COB Faculty, Students Win Florida State Entrepreneurship Awards

Four current faculty members, a Ph.D. alumnus, and a current Ph.D. student within Florida Atlantic University's College of Business were honored for excellence in entrepreneurship research and teaching in Tallahassee last week.

The State of Florida Entrepreneurship Excellence Awards for Research and Teaching, hosted at the Senate Chamber of the Historic Florida Capital, celebrated scholarly works and innovations for influencing entrepreneurship practice and discipline. The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University presented the awards. 

The FAU College of Business award winners were: 

• Kevin Cox, Ph.D., director of the Adam Center for Entrepreneurship, was the recipient of the 2025 State of Florida Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award. The award honors one Florida educator for outstanding dedication and excellence in teaching entrepreneurship, and who has contributed to student learning and the advancement of entrepreneurship education at their school and throughout the state. 
• Five outstanding research paper awards were given, and two went to FAU-affiliated authors.
  • Mark Packard, Ph.D., associate professor, and director of research for the Madden Center for Value Creation, was a recipient for outstanding research paper for his work "Rogue Entrepreneurship."
  • Parisa Haim Faridian, Ph.D., Donald Neubaum, Ph.D. and Siri Terjesen, Ph.D., were recognized for an outstanding research paper for their work "Untangling the complexity of innovativeness in new ventures.” Faridian earned her PhD at FAU in 2020 and is now a faculty member at San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business. Terjesen and Neubaum are both chaired professors and associate deans in FAU’s College of Business.
• The 2025 State of Florida PhD Student Researcher of the Year Award went to Robert Reardon. This award honors research demonstrating outstanding promise and contribution to the field of entrepreneurship. 

"Entrepreneurship has been a focus of our college, and it is an honor to have our faculty recognized for their excellence in the field of entrepreneurship education and research,” said Daniel Gropper, Ph.D., dean of FAU's College of Business. “These awards to our faculty, and our Ph.D. students are a testament to the exceptional impact the College of Business is making with our students and in the world of academic research.”

The awards aim to highlight scholarly works and pedagogical innovations that have the highest potential to influence the practice of entrepreneurship or enrich the understanding of the subject as a discipline. Categories were focused on entrepreneurship papers, books, scholars and students who had significantly advanced the teaching or research of entrepreneurship over the year. 

In addition to FAU, winners came from University of South Florida, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Tampa. Faculty from all public or private two-year or four-year colleges in Florida were invited to participate in the awards program. 

"It is an honor to have FAU entrepreneurship research recognized in the historic capitol building, particularly since the Florida legislature has consistently enacted laws that have led Florida to be the most entrepreneurial state in the country," Terjesen said.

“Entrepreneurship is one of the things that makes South Florida so special.  Florida Atlantic supports our entrepreneurial community through an integrated series of efforts with members of the business community as mentors, faculty at the Adams Center for Entrepreneurship, TechRunway, the Division of Research, the FAU Research Park and the Florida SBDC at FAU,” Gropper added. “In part through these efforts, seven FAU students and their companies have been recognized as members of the Forbes 30 under 30 top young entrepreneurs, and many others have started successful companies.”

The FAU College of Business has previously been recognized for its productivity in the field of entrepreneurship research. In 2024, FAU was ranked #10 in the world for research productivity in the top entrepreneurship journals in the TCU Global University Research Productivity report.

- FAU -