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Having bounced from business journalism to educator to dean of graduate studies for Baltimore's College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Carolyn Karlson thinks she has finally found her home helping aspiring entrepreneurs at the University of Maryland, College Park.

"I feel like I've landed where I'm supposed to be," said Karlson, 47, of Baltimore. "I love working with students. I love taking someone's idea and helping it take form, building it in such a way that it becomes real."

Karlson is the new director of the Hillman Entrepreneurs program, the College Park university's program for fostering entrepreneurship in Prince George's Community College students who complete their bachelor's degrees at the University of Maryland. The program, which was established in 2006 through a $1.7 million gift from David and Suzanne Hillman, is operated through the university's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute.

Karlson said that in taking the position, she has inherited many exceptional stories from former director Karen Thornton, who had been with the program since it began.

"I think I can meet them where they are. I've worked with students at every stage of business," Karlson said. "I'm not discouraged by someone who doesn't know what they want to do but just knows they want to start a business."

Karlson has been a writing instructor, a journalism instructor and a development director, an associate professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business in Indiana, an online instructor for University of Maryland University College and an executive and dean for the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. That variety of experience is what made her a good fit for the position, said James Green, associate director for entrepreneurship education and senior lecturer for Mtech.

"With this position, we were looking for someone who we felt could connect and relate to the students, especially nontraditional students," Green said. "She's someone who's really a star in the academic area of developing entrepreneur resources. It's rare to find someone with that experience."

Karlson was initially set on a journalism career. She entered the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York in hopes of following a friend, who ended up attending another school. At Columbia, Karlson said, she became fascinated with what factors drove the economy, particularly the real estate market collapse in the 1980s, and also became especially interested in new and small businesses.

"They'd be closest to the source. Their mind was in the game all the time," she said.

Karlson reported for the Boston Business Journal and CFO Magazine and later became editor of The Portsmouth (N.H.) Press, but the money wasn't enough to sustain her, and she soon took up nights of instructional teaching at the University of New Hampshire.

"I liked my night job better than my day job," she said, adding that her father and uncle were both teachers.

Still interested in business, Karlson joined the University of Notre Dame in Indiana to work with its entrepreneurship courses, which she viewed as the ideal blend of her interests. Since few such programs existed at the time, Karlson often had to create her own textbook materials for her students.

After her marriage in 2005, Karlson came to Maryland and soon joined the executive branch at the University of Notre Dame of Maryland. She said her experiences as a dean better shaped her understanding of regulations, budgeting and enrollment management within university programs, preparing her for her Mtech job.

Karlson said she hopes to formalize Hillman's programs and encourage more internships so students can experience a business workplace while they work toward launching their own venture. She also wants to bring in inspirational speakers and success stories in the spring, piggybacking off a program she started at Notre Dame to bring back alumni 10 years after their graduation to share their progress.

"We look for character and personality that goes beyond the classroom," Thornton, now director of development for the A. James Clark School of Engineering, said of Karlson. "There's a level of passion that has to come with a position like this."

When Karlson isn't nurturing the business-minded, she's spending time with her husband and 13-year-old son. She also heads out to Elkton every Thursday to visit her racehorse, Ava Ravina, who represents the fulfillment of a childhood dream. The horse isn't racing yet, but Karlson has hopes for next year.