Entrepreneurship comes in many forms, but one area that most interests new faculty member Hyoju Jeong is how people in marginalized communities come together to solve a problem, particular when larger entities have overlooked them. That’s the type of research she hopes to continue to pursue as an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Whitman School. 

Jeong was drawn to the Whitman School because of the opportunity to work in a cross-disciplinary environment within Whitman, as well as other schools and colleges on campus.  

“Collaborating was my number one factor in choosing Whitman, as it’s important to find a place where your research fits, and you can have meaningful conversations with others,” she explains, also noting that she found the University to have many of the resources she needed. 

Jeong earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from Korea University before coming to the U.S. to complete a Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in strategic management and entrepreneurship from the Carson School of Management, University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the Whitman School’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE), she was a visiting assistant professor at the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. 

Jeong’s interest in mission-driven entrepreneurship came from traveling around the U.S. as a Ph.D. student and finding places, particularly in low-income rural areas, where reliable internet was simply not available. Large internet companies had simply disregarded these geographic areas, so people in the communities stopped waiting for internet providers to solve the problem and formed member-owned cooperatives to find ways to bring in the services themselves. 

This led to her Ph.D. dissertation, Understanding Digital Inequality and the Role of Cooperatives, along with a paper she co-authored, Comparative governance of for-profit provision of service: Investor-owned firms versus cooperatives as internet providers, published in the Strategic Management Journal this year and presented at more than a dozen conferences. She also has several other working papers related to this topic, as well as additional research on subjects like government partnerships with big banks versus community banks when it comes to small business lending. 

While her first semester at Whitman will be devoted to her research, Jeong is also looking forward to working with students. In Spring 2026, she will teach Introduction to Entrepreneurship and eventually other specialized EEE classes.  

“I want to give all of my support to students who want to be successful and encourage them to think about their ideas, participate in as many school competitions and activities as possible, and, at the same time, understand that success in entrepreneurship isn’t always immediate or easy to accomplish,” she explains. “Entrepreneurs tend to be very optimistic people, including me, but I feel the responsibility to give students a good balance of encouragement to make things happen, while also sharing with them that failure can also be a part of the entrepreneurship process. Sometimes, a good entrepreneur needs mental toughness to either find another way or move on to the next big idea. It’s not usually coming up with just one idea. It’s consistently being ready to work and eager to learn.” 

Jeong is already pleased that she made the decision to join Whitman and make Syracuse, New York, her new home.  

“Syracuse is the perfect place for me. It’s serene and peaceful, and I’m super excited about all the nature around the area. After living in New Orleans, I realize I love the cold weather here and can’t wait to try some winter sports and explore the area. And I am very happy for the opportunity to pursue my work at the Whitman School of Management. I know it is a good fit for me.”