Family businesses make critical contributions to the national economy and to family well-being. To determine what directions research on entrepreneurs, families in business and family businesses should take and to help enhance the viability of family businesses, the newly established Cornell University Family Business Research Institute is hosting a conference March 17 to 19 in New York City.

The Cornell Conference on the Entrepreneurial Family: Building Bridges sponsored by the Executive Compensation Group, Inc., Jefferies & Company, Inc., Coopers and Lybrand, L.L.P., and Genus Resources, Inc. is intended for academics in the areas of family studies, business management, family economics/management and community/rural development; cooperative extension educators; family-related professional practitioners, family business service providers; as well as family business owners and managers.

"The goal of our multidisciplinary perspective on family businesses is not only to determine how academic institutions can develop statistically viable research on families in business but also to explore new models for teaching and outreach with an emphasis on hightechnology communications," said Ramona K.Z. Heck, Ph.D., the conference co-chair, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell, as well as director of the Cornell University Family Business Research Institute, a major institute of the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center at Cornell.

The topics for the conference, which has 30 researchers and professionals scheduled to make presentations, include: the role of academics in strengthening the entrepreneurial family; portraits of the entrepreneurial family; latest research on family businesses, including perspectives in family studies, business management/succession planning, family economics/management; community/rural development; a panel of family business owners; applying new concepts and approaches to family businesses; and the use of high technology in service and information delivery to families in businesses.

EDITORS: You are invited to cover any or all of the presentations. Fees will be waived for media representatives, but registration is still required.

The keynote presentation, "University Outreach in the 21st Century: Cutting-Edge Delivery Systems," will be co-presented by James Votruba, the vice provost for university outreach and Gail Imig, director of extension and associate vice provost, both at Michigan State University.

Other speakers include executives from NetMarquee Online Services, California Family Studies Center, Nichols and Associates, and numerous faculty from colleges related to human ecology and agricultural sciences.

The Cornell University Family Business Research Institute is the first family business program to focus on the family side of the issues in the field and to take a leadership role for family business research. Its mission is to strengthen families and their businesses given their respective vital societal and economic roles.

For conference registration and logistical information, contact: Cornell Conference, The Professional Learning Forum, 615 Crestgate Place, Millersville, PA 17551, (717) 871-9599; fax

(717) 871-9343; e-mail <erogers468@aol.com>. Or, access the following World Wide Web page:

. For information related to the program content, contact Ramona K.Z. Heck, conference co-chair, (607) 255-2592; fax (607) 255-0799; e-mail <rkh2@cornell.edu>.