Joel Adams Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Huntley 304
540-458-8627
jadams2@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Professor Adams joined Washington and Lee University from Indiana University in 2024. He currently teaches a course on the role of ethics in business and society, and he has taught entrepreneurship across five institutions of higher education for more than a decade. He is interested in entrepreneurship as a liberal art—as a practice through which individuals can explore the world and find a meaningful place in it through the pursuit of their visions. Throughout his careers, Joel has been fascinated by the tensions between the visionary freedom of individuals and the constraints necessarily imposed by society and its institutions, and by the emancipatory potential of creative action.

Joel’s research explores questions of purpose, values, vision, intuition, and commitment through the lens of entrepreneurial action. He is a former entrepreneur, policymaker, and media consultant who co-founded or served in senior executive roles for several early-stage ventures and campaigns, leading strategy, marketing, and fundraising efforts. Professor Adams holds a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship, an MBA in entrepreneurship, a M.A. in humanities and civic leadership (with concentrations in philosophy and linguistics), and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Louisville.