Arizona State University
THE NEW AMERICAN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY – PERVASIVE INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION
Changemaker Campus since Fall 2010
ASU has grown over the past decade to embody the vision of a New American University – a research institution that is committed to excellence, access and impact. One of the eight design aspirations used to guide this transformation is to “value entrepreneurship.” Aligning with ASU’s dedication to pursue research that contributes to the public good, ASU aspires to “harness knowledge for innovation and create purposeful ventures.” Through entrepreneurship and innovation, ASU seeks to assume major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.
As a Changemaker Campus, ASU has worked to infuse social entrepreneurship into the fabric of the university. It has seeded a vibrant, contagious entrepreneurial culture in over a dozen new mini-centers of entrepreneurship housed across the university. Faculty and students from more than one hundred majors are now using social entrepreneurship as a means to identify local and global needs, articulate how to meet them, and move forward with implementing entrepreneurial solutions. “President Crow’s vision is to reinvent higher education by supporting an environment for a pervasive culture of innovation to flourish,” Jacqueline Smith says. Jacqueline first joined the institution as an ASU University Innovation Fellow and is now Director for Social Embeddedness and change leader for ASU’s Changemaker Campus team.
Spotlight on Changemaker Central
To facilitate growth in institution-wide entrepreneurship, ASU has created Changemaker Central, a hub for faculty and student changemakers that will launch Fall 2011. “There was no central place for students, faculty and staff to get information and resources on social entrepreneurship programs and activities,” Jacqueline says. Changemaker Central is designed to become a hub for programs connecting social entrepreneurship with existing opportunities in community service, service learning, high-impact careers, and Americorps. The diverse base of support for Changemaker Central has created strong alliances with these established programs. Jacqueline explains, “Through Changemaker Central, existing courses that use service learning and other civic engagement practices will be connected with new changemaker activities, growing new programs that bring social entrepreneurship to higher level of impact.”
ASU on How to Leverage Work as a Changemaker Campus
“Build strategic alliances with other offices and individuals at your institution who are looking for creative ways to showcase institutional innovations. As soon as we found out we were selected as a Changemaker Campus, we got the ASU Foundation Office involved. Now they have leveraged ASU’s Changemaker Campus participation to raise funds for social entrepreneurship education, supporting the growth of our commitment to innovation, while spreading the word to our local communities.”
