Theroux garners teaching award

by Lou Wigdor, special to the Chronicle

James Theroux

senberg School professor James Theroux has received this year's top honor in Innovative Pedagogy for Entrepreneurship Education from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

     Theroux, who is the Flavin Family Professor of Entrepreneurship, won the award in January for a course which focused on a real-time case study of a high-technology firm in Worcester. Theroux's course was also one of three finalists in the prestigious Decision Sciences Institute's annual awards for instructional innovation.

      "As far as I know, the course's "live" case was the first ever offered by a business school - actually four business schools - classes at the University of New Brunswick, Florida Atlantic University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute also participated in the case," said Theroux.

     Five years in the making, the course, offered during the fall 2001 semester, examined the ongoing pursuits of Optasite, Inc., a start-up firm in the communications industry.

     Interacting periodically with the company's president and other officers, Theroux and his students evaluated the firm's products, marketing strategy, acquisition of capital, human resources, and competitors. Each Saturday at 6 p.m., the course's full-time case writer - on site at the firm - posted new case material and related articles on a dedicated Web site. In response, students analyzed the material, discussed related issues via e-mail and in class, and forwarded their suggestions to the company.

      "I've never taught more motivated students," said Theroux. "The incentive of not only participating in a 'live' business study, but actually having an influence on the business itself was extremely powerful." Theroux's own motivation to make the course a reality was no less compelling. The professor spent years developing it and raising funds for its launch.

     heroux received financial support from the Coleman Foundation, the Alfred Sloan Foundation, the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

      "Early on, everyone loved my idea, but nobody thought it could actually be done," said Theroux. "Being a former entrepreneur, I can be very persistent in following through with the prep work to make something happen, if I believe in it. I believed in this course. For me it was analogous to a business start-up." And like many successful start-ups, it has a future:

     "We'll be offering the course again in the spring of 2004 with a new company as its focus," Theroux said.