Regents’ Entrepreneur

How the Regents’ Entrepreneur Nomination process works

The Regents’ Entrepreneur designation may be granted by the Board of Regents to an outstanding full-time tenured faculty member who has an established reputation as a successful innovator and who has taken their research into a commercial setting. School chairs are asked to nominate a full, tenured professor. For more information, visit the Board of Regents’ Policy Manual.

A college committee consisting of academic and research faculty with Regents appointments or other chaired professors, as recommended by the school chairs, will review the candidates’ packages and make recommendations to the dean, who will then review the documentation, select two candidates (the number allowed for COE), and forward his/her recommendations to the Provost. 

Process and Package Contents for Regents’ Entrepreneur

  1. Nominee’s current CV. GT format for CV recommended but not required. (provided by nominee to school chair)
  2. One paragraph biographical sketch (provided by nominee to school chair)
  3. Summary of accomplishments no more than three pages where the faculty member describes how he/she satisfies the following criteria (provided by the nominee to the school chair)
    • One or more commercialization of GT owned IP into companies
    • Preference for entrepreneurship and commercialization service with GT and within the local and state ecosystems (mentorship activities, teaching, etc.)
    • Preference for strong evidence of working with the local entrepreneurship ecosystem
    • Preference for resulting companies that have had measurable success (Success measures include (but are not limited to) funding raised, numbers of jobs created, and strong broader impacts on the human condition)
    • Preference for resulting companies that have raised funding, created jobs, and delivered impacts within the state of Georgie at some point during the lifespan of the company.
  4. Nomination letter from the school chair to the dean (provided by school chair)
  5. Letter of recommendation from the College Regents’ Committee to the dean (about January)
  6. Dean’s letter of recommendation to the Provost (about February)
  7. The Institute Regents’ Nomination Committee, comprised of faculty members with Regents’ designations or other chaired professors as recommended by the college deans, meets to review the nominations, and will forward their recommendations to the President.  The President sends the packages of the selected nominees to the Board of Regents.  The nominee must receive a unanimous recommendation from the Institute Regents’ Committee and the President before the nomination will be transmitted to the Board of Regents.

Decisions for Regents’ Entrepreneur Nominations

The decision of the Board of Regents is sent to the Office of the Provost (Faculty Affairs).  Faculty Affairs then informs the dean of the outcome (about August). The dean will notify the school chair and the selected candidate.