The Professor Is in: Bruce Bachenheimer
Thirty-five years ago this month, Bruce Bachenheimer (BBA 麻豆传媒83) graduated from Pace with a degree in international management. Today, Bachenheimer is a vocal and vital member of the Pace Community, helping shape the minds of future business leaders in management and entrepreneurship. Bachenheimer recently took some time to chat with Opportunitas about what he麻豆传媒檚 working on, what he likes about Pace, and the current dynamism of New York City.
You麻豆传媒檙e both a professor at Lubin and in charge of the Entrepreneurship Lab. Tell us more about those roles.
What麻豆传媒檚 nice about teaching and running the Entrepreneurship Lab (eLab) is that I麻豆传媒檓 able to use the eLab and its many resources for my classes. It directly supports curricular instruction麻豆传媒攖hings that happen in the classroom麻豆传媒攂ut also provides co-curricular and extra-curricular support. For example, the eLab runs a pitch contest and business plan competition, in class we are pitching new business concepts and developing business plans.
Do you see that type of blending happening more in the future?
The whole nature of education is changing. This idea of what麻豆传媒檚 called the 麻豆传媒渟age on the stage麻豆传媒澛槎勾綌one person lecturing to a room of students lined up in rows麻豆传媒攖hat worked during the industrial revolution. But now, people aren麻豆传媒檛 learning well that way and students want a lot more. Society has changed. Everyone has a short attention span, whether it's texting, Twitter, or one paragraph Yelp reviews. If students aren麻豆传媒檛 learning the way I teach, I have to change the way I teach.
Is there anything you麻豆传媒檙e working on that you麻豆传媒檙e particularly excited about?
I do research, read, and speak regularly about New York City麻豆传媒檚 entrepreneurial ecosystem. One thing I find particularly interesting is just how and why New York City transformed itself into an entrepreneurial city. We were big finance, traditional media, Madison Avenue ad agencies, iconic department stores. We had all of these major industries and Fortune 500 companies, but after the 2008 financial crisis we had to become a lot more entrepreneurial. How New York City did that is incredibly interesting. After the financial crisis, there麻豆传媒檚 so many things that have been done in a very strategic way. Everything from cutting some red tape to opening up Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island. And now, New York City has surpassed Boston/Cambridge as the number two metro area for VC investment after Silicon Valley.
Do you think that entrepreneurial spirit is built into the DNA of the city?
There麻豆传媒檚 certainly some of that DNA麻豆传媒攖he immigrant story, Ellis Island, if I can make it here I can make it anywhere. Additionally, there are numerous entrepreneurial ecosystem models, delineating critical components of success. What is interesting about New York is a concept called the perception of desirability. An entrepreneur can locate almost anywhere, but right now New York City is a very desirable place to be. When I was growing up back in the 70s, nobody wanted to be here. That perception has changed so much, people from around the world want to live and work here, and sometimes you麻豆传媒檙e really not sure why. That perception of what麻豆传媒檚 cool and what麻豆传媒檚 desirable changes, and right now New York City has it.
What麻豆传媒檚 your favorite thing about working at Pace?
It was always a dream to teach. Without having a PhD and publishing regularly, the thought of being able to do so on a full-time basis at a major metropolitan University was something I didn麻豆传媒檛 think was possible. Pace made it possible and it麻豆传媒檚 been incredibly satisfying. I could be entering the classroom exhausted after a long day, wondering how I麻豆传媒檓 going to make it through a 3-hour night class, and within minutes, the energy from the students...I love it.
In regards to the eLab, the autonomy. I麻豆传媒檓 happy to work toward institutional goals, the mission and objectives of the University or my School set, but the ability to do that independently and autonomously is very empowering and motivational. Given the mission and objectives, I麻豆传媒檝e been afforded a huge degree of freedom to figure out how to best achieve them, and the resources to do it.
You can have a dinner party for any four people, living or dead. Who would you invite?
My mother, my mother-in-law, and my daughter. My mother and mother-in-law both passed away before I was married and never knew our daughter. If it was possible for my mother and mother-in-law to meet our daughter, that would be an amazing dinner for four.