Roles of chairs in entrepreneurship: What deans expect

Major donations, especially for endowed chairs, put Colleges of Business and Universities in the spotlight and create a great deal of excitement, highlighting the important role that educational institutions play in benefiting the students, the community, and society in general. This kind of excitement needs to be sustained over time, signifying the link that the endowed Chair or Professorship in Entrepreneurship creates between the past, the present, and the future. Consequently, there is a need for a long-term personal connection and close relationship between the donor, the faculty holding the endowed chair, and the institution represented by the Dean that should be preserved over time. This study reports findings of a survey of the perceptions of AACSB Deans on what an Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship is, and what it could, and should mean for their institution.