
Wendy Chen is a Ph.D. candidate at George Mason University. Coming from an international background with extensive education and work experience in multi-national corporations, media, and the government, Wendy’s research connects entrepreneurship, strategies, innovative financing, and public policy. We recently chatted with Wendy about becoming a new member at USASBE. Here is what she had to say:
Question: How did you get into entrepreneurship education? What was your path?
This is a great question! I grew up in a pivotal time when I witnessed firsthand the transition from planned economy to market economy in my hometown. At that time, the government started to encourage people to quit their routine jobs to become entrepreneurs. While the middle-class foresaw it as a great opportunity to get rich quick, very few of them had a clue how they could “go to the sea” (a Chinese analogy of becoming an entrepreneur). That was the time that I started thinking about how important entrepreneurship education could be.
As I read a large number of entrepreneurship books written about successful young entrepreneurs including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, etc., their stories did not only inspire me to become an entrepreneur while I was in college, but more importantly, they became the inspiration for my development of an entrepreneurial learning ecosystem model in my research that can be applied to average households and schools.
My own entrepreneurial experience and unique experience as a journalist interviewing many successful entrepreneurs in China again solidified my belief that entrepreneurship education could be a valuable asset to everyone. Later, when I came to the US teaching at the universities, many students revealed that they wanted to create a new product or had a social mission in mind, but didn’t know how to get started. After talking with many of them, I also discovered the rising interest in social entrepreneurship. Those students inspired me to really start exploring both social and commercial entrepreneurship and how to better educate people on the success factors.
Question: What does your research focus on and how does it inform your teaching?
I was inspired by the Renaissance, and especially people like Leonardo Da Vinci. I fully believe that it was due to his interdisciplinary knowledge that he was able to produce such meticulous works of engineering and art. Following his footsteps, I employ theories and multi-methods from different domains. My research focuses on the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation, and public policy for both social and commercial purposes. Other than the entrepreneurial learning ecosystem project that I mentioned earlier, I also explore how crowdfunding can be used as a new financing mechanism for ventures and how their strategies can be adapted to have better success based on the types of projects they conduct. I incorporate regional and socioeconomical components as well in order to provide a fuller picture of the entire crowdfunding ecosystem.
The big picture here is to be able to provide policy and management implications as well as entrepreneurship education suggestions while also advancing the field of entrepreneurship research. I hope that my research will be able to find its home with many audiences as I am genuinely interested in improving entrepreneurial and social outcomes.
Because I pursue cutting-edge topics with an interdisciplinary approach and a practical outcome in my research, I extend that philosophy in my teaching as well. As an entrepreneur myself, I tailor my teaching towards things that I would want to know as an entrepreneur or would-be entrepreneur if I were trying to be more successful.
Question: How has membership in USASBE benefited you?
USASBE has been a great resource for me in the sense that it has allowed me to be exponentially more familiar with the work currently being done in the field. I have gotten to know more about the exciting field of entrepreneurship education from the scholars here. This insight has been directly applied to my research and teaching and I highly suggest others who have similar interests to explore what USASBE has to offer. In addition, I attended the doctoral consortium where I got the chance to hear from the leading scholars in the field and learn about new methods for entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship in general.
Question: Can you share a fun fact about yourself? Something that makes you unique?
Although it’s not typical for a kid, I grew up reading a lot of ancient military strategy and philosophy books in ancient Chinese language. Therefore, when I learned about Sun Tzu’s Art of War and other ancient military strategies, I thought of how they could be applied to commercial and social ventures. There are many parallels that can be drawn from risk-taking to knowing how to always be prepared for a situation, and that is what I try to incorporate into my studies.

