Haslam College of Music
• Christine White (UT MS, ’22) – Managing Director, MS in Marketing; Assistant Professor of Practice, Director of Partnerships and Growth Initiatives, Haslam College of Business Department of Marketing
• Fatima Zahra – Assistant Professor of Evaluation, Statistics and Methodology, College of Education, Health and Human Sciences Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

About the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Housed in Haslam, the ACEI is the front door to entrepreneurship at UT. It connects Volunteers with the expertise, resources and collaborators at UT and across the regional ecosystem to advance ideas, tackle bold challenges and turn entrepreneurial ambition into results. The center empowers Volunteers to identify opportunities and take bold action to create value through new ventures.

For more information about the Faculty Fellows program, visit the ACEI Faculty Fellows page.