UA’s Marino Asked to Join Premier Entrepreneurship Research Conference Review Board

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Louis Marino, associate professor of entrepreneurship and strategic management, has been invited to join the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference Review Board. The conference is considered by many to be the premier entrepreneurship research conference in the world.

Marino, the James D. Nabors Instructional Excellence Faculty Fellow and executive director of the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute at The University of Alabama, will serve a three-year term beginning in June 2008 when the 2008 Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference is held for the 28th year. The conference will be held at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Marino’s responsibilities will include reviewing abstracts and assisting in selecting papers for inclusion in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. He will join representatives from top universities around the world on the board.

“This is a significant invitation,” said Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce. “Dr. Marino is establishing a national reputation in entrepreneurship, and the insight he gains from this service will enhance that reputation and go far toward taking our entrepreneurial program to new heights.”

Founded by Babson College in 1981, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research contains the proceedings of the conference and is the most comprehensive collection of empirical research papers on entrepreneurship research. Each year, the conference attracts more than 300 entrepreneurial scholars who come to hear the presentations of more than 180 papers.

A doctoral consortium is held in conjunction with the conference and was created as a means to unite future entrepreneurship educators and scholars with established leaders and researchers in the field.

The University of Alabama’s entrepreneurship program is ranked 18th nationally by Entrepreneur magazine and is currently observing the Year of Entrepreneurship. In addition to the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, the university also supports the Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs Center and the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network. The entrepreneurship program hosts an annual dinner to recognize entrepreneurs in a number of areas.

Marino’s research in entrepreneurship has been internationally recognized with two national Best Paper Awards and appears in top management journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of International Business Studies and Entrepreneurship Research and Practice. Marino has presented his research at both national and international meetings. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo, his M.B.A. from SUNY at Buffalo, and his doctorate from Indiana University.

The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1919, and, in 1929, it became the 38th school to earn admission into the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. The excellence of the UA business school has been acknowledged on a national level. The undergraduate program is ranked 29th among public universities by U.S. News and the Culverhouse School of Accountancy is ranked 15th among public universities by U.S. News. The graduate accounting program is ranked 15th and the undergraduate program 14th by Public Accounting Report. The entrepreneurial program is ranked 18th nationally.