Major gifts from The Bellwether Foundation and from Nancy Morrill Smith will create the Robert Brookings Smith Distinguished Professorship in Entrepreneurship for Washington University’s John M. Olin School of Business, it was announced by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Barton H. Hamilton, Ph.D., professor of economics, management and entrepreneurship in the John M. Olin School of Business, will be appointed as the first holder in a ceremony planned for later this year.
“Since joining the Olin School of Business in 1996 as an assistant professor, Bart Hamilton has made an indelible mark here by spearheading entrepreneurial programs,” Greenbaum noted. “An inspiring teacher and great researcher, he is well-deserving of this distinction as the first Robert Brookings Smith Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship.”
Although entrepreneurship is a major focus of Hamilton’s research and teaching, other areas of specialization include health care management, applied microeconomics, econometrics, and human resource management. In 1999, he received the Reid MBA Teaching Award. A prolific author, Hamilton has been published in a number of scholarly journals. In addition, he has served as a referee for virtually every academic journal in the field of economics.
His tenure at Washington University is characterized by a quick rise, first as an associate professor with tenure in 2000 and three years later as a full professor. He has also served as Olin’s academic director for the Executive MBA program in health services management and as director of the Hatchery, Olin’s entrepreneurship program. Prior to joining the Olin faculty, he was an assistant professor in economics at McGill University in Montreal.
Hamilton received an A.B. at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. at Stanford University. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, and the American Statistical Association.
The gift does more than provide a new distinguished professorship; it also gives the University’s campus-wide entrepreneurship initiative added momentum.
The University’s entrepreneurship programs have flourished in recent years, and are being further propelled by a $3 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, awarded in December 2003. The University’s goal is to make entrepreneurship education available across campus and transform the way entrepreneurship is viewed, taught and experienced.
“These visionary gifts from The Bellwether Foundation and Mrs. Smith are remarkable in their generosity to the John M. Olin School of Business, and, because of the Kauffman Foundation grant, the gifts will have a positive ripple effect on all the entrepreneurial activities and programs across the various schools,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “Robert Brookings Smith helped guide this University for many years, and his contributions as a trustee helped form the solid foundation that we are now building on as a first-class university. We are extremely grateful to The Bellwether Foundation and Mrs. Smith for these generous gifts and are honored that the name of Robert Brookings Smith will be associated with Washington University in perpetuity in such an important way.”
The combined gifts of $1.7 million from The Bellwether Foundation and Nancy Morrill Smith, along with funds from the University’s Sesquicentennial Professorship Challenge grant, will provide a strong academic foundation for the study and practice of entrepreneurship at Washington University.
“Interest in entrepreneurial programs continues to climb at the Olin School of Business and is spreading campus-wide,” explained Dean Stuart I. Greenbaum. “These wonderful gifts provide the Olin School with great opportunities for curricular expansion and research within our existing entrepreneurial and experiential learning programs.
“The late Robert Brookings Smith was an exceptionally talented man with tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and drive,” Greenbaum continued. “With these exciting gifts, his legacy will guide our students for generations to come.”
Smith was an entrepreneur as well as a philanthropist, community leader and banking executive throughout his long life. He died in 2002 at the age of 99.
Although he left St. Louis to matriculate at Princeton University and later to distinguish himself as a naval officer in the Pacific, Smith returned to St. Louis and built a successful career in investment banking at Mercantile Trust Co. where he became vice chairman of the board. It was after retiring from the banking business that Smith became actively involved in entrepreneurial enterprises, devising new concepts based on the latest information technology of the time. He created Cashex Inc., which pioneered electronic check authorization cards, and National Cache Card, which developed various uses for “smart cards” including the campus card and the Women’s medical card.
In addition to his career, Smith cared deeply for many local institutions. Many of his philanthropic efforts were directed toward St. Luke’s Hospital and the Missouri Botanical Garden, where he served as honorary trustee and board president. He also was involved in the Little Symphony Society, the Navy League Council of St. Louis and the Greater St. Louis Arts Council.
Smith had a long and abiding association with Washington University, having served on the board of trustees from 1963 to 1975. From 1966 to 1971 he served as vice chairman, and was active on the Board’s executive, nominating, investments and student affairs committees. In 1975 Smith was appointed an emeritus trustee. He also was a founding member of the School of Art’s National Council.
In recognition of his support of the University, Smith received the Robert S. Brookings Award in 2000. Robert S. Brookings — chairman of the board from 1895-1928 — was Smith’s great uncle. In addition, Brookings founded the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., for which Smith served as vice chairman of the board for several years.