Ashoka U seeks to recognize globally relevant teaching, learning, and partnership practices that may be adapted and replicated across the field.
The Café Cocano Fair-Trade coffee and St. Thomas University partnership is a mutually beneficial initiative that leverages university research and teaching, in a variety of disciplines, into long-term, Haitian-led, sustainable coffee development in Haiti’s poorest region. Unique to the project’s model is an interdisciplinary “scaffolding” of engaged scholarship opportunities, all focused on addressing specific needs […]
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dLab brings together students and faculty from 5 departments (Architecture, Design, Civil Engineering, Business and Advertising) to engage in a project-based curriculum (16 credit hours per semester) for one academic year. Together they unite around a social challenge, test and develop real solutions, and start creating deep social impact. The programme combines an applied innovation […]
The COGS toolkit supports the writing of assessable learning outcomes that explicitly supports the development of Changemaker attributes within 305 undergraduate programs that are comprised of 1512 distinct modules. These cover: 10613 students physically studying at Northampton campuses 1687 students studying at partner institutions in the UK 1059 students studying at partner institutions across the […]
Omprakash works at the intersection of technology, higher education, and international development to create mutually beneficial relationships between universities and grassroots social impact organizations around the world. Over 180 organizations in 40+ countries use their platform to recruit talent, raise funds, and connect with each other. Community-based social impact organizations around the world (‘Omprakash Partners’) […]
In 2014, Hampshire College designed a new admissions policy that centered on the evaluation of changemaker traits. As part of this innovation, the College banned the submission of standardized test scores completely. This decision was a radical departure from the traditional approach to college admissions. Grounded in results from an internal longitudinal research study, the […]
In Grinnell’s challenge model, community partners identify challenges unique to the partner’s work and agree to work with groups of students to identify short and long term systemic solutions to their challenge. It offers local organizations and students the opportunity to work together to address challenges faced by the larger Grinnell community. Students first apply […]
Best of “Community Partnerships” Common Good first is a digital platform which will identify, showcase and connect community-led social impact projects to each other and to higher education – for research, evaluation, learning and teaching, and student engagement. During her career researching HIV/AIDS, health development, and inequalities in health, Glasgow Caledonian University’s Vice Chancellor […]
Best of “Student Affairs” At Emory University, Creating Emory is a collaborative program initiated through Campus Life that introduces all new, undergraduate students to issues of integrity, diversity, inclusion, dialogue, and interpersonal violence prevention on campus through new student orientation. Creating Emory is a collaborative model where representatives from Orientation, Residence Life, College of […]
Best of “Student Pathways” The Post Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Management from the Amani Institute is a hybrid online and in-person experience that holistically equips aspiring changemakers with tools to make a sustained impact in the world. The Certificate program takes place over nine months in emerging markets or “hub cities” such as […]
Best of “Academic Learning” Global Social Benefit Fellowship is a comprehensive 9-month, field-based action research program at Santa Clara University that provides a transformative experience for undergraduate students and helpful research deliverables to social entrepreneurs in developing countries. The action research model of the Global Social Benefit Fellowship (GSBF) was developed by Miller Center […]
University of Illinois’ social innovation initiative that aspires to holistically develop students into critical leaders in social innovation through a rigorous two-year, three stage curricular and co-curricular pipeline for social venturing. In the first stage, a semester-long course, students gain understanding of entrepreneurial methods while working in diverse teams to create a venture plan that […]
Watson, located in Boulder, Colorado, provides a refreshed model of higher education that focuses specifically on teaching leadership skills necessary for the next generation of global leaders. The curriculum includes short master courses from the world’s foremost leaders, entrepreneurs, and thinkers (including a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, one of Time Magazine s 100 […]
Tulane City Center (TCC) is the community design center of Tulane School of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. TCC’s work is grounded in the belief that all citizens are impacted by the built environment and have the right to participate in the decisions that shape it. Each project at TCC begins as […]
Center for Transformative Action (CTA) at Cornell University provides a safe, supportive infrastructure for growth, learning and development of new and up-and-coming nonprofits. Here budding social entrepreneurs can to focus on testing innovative approaches to difficult social problems, establishing a viable financial model, and building organizational and programmatic capacity. While business advice and mentorship are valuable […]
The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI), housed within the Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University, is an innovative study abroad program that focuses on collaborative efforts and ethical, sustainable community driven change. The program aims to equip undergraduate students with critical perspectives, tools, and experiences to confront shared global challenges. The program combines rigorous […]
In 2009, ChangeTheWorld.org (CTW) nonprofit consulting program was created by the Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, in partnership with Grassroots.org. ChangeTheWorld.org aimes to strengthen the capacity and business acumen of nonprofits while empowering students to apply classroom concepts to positively impact society. With […]
The Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub (CCS iHub) aims to build the social entrepreneurship community in British Columbia, Canada and more broadly across Canada. Within this framing, CCS iHub is a one-year accelerator program for high potential social ventures to amplify their social impact at the Sauder School of Business at University of British Columbia. The CCS iHub offers […]
In 2009, the University of Oregon pioneered a radically simple effort called the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) based around a yearlong partnership between a university and a city. With this partnership, existing courses spread across a university then are directed towards that city’s self identified ‘real-world’ sustainability and livability projects and plans. The scale of annual engagement […]
Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) is an interdisciplinary development lab for scaling innovations in global health. Working in partnership with USAID, SEAD mobilizes a community of faculty, staff, and students from across Duke—in collaboration with practitioners, investors, and policymakers—to identify, assess, build capacity, develop resources, and scale the impact of innovative solutions, technologies, and business models for […]
The Social Innovation and Sustainability Residential Academic Program (SSI RAP) at the University of Colorado Boulder was established in 2010 to provide an engaging academic and social environment for freshmen students living in the residential hall who want to solve complex problems that confront us. Students in the “SSI RAP” take two cornerstone courses in […]
Swearer Sparks is a website that provides a space for Brown University’s social innovation community to connect with one another and share ideas, experiences, and beliefs through the power of digital storytelling. As a user of Swearer Sparks, one can access 200+ stories created by Brown storytellers and changemakers; 85+ profiles of students and alumni exploring social […]
2016 Cordes Hall of Fame Inductee
The Center for Design Practice (CDP) was established at MICA by Mike Weikert in 2007 to demonstrate a new approach to social design education based upon a philosophy of praxis – combining action and reflection. CDP is now a multi-disciplinary, social innovation studio dedicated to preparing the next generation of creative changemakers. CDP brings MICA […]
CityStudio Vancouver is an energetic hub of learning and leadership inside City Hall where students gain hands-on experience with complex real world problems, while co-creating solutions on the ground with City staff. CityStudio takes students out of the university environment to design and construct on-the-ground projects in order to solve the city’s problems. Employing an […]
Emzingo has created an applied learning model through its NexGen Fellowship program, by combining innovative leadership training with social impact consulting projects in emerging markets. Participants, who are graduate students from top business schools in the US and Europe, travel to South Africa or Peru to work on these consulting projects while developing themselves through […]
Middlebury’s MiddCORE is a mentor-driven, experiential learning program designed to build skills, create opportunities, and expand networks for tomorrow’s leaders and innovators. One person with an idea, even with a great idea, changes nothing. Visionaries succeed with leadership skills, communications skills, and entrepreneurial insights. Building those skills and insights is the CORE of MiddCORE. Skills […]
Instead of replacing career centers, the More Than Money Careers online modules make career centers as effective with impact-driven students as they are with students interested in more traditional career paths. The modules engage students in going from intention to action as they take steps to get clear, get connected, and get hired for jobs that maximize impact and income.
Global Citizen Year provides a world-class “bridge year” experience to high school graduates from diverse backgrounds who exhibit exceptional leadership potential.
Design for America (DFA) is an award-winning nationwide network of interdisciplinary student teams and community members using design to create local and social impact. We teach human centered design to young adults and collaborating community partners through extra-curricular, university based, student led design studios tackling national challenges in Education, Health, Economy and Environment.
The Frontier Market Scouts (FMS) fellowship program turns compassionate and capable young professionals into talent scouts and investment managers serving local entrepreneurs and social-minded investors in low-income and capital-weak regions of the world.
Changemaker Central is a student-led university-based initiative with co-working spaces at all four Arizona State University (ASU) campuses. Changemaker Central supports students in community service, entrepreneurship, service learning, and high impact careers.
Lend for America introduces students to microfinance and equips them with the skills, know-how, and confidence necessary to help underserved Americans start businesses and improve their economic wellbeing.
The Microfinance Simulcast is an innovative online course which has expanded to more than 75 universities over the past four years that teaches graduate students how to use microfinance to profitably get people out of poverty.
The ALTIS Joint Venture is a social entrepreneurship MBA program that provides students from more than a dozen countries in Africa with the opportunity to use their management discipline knowledge to create a robust business plan that they present to partners and investors in Nairobi, Kenya for potential launch.
ThinkImpact immerses American students in rural South Africa where they develop authentic relationships with local community members and engage in qualitative research and exploration, driving experiential learning through empathy, curiosity, and open-mindedness and uncovering the potential of social entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Urban Innovation Challenge provides Tulane University’s resources to fellows who have ideas to solve social challenges relating to urban revitalization, public education, healthcare, and economic development that are problems relevant not only in New Orleans, but all urban areas.
The Enterprising Leadership Initiative, or ELI, guides students through the Social Entrepreneurship in Action course to develop the social entrepreneurship skills needed to become change agents and lead social ventures that benefit Duke and Durham communities.
The University Innovation Fellowship recruits career policy-makers, analysts, researchers, writers, and leaders to create a cultural revolution both on campus and in the city of Phoenix by looking at ways to drive positive economic and social change.
The Social Entrepreneurs Action Learning Program engages recent Babson alumni who are emerging social entrepreneurs to “pay it forward” to the next cohort of Babson’s Lewis Institute for Social Innovation and highlight areas to improve the curricular and co-curricular activities based on their experience of having a successful entrepreneur career launches.
The Global Consulting Practicum in Social Entrepreneurship is a course for Duke MBA students to receive coaching from faculty and staff who manage relationships with client organizations that students actively engage with as part of their academic program.
The Students for Social Entrepreneurship on-campus internship program provides teams of students with the opportunity to apprentice under leaders in social entrepreneurship to develop key entrepreneurial skills through collaboration and experiential, team-learning projects.
The Transformative Action Institute (TAI) curriculum provides the frameworks necessary to instill the qualities of resilience, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence that are crucial for students to become successful social entrepreneurs.
Edun Live on Campus is a socially conscious clothing company founded and run by Miami University students that provides employment opportunities in Sub-Saharan African countries by sourcing T-shirts that are 100% made in Africa.
The MicroConsignment Model at the University of Miami is an emerging social entrepreneurship model that aims to not only advance social change by aligning the resources of the university with local entrepreneurs and practitioners but also to elevate the quality of the academic field of social entrepreneurship.