Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence to Bring Entrepreneurial Savvy to FSU

The Florida State University is accustomed to having its faculty members selected to teach and conduct research in other countries after they have been awarded intensely competitive Fulbright scholarships. However, the university now will get to see that process play out in reverse as it prepares to host a Fulbright Scholar from abroad.

Florida State and its Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship have just been awarded a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence grant from the U.S. Department of State to host a visiting foreign professor for one semester. With the grant, Jason Cope, the director of teaching and senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde’s Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship in Glasgow, Scotland, will join FSU’s College of Business as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the fall 2010 semester. The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program is part of the nation’s premier international exchange program, which is sponsored by the State Department.

“Having Dr. Cope here as a visiting scholar will enhance our international perspective in our entrepreneurship program and give us a platform to develop future international exchange and research opportunities,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of the College of Business.

While at Florida State, Cope will teach several undergraduate classes in entrepreneurship. His goal is to work closely with FSU faculty to add an exciting international dimension to the college’s entrepreneurial program. In particular, Cope will work with Jim Dever, an assistant in entrepreneurship, to develop a student exchange program with the University of Strathclyde that will allow students to study at their respective universities while earning credit for their coursework. This relationship will allow the students to absorb the cultural, as well as academic, aspects of their host country.

Cope will also work with students from the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering through that college’s entrepreneurial program, which focuses on technology entrepreneurship and commercialization.

“One very important aspect of Dr. Cope’s visit is his desire to participate in our student-centered activities,” said Dever, who was instrumental in getting Cope to FSU. “He is excited to have this opportunity to interact with our students in the College of Business and to help them excel in their efforts to become world-class entrepreneurs.”

“The Office of Faculty Recognition was very pleased to facilitate Jim Dever’s proposal for the College of Business to host a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence,” said the director of that office, Margaret Wright-Cleveland. “Though FSU consistently has faculty awarded Fulbrights to research and teach abroad, it has been more than five-years since we have had a Scholar-in-Residence visit us. Hosting Dr. Cope is a big step toward more fully internationalizing our campus.”

In his role at the University of Strathclyde’s Business School, Cope teaches undergraduate courses on new venture creation, venture management, strategy and growth, and introduction to business start-up. He has designed and delivered an MBA module on new venture creation at Strathclyde’s International Centres in the Middle East.

Cope is an active reviewer for a number of leading entrepreneurship and management journals, and serves on the editorial board of three entrepreneurship journals: Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, the International Small Business Journal and the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research. He is currently editing a special issue of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development on the theme of entrepreneurship education.

Cope’s previous work includes lecturing in entrepreneurship at the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development at the Lancaster University Management School in the United Kingdom. He also has experience in small-business ownership, having witnessed firsthand the trials and tribulations of owning a small business.