Bill Conner, Ph.D
Faculty Director, Program for Innovation, Creativity &  Entrepreneurship
conner@wfu.edu

Dr. Bill Conner is the David and Lelia Farr Professor of Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship.  He has taught a first-year seminar entitled "Life's Devices" and upper-level courses in "Biological Innovation and Entrepreneurship", "Biomimetics: Nature's Way" and “Bioinspiration and Biomimetics”.  All focus on the interface of Biology and Entrepreneurship. His research interests include the behavioral genetics of autism using a Drosophila model. His laboratory explores the genetic underpinnings of autism the use of dietary chemicals to rescue normal behavior.  He is interested in entrepreneurship because he believes that innovations are frequently made at the interfaces of disciplines where new paradigms can lead to discovery. He and his students are currently funded by the National Science Foundation.   Faculty Bio.  

Polly Black
Director, Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship
blackka@wfu.edu

Polly Black teaches Entrepreneurship and is Faculty Advisor for the Internships and Independent studies.  Ms. Black also directs the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, a position she assumed at the end of August 2010.  In this position, Ms. Black has responsibility for the experiential learning side of the Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise minor at Wake Forest, which includes being Faculty Advisor for the Internships and Independent studies and working with WFU Student Entrepreneurs on their ventures, as well as overseeing the coordination of workshops and co-curricular events, managing the seed grant awards.

Ms.Black has a strong marketing track record in start-up, turnaround and growth situations. She brings over twenty years of diverse business experience as a successful consultant and entrepreneur, as well as corporate experience with HanesBrands, Inc. and Frito Lay, and teaching and coaching experience at the University of Virginia Darden School and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Ms. Black holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School, a Master's degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor's degree from Vassar College.

Lynn Book
Senior Lecturer, Theatre and Dance
Associate Program Director, Creativity and Innovation
bookl@wfu.edu

Lynn Book is an innovative educator, internationally recognized performance artist and creativity consultant who has contributed to the development of groundbreaking programs that foster innovations in new media in Chicago: The School of the Art Institute (1985-95), in New York City: The Sidney Kahn Kitchen Summer Institute (2000-05) and in Austria at the Transart Institute, Europe’s first low-residency MFA program for new media, where she continues as an associate since 2005. 

Ms. Book's performance career has included citations, fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts and MacArthur Foundation.  Ms. Book premiered Running Skywards, a new interactive performance media project at Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in March 2007, for which she received the Archie Fund for Faculty Excellence at WFU. Ms. Book founded Voicelab, an educational and cultural center, in New York City in 1999 through which she taught, coached and produced multifaceted events featuring innovative approaches to performance and new media, including R & R (Release and Regenerate), an on-site service for internet and other small business start-ups in New York City, which she initiated.

Recently, Ms. Book organized the extremely successful national symposium in March 2009, Creativity: Worlds in the Making (read more), followed by an outstanding conference, Teaching Creativity in Higher Education:  Current Trends and Critical Encounters (read more) which took place in March/April 2010.

Ms. Book has a BFA in sculpture and an MFA in performance art and media studies.

Betsy Gatewood
Research Professor and Director, NSF Partners for Innovation
gatewoej@wfu.edu

Dr. Gatewood led Wake Forest's efforts to instill entrepreneurial thinking and action across campus. Previously, she was the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Indiana University. Prior to her role at Indiana University, Dr. Gatewood was the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Small Business Development Center Network, an organization providing training and consulting services to entrepreneurs and small business owners in the greater Houston region. Dr. Gatewood also founded and served as director of the Center for Business and Economic Studies at the University of Georgia.

In 2004 Entrepreneur magazine named Dr. Gatewood one of the top ten entrepreneurship center directors in the country. She has written more than 80 articles, book chapters and monographs on entrepreneurial processes, women entrepreneurs and economic development. She is also a past recipient of the Academy of Management's Advocate Award for outstanding contributions to the field of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Gatewood is a member of the Diana project, a research study of women business owners and equity capital access. In 2007, the Diana project members won the FSF-NUTEK Award, a prestigious international award given annually in recognition of outstanding entrepreneurship and small business research. Dr. Gatewood is a graduate of Purdue University where she earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. She received her masters in business administration and her doctorate from the University of Georgia.

Lisa Burton
Program Coordinator, Office of Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship
burtoneg@wfu.edu

Ms. Burton has been with the University since 1998.  She has been involved with program for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship since the program's inception in 2004 when it launched as Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts.  She coordinates the academic and co-curricular programs.  In addition, Ms. Burton advises and registers students in courses for the Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise minor, assits students and faculty with internal grant funding opportunities, and administers awards.  She has also worked with the division of Student Life assisting in the coordination of campus leadership, volunteer and new student orientation programs. Ms. Burton worked for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System for many years before joing WFU. Ms. Burton received a B.S. from High Point University.