Lawrence Bellman, an associate professor of management and director of the Entrepreneurial Institute, is teaching both of Touro’s courses in entrepreneurship.

“The purpose of the Institute is to foster an entrepreneurial spirit within the student body, forge ties with the business community and provide assistance to start ups,” Dr. Bellman said. “We hope the Institute will make a significant contribution towards raising the visibility of Touro both in the academic and business communities.”

Dr. Bellman was recruited to Touro over the summer by Charles Snow, Touro’s dean of business programs. The two previously worked together at Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, where Dr. Snow was dean and a professor of accounting, and Dr. Bellman served as director of the School’s Entrepreneurial Institute. Dr. Snow’s appointment at Touro was announced in October 2005, just as Touro welcomed its initial class of MBA students.

Already the Institute’s incubator program has signed its first ‘client’ and is negotiating with a second, Dr. Bellman said. Robin Herman, a recent college graduate who plans to start a fitness center focusing on exercise and nutritional programs for obese children, has signed on. Ms. Herman, who hopes to open her first facility on Long Island, will be receiving access to phones, computers and office space to work and meet with potential customers. She will also receive help with her business plan, and the School is forming an advisory board to provide advice. Currently on the board are Drs. Snow and Bellman, and Steven Phillips, director of education for the Children’s Health Education Foundation at Touro’s School of Education and Psychology, Graduate Division. The Foundation’s Health Corps program, formed in partnership with Columbia University, educates teachers, parents and students about nutrition, exercise and eating disorders.

Dr. Bellman said that negotiations with a second party for the incubator program – a group that provides technical software solutions to the legal industry – are underway. If the incubated businesses are successful, Touro will also participate in their successes as equity partners, he added.

Beginning in March, the Institute plans to begin sponsoring an annual business plan competition to challenge students to present and defend new business plans to a panel of judges composed of corporate leaders. Significant cash prizes will be awarded. Any students from five of Touro’s schools will be eligible to participate: the Graduate School of Business, Lander College for Men, Lander College for Women, Lander College of Arts & Sciences – Flatbush, and the New York School of Career and Applied Studies (NYSCAS).

“Our goal is to encourage and support an entrepreneurial mindset among the schools and offer an alternative career,” Dr. Bellman said. “Many students would like to start their own business. We would like to stimulate their interest in doing so, and give them a leg up.”

In the same vein, at the business school the Institute plans an Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, where successful entrepreneurs will mentor and advise student entrepreneurs and meet with them to provide feedback on their business ideas. Similarly, the Institute plans to develop an entrepreneurial lecture series that will allow students to meet and hear from the founders and senior leadership of successful start-up and well-established businesses.

Dr. Snow received a bachelor of arts in economics from Yeshiva University, and a master’s and a doctorate in accounting from the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University. In addition to his teaching and administrative posts at Yeshiva’s Sy Syms School of Business, Dr. Snow previously taught accounting at Baruch College and served as vice president and director of training for Morgan Stanley and Co. Inc.

Dr. Bellman previously taught courses in entrepreneurship, management, international business and marketing at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Hofstra University, Pace University, and Yeshiva University. He received his doctorate in international business from Pace, and his master’s and bachelor degrees in business administration from Baruch College. He has published in numerous business publications. In addition to his affiliation with the Entrepreneurial Institute at the Sy Syms School of Business, Dr. Bellman previously served as vice president of sales and director of channel sales for Graphnet, Inc., and held senior sales and marketing positions in TRT Telecommunications, Intel Corp., Ampex Corp., Honeywell Information Systems and in a software start-up company.