Diana Membership Organization

The Diana International Research Institute Membership Organization convenes and connects a global community to collectively identify, investigate, and share best practices that lead to further research and practical approaches supporting women entrepreneurs and their businesses.

Membership benefits are below. If you have questions, please get in touch at: dianamembership@babson.edu

Member Round Table Forums

Each quarter, Diana International Research Institute Members participate in virtual round table calls with experts from around the world. Find out more about them and the topics they're presenting in 2020 by reading below. These round table calls are open to members of the Diana International Research Institute. To become a member, register here.

April 30: Dr. Patti Greene, Diana International Research Institute Findings

Speaker: Dr. Patti Greene
Former Director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor 

Topic: Diana International Impact Report Findings

Details: April 30, 11:00 AM EST

Patricia G. Greene most recently served as the Director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. Previously she held the Paul T. Babson Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College where she served first as Dean of the Undergraduate School, then Provost. As the founding National Academic Director for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, she was the chief architect of the program and led the team responsible for design, development, training, delivery and assessment. She also served as the global academic director for 10,000 Women.  She is a founding member of the Diana Project studying women entrepreneurs and their access to venture capital.   Currently she works with Portfolia as an educational advisor. Her research to date focused primarily on entrepreneurial opportunities and resources and she is the author or co–author of a range of academic papers and books, including reports on women’s entrepreneurship for the Diana Project, The Coca–Cola Company’s 5X20 project, GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) and 10,000 Women. 

To join this forum, Diana Membership is required. 

June 12: Dr. Doan Winkle, Programming for Women Entrepreneurs

Speaker: Dr. Doan Winkel
Co-Founder, Teaching Entrepreneurship, John J. Kahl Sr. Chair in Entrepreneurship & Director of the Muldoon Center for Entrepreneurship, John Carroll University. President-Elect, USASBE

Topic: Developing Programming for Women Entrepreneurs

Details: June 11, 11:00 AM

Doan sees a new future for education, and has been working for more than a decade to bring that to a reality. He sees students having more agency. He sees a model of active mastery, not passive consumption. He sees women at the forefront of entrepreneurship education. His conviction in these beliefs cost him tenure at Illinois State University, and led him to steer the entrepreneurship program at John Carroll University. Doan helped build the award-winning Experiential Entrepreneurship Curriculum (ExEC), used at over 70 colleges and universities, to provide students agency and an experience of mastering entrepreneurial skills. He is developing the Dare to Dream, Dare to Inspire, Dare to Start, Dare to Create, and Dare to Lead Retreats to ignite young women entrepreneurial leaders to create the future of their dreams. 

To join this forum, Diana Membership is required. 

August 27: Dr. Barbara Orser, Curriculum Development for Women Entrepreneurs

Speaker: Dr. Barbara Orser
Full Professor and Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa

Topic: Developing Curriculum that Meets the Needs of Women Entrepreneurs

Details: August 27, 11:00 AM EST

Barbara J. Orser is a Full Professor and Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. An participant in Diana International Research Conferences, her research, teaching and advocacy focus on enterprise growth and women’s economic empowerment. She leads a portfolio of studies focusing on gender-smart entrepreneurship education, access to capital, women’s enterprise policy and supplier diversity. 

She is the co-editor of a forthcoming Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on women’s enterprise policies across 29 economies (with C. Henry and S. Coleman), and co-author of Feminine Capital. Unlocking the Power of Women Entrepreneurs (with C. Elliott, Stanford University Press, 2015) and numerous academic studies about gender and entrepreneurship. Access trade and technical reports at Telfer Women Entrepreneurs Research Exchange. Orser is an advisor to the Canadian Bureau of International Education Launching Economic Achievement Program (LEAP) for Women in Jordan, and The Scotiabank Women InitiativeTM, including co-authoring Financial Knowledge & Financial Confidence—Closing Gender Gaps in Financing Canadian Small Businesses. Board contributions include UNWomen WE Empower Advisory Group Canada, Women’s Economic Imperative and editorial board of the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship.

In 2018, Dr. Orser received Startup Canada as Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Honourable Mention for ‘outstanding impact in Canadian entrepreneurship’. In 2017, she was recognized among Canada 150 Women for professional contributions and as a ground-breaking role model and feminist leader.’ In 2010, she received the Women's Executive Network 100 Most Power Women in Canada (Champion Category) award, and The International Alliance of Women World of Difference 100 Award.

To join this forum, Diana Membership is required. 

Dec 2: Dr. Susan Coleman, Financing Strategies of Women-Owned Firms & Corresponding Curriculum Development

Speaker: Dr. Susan Coleman
Professor of Finance Emeritus, University of Hartford

Topic: Financing Strategies of Women-Owned Firms & Creation of Curriculum on Entrepreneurial Finance for Women

Details: December 2, 11:00 AM EST

As a professor of finance at the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business, Dr. Susan Coleman taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in entrepreneurial and corporate finance for over thirty years. Her research has been concentrated in the area of entrepreneurial finance with a particular focus on the ways in which women entrepreneurs secure financing for their firms.  Dr. Coleman’s work on this topic is widely published and cited in hundreds of refereed journal articles. She has co-authored two books on women-owned firms, A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies for Women-Owned Firms (2012) and The Next Wave: Financing Women’s Growth-Oriented Firms (2016).  

Dr. Coleman has also written on the topic of social entrepreneurship and co-authored a book titled Creating the Social Venture (2016).   Most recently, Dr. Coleman has expanded her work into the field of public policy as a member of the Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy project comprised of representatives from 29 countries. In recognition of her scholarly contributions, Dr. Coleman received the Humphrey R. Tonkin Award in 2016, the University of Hartford’s highest award for research. 

Dr. Coleman is an active member and past president of the Hartford Area Business Economists. From 2007 to 2011, she also served as a member of Governor M. Jodi Rell’s Economic Advisory Council. In 2017 she was named to the Board of Directors for the Next Wave Foundation, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization focused on developing education and training programs designed to increase the number of women angel investors in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Coleman is an active angel investor and a limited partner in the Next Wave Impact Fund. 

To join this forum, Diana Membership is required. 

Becoming a Member

Our members are: 

• Scholars advancing research on gender and women’s entrepreneurship and their businesses.
• Educators and Program Directors sharing best practices and teaching innovations for gender and women’s entrepreneurship.
• Policymakers supporting women’s entrepreneurship through policy development and deployment, data dissemination and advocacy.
• Practitioners supporting the women’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by contributing to research, education and policy.

Through engagement in the Diana International Research Institute

• Members will:
• Connect, learn and collaborate with other members and stakeholders supporting all aspects of women’s entrepreneurship through conferences, events, workshops, webinars, on-line discussions, research paper presentations and other activities. 
• Scholars will:
• Access best practices in researching women entrepreneurs through webinars, mini forums and online resources
• Share and get feedback on personal research at the annual Diana International Research Conference
• Share data as appropriate in order to build more comprehensive data bases
• Learn of relevant and current publishing opportunities related to gender and women’s entrepreneurship, including basic research, as well as those related to education and policy
• Participate in forums focused on career development of women faculty in entrepreneurship
• Educators and Program Directors will:
• Access best practices, teaching materials and pedagogies for educating women entrepreneurs through webinars, mini forums and online resources
• Collaborate with other educators on development of teaching materials, exercises, teaching cases, conference submissions, thought leadership, and program design related to teaching women entrepreneurs and women’s entrepreneurship
• Learn of platforming opportunities including speaking engagements, award submissions, and outlets for practice-based thought leadership
• Policymakers will:
• Learn of leading edge policies and practices on women’s entrepreneurship in a large range of geographical contexts
• Collaborate with other policymakers to share best practices and critique existing and potential policy
• Connect with scholars dedicated to research with implications for policy influencing women’s entrepreneurship
• Practitioners will:
  • Access best practices for educating and advising women entrepreneurs through webinars, mini forums and online resources
  • Learn of relevant research related to gender and women’s entrepreneurship, including basic research as well as those related to education and policy.
  • Learn of possible opportunities to collaborate with diverse stakeholders to move the global agenda to further research and action on women entrepreneurs and their businesses

Membership Benefits

• Communications
• Quarterly electronic newsletter
• Provides information about conferences, opportunities to publish, special issues, journals, new articles, and grant proposals
• Highlights recent publications and accomplishments
• Access to the full Diana Membership Organization Database to connect with local and global likeminded stakeholders working to advance women’s entrepreneurship
• Discounts
  • Discounted registration for mini-forums and conferences
  • Discounted subscription to the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship of $95 per member for full electronic access and 70% off the list price for any members who would like a print subscription (list price is $692).
• Content
• Quarterly virtual/F2F mini conferences covering topics such as:
• Managing Your Career as a Woman in Higher Education in Entrepreneurship
• Publishing Research on Women’s Entrepreneurship
• Learning Best Practices and Teaching Innovations for Women’s Entrepreneurship
• Advancing Policy on Women’s Entrepreneurship
• Writing retreat on women’s entrepreneurship
• Quarterly Conference Calls/Webinars on topics associated with research, education, and policy
• Online resources in the area of research, education and policy

Membership Fee (annual)

• General Fee - $200.00/year
  
  
• Student Fee - $100.00/year
  • Must be enrolled in credit bearing academic program and/or entrepreneurial program
• Non Profit Institutional Membership - $5,000 / year
  • Guarantees three members from the institution a membership
  • Two complimentary conference registrations
• Non Profit Institutional Membership - $10,000 / year
• Guarantees five members from the institution a membership
• Four complimentary conference registrations
• Corporate Membership - $10,000 / year 
• Guarantees five members from the institution a membership
• Four complimentary conference registrations
• Optional Fee Based Programs Coming Soon:
• Mini Forums
• Peer Forums
• Senior Faculty Peer Forum
• Junior Faculty Peer Forum
• PhD Mentor Program 

For further information or comments, please email your inquiry to dianamembership@babson.edu.

Additional Information about The Diana International Research Institute

Mission Statement

The Diana Project™ serves as the overarching platform for research activities, forums and scholarship focusing on gender and women’s entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on business growth, economic development and social change.  The annual ​​Diana International Research Conference provides the platform for researchers to investigate, connect and share a global research agenda. Diana Impact Day is a global convening of the vital stakeholders who are dedicated to changing the landscape of gender and women’s entrepreneurship and seeks to connect research, education, practice and policy to drive change.

Background on the Diana International Conferences

Established in 1999 by five founding scholars, the Diana International Research Conference is the premier international research conference on women’s entrepreneurship, gathering the collaborative network of researchers studying women’s entrepreneurship from more than 60 countries The Diana Project™ was internationalized in 2003, when the first Diana International Conference was held in Stockholm, Sweden, hosting 25 participants from 10 countries.  The mailing list of scholars participating in the Diana International Conferences includes over 600 scholars from 47 countries who have submitted papers or attended the events since 2003.  Over the years, Diana International scholars have published 9, soon to be 10, edited volumes of academic research on women’s entrepreneurship around the world (Edward Elgar Publishing), in addition to nine special issues of top entrepreneurship research journals.[1] 

Previous special issues emerging from Diana International Conferences devoted to gender and  women’s entrepreneurship include three issues of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (2006 and 2007, edited by de Bruin, Brush and Welter in 2006 and 2007; and 2012, edited by Jennings & Hughes) as well one special issue for  Entrepreneurship and Regional Development  2012 (edited by Cooper and McGowan), and one special issue on women entrepreneurs and ecosystems in Small Business Economics 2018 (edited by Edelman, Manolova, Brush, Welter).  The most recent special issue was released in January 2019, high growth women’s entrepreneurship, in the Journal of Small Business Management. Together these special issues generated more than 60 submissions and did much to consolidate existing scholarship in this area to date.  These articles are highly cited:  the special issue of ET&P (2007) has over 4,000 citations with a number of  individual articles in the special issues having more than 1,000 citations including those

[1]http://www.babson.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/center-for-womens-entrepreneurial-leadership/thought-leadership/diana-project/