Onnolee Nordstrom, assistant professor of management in NDSU’s College of Business, has been selected as the inaugural holder of the President Jim Ozbun Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship. Nordstrom is an entrepreneurship scholar who studies questions relating to entrepreneurial ecosystems, non-economic outcomes of family businesses and community development. Her appointment takes effect immediately.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Onnolee Nordstrom taking on the role as our Ozbun Chair of Entrepreneurship,” said Scott Beaulier, the Ronald and Kaye Olson Dean of Business. “The Ozbun Chair is responsible for engaging students within the college and around the university in the ideas of entrepreneurship. Onnolee has been committed to doing this in her work at NDSU for many years, and I’m excited about the energy she will bring to the new role.”
The Ozbun Chair honors Jim Ozbun, who served as NDSU’s president from 1988 to 1995. It was established in 2016 thanks to a $4.5 million endowment established through the NDSU Foundation, with $1.5 million of the funds coming from the North Dakota Challenge Grant program.
“Entrepreneurship catalyzes change and innovation, advances well-being and plays a key role in economic growth and job creation,” said Nordstrom. “This endowment helps NDSU faculty who are studying, or who want to study, entrepreneurship and family business. It also helps support entrepreneurial programs that provide our students with the mindset, tools and skills to solve problems and create value for profit and social good.”
As Ozbun Chair, Nordstrom will direct the Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business, formerly called the Nice Center, which is an academic and student-focused program that drives top-quality entrepreneurial research and challenges students to dream big and envision the world as it can be. The center provides scholarships and engages with students of any major who are interested in entrepreneurship and innovative thinking.
“The name sake of this chair provides a great example of how innovative thinking can positively impact a community. President Jim Ozbun’s entrepreneurial thinking launched the Fargodome, developed the NDSU Staff Senate, created the NDSU Biotechnology Institute and the NDSU Institute for Business and Industry Development,” said Nordstrom.
Nordstrom worked in the agriculture industry for a number of years before earning her doctorate in strategic management and organization from the University of Alberta’s School of Business. She has been a faculty member at NDSU since 2016.
The Ozbun Chair was established during “In Our Hands: The Campaign for North Dakota State University,” a six-year comprehensive fundraising initiative which has raised more than $460 million to date. The campaign concludes Dec. 31.
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