Jack M. Wilson is a President Emeritus / University Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, & Innovation in the Manning School of Business at UMass Lowell. Image by Ed Brennen

In 2015, Jack M. Wilson, Ph.D., president emeritus of the University of Massachusetts, and his wife Judi made a generous donation to establish the Jack M. Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center became an integral part of the newly opened Pulichino Tong Business Center in 2017. Formally organized and operational in 2019, Prof. Yi Yang and Prof. Ashwin Mehta were appointed as co-directors.

Wilson is an internationally recognized educator and has served as a professor and an administrator in research universities for most of his career. He has also founded and led a private sector computer software company - The ILinc Corporation. Presently, he is a Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Innovation, Manning School of Business, University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Prior to that, he was president of University of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2011. Read Jack M. Wilson's full bio.

Center’s Mission

An internationally recognized voice for entrepreneurship that serves as connective tissues across all constituencies at the University, in the region as well as globally.

Five years from now, through the work at the Center, UMass Lowell will be recognized as a global leader in the entrepreneurship area.

The Center is organized in the Manning School of Business where world-class entrepreneurship education and research take place; and it will serve as a catalyst for the university wide interdisciplinary entrepreneurship educational initiatives.

The Center will achieve its Mission through:

  1. Be a catalyst for entrepreneurial ideas and initiatives within and outside the university.
  2. Promote global engagement and inclusive culture through entrepreneurship education programs.
  3. Lead transformational education by creating and launching new and revised curricula and pedagogical approaches for the fast-changing entrepreneurship education.
  4. Advance innovative research in entrepreneurship by facilitating and funding faculty research and collaboration within and outside the university.
  5. Pursue creative ways to operationalize the Center by utilizing both traditional and sustainable methods.

The Center fully supports the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) strategic pillars related to innovation and entrepreneurship. UMass Lowell has a number of entrepreneurship-related curricular and co-curricular programs in support of the university’s major strategic pillars:

I. Transformational Education

  • Experiential and trans-disciplinary learning prepare UMass Lowell students for fulfillment and making a difference in the world.

II. Global Engagement & Inclusive Culture

  • Dynamic, global collaborations around the world support student and faculty exchanges, research and other entrepreneurial enterprises. These initiatives will contribute to the development of an inclusive campus culture.

III. Innovative Research & Entrepreneurship

  • UMass Lowell fosters innovative and creative research and scholarship that seeks sustainable solutions to the major challenges in today’s world.

Through GE2 initiatives, the Center will promote global entrepreneurship education and assist UMass Lowell international partners in their efforts to establish entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Working with key business and industry partners, the Center will enhance students learning experiences and faculty research potentials.

Partners