University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business assistant professor of management Peter Younkin’s research on the disadvantages Black founders face when attempting to raise funding for their startups earned the inaugural 2020 Bradford-Osborne Award.
Younkin and his coauthor Venkat Kuppuswamy of Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business discussed their 2017 Management Science paper, “The Colorblind Crowd? Founder Race and Performance in Crowdfunding,” during an online event honoring their contributions and those of others to the field.
This was the inaugural presentation of Bradford-Osborne Research Award, named for its founders—Bill Bradford of University of Washington’s Foster School of Business and Al Osborne of UCLA Anderson School of Management—who have together published more than 60 research articles focused on entrepreneurs of color and the dynamics of their businesses.
The national award recognizes research published in peer-reviewed journals that contributes to advancing the growth of businesses owned by people of color with the aim of stimulating further research, informing public policy, and supporting businesses with transformational programming.
“It’s an honor to be recognized among such pioneering scholars. Our work seeks to identify and to help remove the barriers facing Black entrepreneurs, and we hope that the creation of this award leads to more research in this important field,” Younkin said.
The October 22 ceremony also honored Timothy Bates, distinguished professor of economics at Wayne State University (now retired), with a lifetime achievement award. Bates has published more research on minority entrepreneurship than any other researcher in the United States during his more than 40-year academic career, according to the event’s organizers.
Younkin kicked off the talk, with his coauthor taking on the second half of the research discussion. A panel with Bradford and Osborne on “Where do we go from here?” followed.
—AnneMarie Knepper-Sjoblom '05, Lundquist College Communications