Eller Faculty Scholars

Gwen Powell, Professor of Music, Camerata Career Development Program

Gwen Powell is director of the Camerata Career Development Program at the University of Arizona. She was flute professor and eventual head of the music school at Oklahoma State University before moving to Tucson. She has an extensive solo, orchestra and touring background and was the recipient of touring grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. She created and produced the National Flute Association Convention in 1994 before being elected as President and eventual Chairperson of the NFA Board of Directors.

Prof. Powell has been principal flute with the Chicago Little Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oklahoma Sinfonia, and Tulsa Ballet. Before joining the UA faculty, she founded the Southwest School of Music and Dance in Tucson, a community school for the arts which won national recognition for cross-cultural outreach.

Alaina Levine, Professional Masters in Science Program, Topics in Entrepreneurship for Scientists

Alaina G. Levine is a prolific speaker, writer, performer, and public relations strategist, and was recently named an “Up and Coming” Business Leader by Inside Tucson Business. She is currently serves as Director of Special Projects for the University of Arizona College of Science. Her responsibilities include public relations, industrial relations, economic development and outreach. In addition, she oversees the UA Professional Master’s Degree Program in Applied Science and Business and teaches a course on entrepreneurship for scientists. She also serves as President of Quantum Success Solutions, a firm dedicated to providing strategic presentations, workshops, and keynote speeches on topics including corporate and organizational public relations, media relations, community relations, career success, career planning, college survival, personal branding and marketing, and presentation success, all with a carefully planned comedic twist.

Alaina has served as Director of Communications for the UA Physics Department, Director of Public Relations for the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair, and Publicist for the Arizona International Film Festival. Known for her lively, interactive, and entertaining presentations, Levine has given over 200 speeches, workshops, and presentations across the United States and also writes articles for regional and national publications. She is currently the President-Elect of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, has served on the National Board of Directors for the Arizona Alumni Association and SciEnTeK-12, Inc., and was recently honored with the Award for Excellence in Media Relations from the Southern Arizona Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. She won for her work in branding the College of Science as a contributor to and supporter of regional economic development initiatives.

Patrick Jones, Office of Technology Transfer, Director, Basics of Intellectual Property Management and Business Entrepreneurship

Patrick Jones serves as director of the UA Office of Technology Transfer, focusing on outreach, management, planning. He is also a policy member of the UA Institutional Review Committee for Conflict of Interest and Commitment.

More information about Jones:

• PhD Chemical Physics, University of Colorado
• Master of Business Administration, University of Washington
• The Ohio State University (Assistant Professor)
• STI Optronics (Principal Research Scientist, International Marketing Manager)
• University of Washington (Licensing Officer, Assistant Dean for University-Industry Affairs, College of Engineering)
• Appliant.COM (Director of Business Development, Director of Product Strategy)
• Sahale Group (Principal)

Steven Permut, Marketing Department, Innovation to Market

Steven E. Permut is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and an Eller Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship. He currently teaches the core MBA marketing course and weekend MBA core (where he earned the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award in 2003), and courses in Product Strategy and New Product Management. He was previously Associate Professor of Marketing, Yale University School of Management, where he taught the core MBA Marketing Management course for many years, and most recently was Executive Director, Advanced Programs & Executive Education. He held a faculty appointment in Yale's graduate MFA program and a Teaching Fellowship in the Department of Art History. He has also served on the faculty of Boston University and its International MBA Program (Brussels, Belgium), and was Visiting Professor at the University of Lille (France). He holds a PhD and MS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MALS from Wesleyan University, and BA from University of Colorado. Dr. Permut was Founding Editor, Praeger Series in Public and Nonprofit Marketing and co-editor of Government Marketing: Theory & Practice.

An active consultant to over fifty major corporations in a dozen countries in the area of marketing strategy and new technology, he has also served as an Expert Witness for the Federal Reserve Board, AT&T, and Coca-Cola among others. He has held advisory positions on the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, National Academy of Sciences, National Engineering Consortium, and the United Nations Centre for Transnational Corporations. He holds the Elm & Ivy Award from Yale University for his volunteer work with nonprofit organizations.

Stephen W. Gilliland, Professor and Head, Management and Policy, Social Entrepreneurship

Stephen W. Gilliland is professor and head of the Department of Management and Policy in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He recently served as Vice Dean for the Eller College. Prior to moving to Arizona, Stephen received degrees from the University of Alberta and Michigan State University and was on faculty at Louisiana State University. Stephen developed and served as director of the Rodel Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, a partnership between the Rodel Foundation and the Eller College. The goal of this initiative is to engage business students in applying their business and entrepreneurial skills to solve social and environmental problems. He is currently teaching a class in social entrepreneurship and has also taught classes in management principles, human resource management, and human resource policy. Stephen has won awards for his teaching at the Undergraduate level.

Stephen's research examines the justice and fairness of management practices and policies, particularly as they relate to hiring issues. Through this merging of social, legal, and managerial issues, he has authored over 40 journal articles and book chapters.

His consulting and executive education work has helped for-profit and not-for-profit organizations address issues involving managing internal customers, team development, strategic planning, and implementing effective performance management systems. He serves on the Board of St. Lukes in the Desert, a local non-profit home for low-income elderly people.