Each week VentureWell features a faculty members who are doing good work—faculty members who are challenging norms in higher education and inspiring students to impact the world through invention.
This month’s faculty spotlight is Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Director of the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, and Associate Professor of Technology, Leadership, and Innovation at Purdue University. She is responsible for the launch and development of the university’s multidisciplinary undergraduate entrepreneurship program, which enrolls over 1,800 students per year. As part of the program, she has established entrepreneurship capstone, global entrepreneurship, and women and leadership courses and initiatives. Duval-Couetil is an active member of the VentureWell community, participating in the National Innovation Network (NIN) program, and serving as a Principal Investigator for several Faculty Grants and a presenter at our OPEN conference.
How did you get interested in teaching entrepreneurship?
I worked part-time at an incubator called the 128 Entrepreneurs’ Center in Massachusetts while getting my MBA from Babson College, a leader in entrepreneurship education. While working at Booz Allen and Hamilton in Europe, I gained a strong background in market research and strategy. I also worked for two entrepreneurial companies run by their founders. These experiences would have come in handy during my childhood when my parents were trying to run a part-time mountaineering equipment business out of our basement!
