Partnership with PhD Project fuels faculty diversity at Rutgers Business School
Professor Jeffrey Robinson worked as a project engineer for Merck before he decided to change the course of his career and become a business school professor.
"I always felt there was something more I was capable of doing – intellectually and professionally," Robinson said. "I wanted to have more influence on things going on around me. I wanted to have more impact."
In 1997, after his father pointed out an advertisement for an organization called the PhD Project, Robinson arranged to attend the organization’s next annual conference. He decided he had found the “something more” he wanted: And he soon left Merck to pursue a doctoral degree.
Now, he teaches undergraduates and MBA students about entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship at Rutgers Business School. In addition to producing research, he serves as academic co-founder of Rutgers Business School’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. The center is a major force in training and supporting business owners in the Newark area.
"This is exactly where I wanted to be," Robinson said recently.