Professor Kevin Crosby has been inspired by the entrepreneurial culture in the space sciences program at Carthage College. He now is setting out to infuse that same spirit of innovation throughout the institution.
Carthage appointed Crosby the Hedberg Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies.
“Most people think of entrepreneurship as starting your own company, which is certainly something we’ll cultivate -- and that’s just the starting point,” Crosby said. “Entrepreneurial thinking breeds success for everyone. It’s about having an innovative mindset, solving problems that matter, and creating value in your community.”
Influenced by lessons from his own well- rounded career, the late Donald D. Hedberg (a 1950 Carthage graduate) established the faculty endowment in the 1990s. Crosby’s work will expand on the blueprint of the groundbreaking ScienceWorks program, which benefited the college’s natural science majors for more than 20 years.
In tandem with faculty and The Aspire Program, Carthage’s exclusive career development sequence, Crosby will encourage all students -- regardless of major -- to develop creative solutions to real world needs.
Since joining the Carthage faculty in 1998, Crosby has taught a variety of physics and computer science courses. He will maintain his roles as director of the Carthage space sciences program and the NASA Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.
Crosby is especially eager to help faculty and students with promising ideas tap into venture capital and grant funding, something that has been a hallmark of his research career. He has been awarded more than $14 million in grants and contracts.
He already mentors regional entrepreneurs with gBETA, a free accelerator program for startups with Wisconsin roots. This is just one more example of the innovative culture that Crosby has seen blossom in the region over the past decade.
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he says. “It’s coming to us.”