As a New American University, Arizona State University is guided by eight design aspirations that influence its growth and transformation. Among these guiding principles is a deep commitment to valuing social entrepreneurship.

At ASU entrepreneurship is not confined to a single college or school, nor is it housed in one center or institute. Valuing entrepreneurship means that it is more than just a class or a program; it is a mindset that is woven into the fabric of the university, permeating every activity.

ASU students, faculty and staff in every discipline and at every level work to identify local and global needs, articulate how to meet them and implement entrepreneurial solutions.

ASU Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
$650B Opportunity: Connecting Students with Transformative Power Of University Endowments
Thriving in a Diverse Environment: A Self-Awareness Journey
Local to Global Impact: Project-Based Learning Connecting Students to Industry

2020 Exchange:
Creating Leaders for Sustainable Systems through University-Community Partnerships

2018 Exchange:
Big Idea Talk: What’s Your (major) Mission?

2016 Exchange:
University Innovation Fellowship

2013 Exchange:
Changemaker Central

2012 TEDxAshokaU:
The New U: New Solutions, New Futures

2011 TEDxAshokaU:
Igniting Passions and Leaving a Trail
TEDxAshokaU talk featuring Jaqueline Smith

AWARDS:
– 2013 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Changemaker Central
– 2012 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: University Innovation Fellowship

College of the Atlantic (www.coa.edu) sits by the ocean on Mount Desert Island, Maine, with students and faculty numbering less than four hundred. Disciplinary silos are foreign, since all students learn the College’s interdisciplinary approach to experiencing and solving complex problems through its one major, human ecology. COA’s intimate community also beholds a monumental accomplishment: the first carbon neutral college in the world. As a founding member of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, COA helped spark a global movement for sustainability in higher education. And through programs like the Sustainable Enterprise Hatchery, students can experience the high wire of social entrepreneurship with a net: an incubator that gives students access to funding, office space, and support for up to 9 months after graduation (http://coa.edu/sustainable-business.htm).

COA Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
Equipping Future Changemakers
Pursuit of a Virtuous Cycle for Social Impact:  Aligning campus-wide strategy, rankings, accreditation, & recognition

At CQUniversity, social innovation is at the core of our strategic vision and for many years has been entrenched in our core values. CQUniversity strives to empower its staff and students to make a different, create an impact and influence the world in which we live, for the betterment of society.

CQUniversity does not expect every student to become a social entrepreneur, instead our goal is to equip them with skills and knowledge, so that they can realise their potential when it comes to creating change – no matter how big or small this may be.

CQUniversity does this through the design of its programs, the delivery of learning and teaching (including online program delivery), work integrated learning opportunities, global study tours, and engagement with industry and community and government – all of which inform our approach to teaching and research.

For any further information about social innovation at CQUniversity all general correspondence should be directed to [email protected]

CQUniversity Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
A Generation of Changemakers – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Leading & Sustaining Changemaking in Times of Disruption

2020 Exchange:
Can Higher Ed Curb Toxic Polarization A Look at Changemaking & Bridge Building
Social innovation as a Transformative & Transdisciplinary Process

Fordham University is New York City’s Jesuit University, with about 15,000 students in 10 schools. The University is known for combining intellectual challenge and individual attention with the dynamic resources of one of the world’s greatest cities. There are three campuses- the beautiful Gothic style Rose Hill campus, Lincoln Center in the cultural heart of Manhattan, and the park-like setting of the Westchester Campus near White Plains, N.Y. Fordham students benefit from close contact with distinguished faculty who teach at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels. The Jesuit tradition is characterized by excellence in teaching, care and development of each student, and commitment to the promotion of an ethical society . These tenets inform every aspect of a Fordham education. Social innovation and a commitment to social causes is woven throughout all 10 schools through curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular activities.

Fordham University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Spes Nova: Academic Partnerships for Sustainable & Inclusive Worldwide Development

2020 Exchange:
Models for Paid Student Internships
Social Impact Trends & Communicating Them to Those Who Matter

Georgian accelerates student learning, careers and success. We’re home to 11,000 full-time students – including 1,500 international students from over 60 countries. More than 125 career-focused programs are taught by faculty with industry expertise across seven locations in Central Ontario: Barrie, Midland, Muskoka (Bracebridge), Orangeville, Orillia, Owen Sound and South Georgian Bay (Collingwood).

Students study part-time, full-time, online or in combination – choosing from degrees, combined degree-diplomas, graduate certificates, diplomas and certificates. We deliver numerous apprenticeship and technical trade options, providing employers with highly skilled graduates to grow and sustain their operations.

Georgian is proud to be Ontario’s #1 co-op college. Sixty-two hundred employers partner with us – and we’re the only college in Ontario with 12 programs accredited by the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education. Almost 80 per cent of students are in programs with formal work-integrated learning such as a local or international co-op, internship, placement or field experience.

Georgian is a trailblazer in entrepreneurship and social innovation education. Entrepreneurial outcomes are embedded in every program and across everything we do. Students graduate with the skills and mindsets to be innovative thinkers and changemakers – leaders who can turn ideas into businesses, innovations into careers, and challenges into opportunities.

Georgian College Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Using mapping & the SDGs to invigorate regional social impact
Changemaking vs. Digital Transformation
Students, Rural Communities & Social Enterprise: An intersection of impact

2020 Exchange:
Digital Storytelling for the Common Good
Modelling Flourishing Enterprises

Founded in 1939, Hanyang University in South Korea is guided by the institutional mission of “Love in Action”. Hanyang leads with a strong focus on impactful innovation. To equip future changemakers with social, technological, and business skills, Hanyang offers educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels including BA in social innovation, MA/PhD in global social economy, Youth Changemakers Program, Asia Pacific Youth Exchange Korea, and Impact Consulting Camp in Vietnam, to name a few. In addition, Hanyang provides a platform where relevant research, teaching, community engagement, networking and partnership can be done in collaboration with diverse stakeholders. Hanyang is located close to ‘Sungsu Valley’, a symbol of social innovation in South Korea, where over 1,500 young social entrepreneurs are working together for the society. In the years to come, Hanyang aspires to support the ideas and actions coming out from the Valley and further cultivate the region as a hub of social innovation. 

Hanyang University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Empathy Education: Theory & Practice

HEC Montréal is deeply rooted in its community and open to the world. It was founded in 1907 and is known as Canada’s first business school. It holds the three most prestigious international accreditations in its field, confirming the excellence of the training and support it offers: AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (EFMD) and AMBA (Association of MBAs).  

The School offers a variety of education and training programs to future managers who contribute to the society’s growth and prosperity and is committed to sustainable development and social change through its programs, plans, structures and operations. 

At the crossroads of two continents and countless cultures, HEC Montréal enjoys a privileged position within the French-speaking world and around the globe. The School leverages this multicultural context to extend its collaboration and influence around the world and gives its students a learning experience attuned to the globalized business community.  

Drawing on a remarkable roster of world-class professors and researchers specializing in every field of management, HEC Montréal offers all programs from a Bachelor’s in Business Administration (BBA) to a PhD degree, including MBA and Executive MBA programs, as well as many M.Sc. programs. 

HEC Montréal Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
What the World Needs is Love Changemaking Across Differences in Divisive Times

Whether through classes, co-curricular activities, internships, or special events, Miami Dade College takes a broad approach at engaging educators and staff in the spirit of changemaking. Miami Dade College encourages and celebrates all sorts of positive change, whether big or small, and offers different ways to get involved in changemaking. MDC’s strategy for changemaker education aims to be accessible and inclusive with a clear call to action. This call to action is strengthened as a shared sense of responsibility is built – beginning with empathy, reflection, and closing the gap between students and staff. 

Miami Dade College Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange
Storytelling to Inspire Community Changemakers

PUBLICATIONS:
The Collective Work of Building Individual Agency

Mount Royal University’s campus-wide culture of changemaking inspires and empowers us to create meaningful change in partnership with communities.

Since 1910, Mount Royal has built a reputation on a strong, liberal education foundation with an undergraduate focus. More than a century later, it remains responsive to the needs of the community through its enduring commitment to its legacy. Mount Royal is a community of engaged citizens, providing personalized, experiential and outcome-based learning in an environment of inclusion, diversity and respect. Through its focus on teaching and learning informed by scholarship, Mount Royal is preparing its graduates for success in their careers and lives.

Mount Royal University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Creativity & Friendship: The Undergraduate /Immigrant Seniors Life Writing Project

2020 Exchange:
Creating the conditions for Indigenous/rural communities to thrive in HEI
It’s in Our Strat Plan! Embedding Social Purpose Institutionally
Mapping a System: Deepening students’ understanding of a challenge

2017 Exchange:
Keynote: Educating Changemakers & Cultivating Engaged Citizens

Northeastern University’s social innovation ecosystem is built on six pillars that define our identity and culture: experiential education, curricular innovation, research and scholarship, interdisciplinary culture, global and community engagement, and student leadership development.  These pillars are buttressed by robust curricular and co-curricular offerings. Most notably these values are deeply embedded in our new core curriculum (“NU Core”). NU Core is designed to develop in our students the broad knowledge, intellectual creativity, and multi-faceted skills that prepare them to be engaged global citizens and leaders, successful professionals, and lifelong learners. The intellectual strengths and balanced perspectives that students acquire enable them to engage with the world, translate and apply knowledge, solve problems, lead change, and enjoy rewarding and fulfilling lives.

Northeastern University’s Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Let’s Design a “Changemaking for Lawyers” Syllabus!
$650B Opportunity: Connecting Students with Transformative Power Of University Endowments
COVID-19 Rapid Response: Deploying Student Changemakers

2020 Exchange:
Digital Storytelling for the Common Good

2018 Exchange:
Big Idea Talk: Teaching Ways of Thinking and Being Before Ways of Doing

Portland State University is Oregon’s most diverse public university, serving 28,000 students in the heart of one of America’s most dynamic cities. Our mission to “let knowledge serve the city” reflects our dedication to turning ideas into action — in Portland and around the world. This is demonstrated in PSU’s ranking as one of America’s most innovative universities for several years running, along with top rankings in sustainability, social impact, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Our 50-acre campus serves as a vibrant living laboratory for innovation and community-based learning. A university-wide capstone program ensures that all students work with the broader community to tackle civic, social, and environmental challenges. The Impact Entrepreneurs initiative enables students to create their own ventures and to actively work with social entrepreneurs in our community. The Nonprofit Institute supports leaders to engage in culturally responsive and sustainable organizational change efforts. The Center for Public Interest Design delivers community-focused architecture projects worldwide. A new Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative brings together multidisciplinary faculty and staff to generate lasting impact for our city, and others.

The next generation of solutions to seemingly intractable challenges requires unprecedented collaboration across disciplines and between scholars and practitioners, and this is where we shine.

Portland State University’s Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Three big ideas for the future of student preparedness

2020 Exchange:
Can Higher Ed Curb Toxic Polarization A Look at Changemaking & Bridge Building
Changemaker Campus Pathways to Social Impact Careers 
Experiences Evaluating Changemaker Education
What the World Needs is Love Changemaking Across Differences in Divisive Times

2019 Exchange:
Big Idea Talk: Fusion Leadership: Driving Cross-Sectoral Social Change from Ancient Wisdom

Rollins College provides a personalized, hands-on education that inspires students to tackle the big challenges facing our global community. Driven by pillars of excellence, innovation and community – and nimble enough to be effective, Rollins is institutionally committed to the pursuit of creative possibilities and students are limited only by the boundaries of their own ideas. Here liberal arts and business education coalesce to approach the world through a lens of critical liberal competencies with key pragmatic tools. Rollins carries an esteemed tradition for experiential learning with nationally renowned community-based curriculum, research and engagement. Over 70 percent of faculty members have community engagement linked to their pedagogy. At the nexus of innovative academic work, strong philanthropic ties and an entrepreneurial ecosystem, social innovation has become a campus-wide priority for Rollins.

Rollins College Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
What Students with Nonspeaking Autism Desperately Want to Tell You
Social Impact Careers: Turning Passions into Real-World Applications
Adaptive & Ethical Engagement: Best Practices in Design Pedagogy

2020 Exchange:
Changemaker Campus Pathways to Social Impact Careers
Interfaith Engagement & Changemaking in Higher Education
Meet the Editors

At Royal Roads University, changemaking is part of our DNA. We pioneered the blended learning model in Canada and designed something completely different on the post-secondary landscape when the university was established in 1995. We created a unique learning experience through digital delivery that allows students to stay connected to their communities and combined it with an unparalleled natural and historic environment for research and study in Victoria, B.C. Our progressive model of education delivers applied and professional graduate and undergraduate degree programs, Canada’s first applied research doctorate, and exceptional certificate and diploma programs. At Royal Roads, full-time students, working professionals and lifelong learners find opportunities and skills to create positive change in their lives and work, in their communities and on the global stage.

Changemaking and social innovation at Royal Roads begin from our holistic, student-centered approach to flexible admissions and it is inscribed in our university-wide learning and teaching model. We place interdisciplinary discovery at the heart of all our programs, understanding that the complex problems of our time require multiple lenses versus single-solution approaches, and our applied research responds to global, national and community-based problems. Changemaking extends through our culture of mentorship and collaboration to create opportunities for students not only to learn, but contribute with purpose and impact.

Royal Roads University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
Meet the Editors
Social Impact Trends & Communicating Them to Those Who Matter

Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit educational institution, without political or religious affiliations. The institution has an action model for social entrepreneurship where we strengthen ethical and citizenship competencies through curricular and co-curricular programs, such as: community social service and student association activities, in order for our students to: Learn to reflect, analyze and evaluate ethical dilemmas related to himself/herself, his/her professional practice and context, respect people and environment, get to know and be aware of the social, economic, political and ecological reality and perform with solidarity and responsible citizenship regarding the disadvantaged communities. We motivate our students to perform in favor of an inclusive society.

We educate leaders to have the passion and the spirit to transform the world and create their own future.

Tecnológico de Monterrey Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Changemaker day: a journey of self-transformation & community inspiration

2020 Exchange:
Learning Community: Impact Investing

2012 TEDxAshokaU:
How the Complexity of the Orchestra Can Help Us Unify Education

Tulane University is a private, non-profit research institution located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane is woven into the fabric of New Orleans, serving as the second medical school in the South at its founding in 1834 and later becoming a resource for addressing the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, Tulane established the Center for Public Service, becoming a leader among US-based higher learning institutions to require service-learning for undergraduate students. Tulane University was selected as a Changemaker Campus in 2009. Since 2014, the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking has built upon Tulane University’s strengths in civic engagement and service-learning to cultivate and connect changemakers. Through Taylor, Tulane remains on the cutting edge of social innovation education, providing university-wide initiatives that are globally aware, community oriented, and interdisciplinary. Taylor’s work is grounded in the teaching, research, and practices of design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation. We serve Tulane undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff, as well as New Orleans residents, community partners, and our larger global community in moving towards positive social and environmental change.

Tulane University Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
Crisis and Adaptation for the Public Good – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS: 
2021 Exchange:
Who is Higher Education For?
Becoming a Changemaker Educator
Critical, Place-based Community Engaged Learning: Constraints & Possibilities

2020 Exchange:
Community-Based Action Research as a Change Strategy: Considering Equity, Power & Impact
How Athletics Can Advance Changemaking
Supporting 1st Generation College Students
Teaching Social Innovation: Context Matters & Opportunity Knocks

2016 Exchange:
Tulane City Center

AWARDS:
– 2016 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Tulane City Center
– 2011 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Tulane Urban Innovation Challenge

Universidad de Monterrey, founded in 1969, is a world-class institution of catholic inspiration open to students and faculty of all creeds and backgrounds. What is unique about UDEM is the Personal Formation Plan (PFP) from which each student is individually guided and oriented in their educational choices and aspirations. Universidad de Monterrey social commitment promotes academic excellence in an inter-cultural environment and contributes to knowledge and the building of a sustainable society, offers a well-rounded and personalized education so that each student may fulfill his life goals and interests and find meaning in the service of others. Universidad de Monterrey is truly commited to educating students as excellent professionals and excellent people and become the next generation of change agents leaders and follow their passion by serving their communities with a measurable and sustainable social impact.

Universidad de Monterrey Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Long term coaching of changemakers: the key to breed innovators
Fostering Student “Owner”ship in Changemaker Development

2020 Exchange:
Equipping Future Changemakers

UPAEP is a private Catholic University located in Puebla, Mexico. We have more than 13,000 students in our high school, undergraduate and graduate levels. We ensure social commitment and entrepreneurial formation of social leaders with: Our unique Comprehensive Humanistic Development program, an innovative way to carry out Social Service in which students will be able to launch social ventures searching for the Common Good. Our Entrepreneurial program offers an exit path for social leaders and it is integrated with our incubator. We promote positive actions to improve social conditions in our neighborhood. UPAEP is a Changemaker Campus because we understand and criticize the status quo, propose innovative solutions, create social mobility and hopes for many; because UPAEP creates currents of thought and forms leaders that transform society.

UPAEP Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Compromiso social en tiempos de COVID / Community engagement during COVID
Bringing the Social Impact Toolkit to Interdisciplinary Courses

2020 Exchange:
Creating the conditions for Indigenous/rural communities to thrive in HEI

At the University of California, San Diego, we push boundaries and challenge expectations. Serving 37,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, we are recognized as one of the top 15 research universities in the world and the top public university in the nation for positive impact (Washington Monthly, 2018). We drive innovation and change to advance society, propel economic growth, and make our world a better place: we are changemakers; we make changemakers.

We are student-centered, research-focused, and service-oriented. We believe in: interdisciplinary collaboration that leads to discoveries that advance and enrich society; diversity, equity, and inclusion; a bold entrepreneurial spirit; and striving for excellence in all our endeavors. As changemakers, we have a rich history of groundbreaking programs. We advance our changemaking culture and amplify the impact of individual programs through a network of campus changemaker champions. This network stewards, supports, grows, and coordinates changemaking efforts across our undergraduate colleges, academic divisions, and graduate and professional schools. This model leverages expertise and experience, enhances cross-campus collaboration and partnerships, strengthens existing initiatives and catalyze innovation, and continues to develop our robust campus ecosystem for changemaking.

UCSD Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS: 
2021 Exchange:
Adaptive & Ethical Engagement: Best Practices in Design Pedagogy

2020 Exchange:
Ethics & Changemaking: Aligning Technology with the Greater Good
Want to talk? Methods to prepare students for connective conversations in divisive times

At the University of Evansville (UE), approximately 2,443 students from 57 countries and 45 states experience a distinctive curriculum built on great ideas, timeless themes, significant questions and multiple perspectives. UE recognizes today’s complex challenges do not come in neat disciplinary packages and cannot be solved in isolation. Collaboration and innovation are essential, and UE provides ample opportunity for students to develop these skills. Curricular and co-curricular programs are designed to introduce students at all levels to social challenges and to provide the support for them to innovate and create solutions in interdisciplinary teams. UE works in strong partnership with the Evansville community to address local problems and encourages changemaking globally at our study abroad program Harlaxton College in the U.K. and through partnerships around the world.

The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) embraces changemaking as a lens to address contemporary challenges and shape a more equitable future for our students, employees, and communities. Through creative problem-solving and a dedication to understanding the human impacts of issues, UFV strives towards a future of engaged, empowered citizens. 

How do we do that? With four guiding principles: empowerment, decolonization and Indigenization, sustainability, and reciprocity. By approaching every challenge with these four values, we aim to improve the lives of the people around us. 

Changemaking brings together all types of people — from across UFV to the communities we serve — to engage with the challenges and opportunities that impact us the most. Together, we can all be part of the solution.

University of the Fraser Valley Thought Leadership

LESSONS IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE LENS OF THE PAIR TOOLKIT

• Dr. Martha Dow, Director, Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub, Associate
• Professor, School of Culture, Media, and Society, University of the Fraser Valley
• Susan Mide Kiss, Vice-President, Community Engagement, University of the Fraser Valley

Presentation at the 2024 Changemaker Education Research Forum (CERF)

The University of San Diego creates an ecosystem to foster compassion and to provide knowledge and capabilities for building a humane world. USD’s public purpose and collaborative approach are articulated through immersion experiences all over the world and community service learning engaging 1038 students, 82 faculty members, and staff yearly. USD pursues novel multidisciplinary approaches to developing empathy, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

In 2011, USD launched the Changemaker HUB, a campus-wide manifestation of USD’s mission and values, with the purpose of empowering and enabling everyone to be a changemaker. A main focus of the HUB is developing diverse opportunities – from festivals to fellowships to competitions – for the USD community to learn about themselves, to be inspired and to practice changemaking. At USD, we believe that everyone can practice changemaking. We encourage our community to commit themselves to be in the service of addressing social issues that matter to you and exploring new ideas that will have a positive social impact.

USD Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
1+1=29: Scaling a Global Competition through the Power of Partnership
Let’s Design a “Changemaking for Lawyers” Syllabus!
Compromiso social en tiempos de COVID / Community engagement during COVID
Three stories of Innovation: The Survivor, The Hustler, The Engineer

2020 Exchange:
Ethics & Changemaking: Aligning Technology with the Greater Good
Want to talk? Methods to prepare students for connective conversations in divisive times

2013 Exchange:

Closing Ceremony

“Active Minds Changing Lives” is an essential element to understanding Western Washington University’s campus and community. It is a definition, an explanation, a motivator and our vision for the future. We are changemakers now, and we strive to be better.

Western provides its community with an abundance of opportunities to actively engage in meaningful, experiential learning in and out of the classroom. This has led to campus and community engagement, which is especially evident in our strong connection with non-profits that are committed to social change.

We have more than 260 active student clubs, most oriented around social activism and long-term change. We have self-organized faculty groups who continually reaffirm our campus commitment to providing meaningful education for students.

Western Washington University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS: 
2021 Exchange:
Leading & Sustaining Changemaking in Times of Disruption

2020 Exchange:
Pursuit of a Virtuous Cycle for Social Impact:  Aligning campus-wide strategy, rankings, accreditation, & recognition

Laurier students aren’t content with simply earning a university degree. To them, education is a springboard to something greater: it’s the key to shaping a life, building a community and making a difference. For more than a century, Laurier has been known for academic excellence. But we’ve also been dedicated to the philosophy that our students’ success is measured through more than grades – it’s based on the quality of the lives they lead, and those they inspire.

Putting knowledge to work in the world is a hallmark of the Laurier experience. Integrated and engaged learning opportunities such as co-op work terms and community service are designed to help students relate what they learn in the classroom to what they experience outside of it, then coming full circle by bringing their real-world experiences back to the classroom. Our innovative programs in arts and social sciences, business and economics, music, science, social work and education cover a broad spectrum. At their heart, though, they reflect a common purpose: Laurier’s determination to address global social, health and environmental problems and advance creative pursuits.

Laurier’s two campuses are in Waterloo and Brantford, but we also have a Faculty of Social Work in nearby Kitchener and a weekend MBA program in Toronto. In all, we have 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Kitchener-Waterloo, with a population of about 350,000, is small enough to be safe and easy to navigate but large enough to offer great art, music, restaurants and other big-city amenities. Our campus in Brantford is fully embedded in the student-friendly downtown core and a stone’s throw from the Grand River and many outdoor activities. Both campuses are only about an hour from Toronto, Canada’s biggest city.

Wilfrid Laurier Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Who is Higher Education For?

2020 Exchange:
Bridging the gap between the Campus, City, & Community

Babson College educates entrepreneurial leaders who create great economic and social value simultaneously. Through our Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® methodology, we empower our students and community to use entrepreneurship as a force for challenging the status quo and becoming active changemakers. We help stakeholders understand who they need to be, and what they need to do, to make their desired change in the world. Through The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation, we inspire action around any activity that advances one or more of the UN Global Goals.

Babson Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2018 Exchange:
Big Idea Talk: Leveraging the Internet of Things (IOT) for Good: Co-designing with inter-disciplinary & cross-sector teams

AWARDS:
– 2011 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: SE Action Learning Project

Brigham Young University, located in Provo, Utah, United States, seeks to develop students of faith, intellect, and character who have the skills and the desire to continue learning and to serve others throughout their lives. Established in 1875, the university provides an outstanding education in an atmosphere consistent with the ideals and principles of its sponsor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU is known for its beautiful mountain location, its internationally experienced student body, its extensive language programs, its entrepreneurially minded students, and its motto, ‘Enter to Learn. Go Forth to Serve.’ BYU is a private, nonprofit university with a Carnegie classification of ‘Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity.’ It is home to 30,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students. In 2003, the Melvin J. Ballard Center for Economic Self-Reliance was created to provide a home and catalyst for enhancing existing and new academic efforts in social innovation throughout campus. The Ballard Center focuses on helping students learn to solve social problems—a goal from the university’s mission statement. In the 2017-2018 academic year, over 2,200 students participated in deeper social innovation classes, internships, and competitions, while another 4,500 students participated in one-day events.
 

BYU Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
Models for Paid Student Internships

AWARDS:
– 2011 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Students for Social Entrepreneurship

Brown’s open curriculum attracts students with the initiative and skill to craft their own vision of an undergraduate education, at an institution where social responsibility is central to the culture. So what results from this mix? Students whose ambition is not for their own advancement, but rather to make a difference in the world. The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service offers the Social Innovation Fellowship for student entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to get the training, funding, and networking support they need to lead social ventures. Social Entrepreneurs and Practitioners in Residence at the Swearer Center–and our burgeoning partnership with the Providence based Social Enterprise Greenhouse — connect students with community-based changemakers and promote a culture of collaborative learning and community impact.

Twice each academic year, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative brings to Brown’s campus a cohort of innovators in their 20’s, who are focused on social entrepreneurship and economic development, adding to the rich mix of international perspectives and issues addressed. For Brown students seeking to explore, expand, or launch ventures, the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship provides grants, as well as a summer accelerator program.

Brown University Thought Leadership
 

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Rising to the Moment: Mobilizing Student Power for Immigrant Justice

2020 Exchange:
Pursuit of a Virtuous Cycle for Social Impact: Aligning campus-wide strategy, rankings, accreditation, & recognition

2015 Exchange:
Swearer Sparks

2014 Exchange:
Setting the Stage for the New Scholar
The University & Community: Creating and Nurturing a Collaborative Ecosystem
Re-centering Higher Education for Tomorrow’s Talent
2014 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardees

AWARDS:
– 2015 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Swearer Sparks (SEAD)
– 2014 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Social Innovation Fellowship and Leading Social Ventures course

CESA was founded in 1975 as a private and non-profit Higher Education Institution exclusively dedicated to Business Administration. The founders, a group of leading entrepreneurs, decided to promote this enterprise to meet the needs of a new generation of highly qualified professionals with strong leadership abilities and creativity in the field of Business Administration, for the public and private sectors of Colombia.
After 43 years, CESA’s differential hallmarks are unchanged: personalized education, familiarity between teachers and students, emphasis on knowledge learned through practice, the development of strong ethical values, the quality of its faculty, and its social commitment to the country. CESA is helping students hone their abilities to be positive change leaders

In Cornell’s Strategic Plan, the university asserted five key objectives, of which one was a renewed commitment to Excellence in Public Engagement. Engaged Cornell advances Cornell’s mission through community-engaged learning and discovery across and beyond the university. Relatedly, Cornell has articulated eleven learning goals, which apply to undergraduates and graduate student learning alike. These goals include, but are not limited to, critical thinking, self-directed learning, engagement in the process of discovery, multicultural competence, and civic engagement. Cornell was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the country’s leading “Institutions of Community Engagement” because of the depth of its many community research partnerships and the breadth of its civic engagement opportunities for students, faculty, and staff across the university. Education and research in the areas of social entrepreneurship and innovation are informed by this commitment to public engagement. Hubs for this activity include:

• Center for Transformative Action: www.CenterforTransformativeAction.org
• Office of Engagement Initiatives (Engaged Cornell): http://www.engaged.cornell.edu/
• Entrepreneurship@Cornell: https://eship.cornell.edu/
• Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise:http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Center-for-Sustainable-Global-Enterprise.aspx
• ILR School Social Sector Working Group:https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/buffalo/high-road-fellowships/about/social-sector-working-group.
• Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability Autism at Work Initiatives:  http://yti.cornell.edu/projects/autism-at-work

Cornell University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2016 Exchange:
Center for Transformative Action

AWARDS:
– 2016 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Center for Transformative Action

There is this yearning among students to be engaged in meaningful work that makes a difference,” says Matt Nash, Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and change leader of Duke’s Changemaker Campus team. “But the problem is that our students either haven’t yet encountered social entrepreneurship, or they know about social entrepreneurship, but don’t know what to do next.”

Duke University is working to ensure that students encounter clear pathways to learn more about and engage with social entrepreneurship, for their own good and for the benefit of all future innovators. “Trying to help move the field of social entrepreneurship education forward is what motivates me,” Matt continues, “Duke University is committed to building credibility for the field of social entrepreneurship in academia. We want to raise all boats.”

In its first ten years, Duke’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship Education (CASE) focused on providing thought leadership for the growing field of social entrepreneurship and on building a robust MBA Program to enable students and alumni to focus their business skills on social impact. Through this work, CASE has become a force in the new field by providing intellectual leadership through publications, conference presentations, and convenings of leading practitioners and educators.

Such efforts have established CASE as a recognized thought leader in the field of social entrepreneurship, providing individuals and organizations with the knowledge and skills they need to pursue social impact. In all of CASE’s knowledge creation efforts, CASE strives to bridge entrenched divides between business and the social sector, and between theory and practice, so that knowledge can be translated effectively for use by front-line social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and philanthropists alike.

Spotlight on the Research Collaboration with Ashoka’s Globalizer Program

Over the last year, the Ashoka Globalizer program has been working to create the underlying infrastructure that can allow social innovation to travel rapidly. Duke University and the Ashoka Globalizer program will collaborate to match Duke’s expertise on how to scale ventures with Ashoka’s field knowledge with Ashoka Fellows to advance more efficient and effective scaling of the Fellows’ social change solutions.

Duke University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
Can Higher Ed Curb Toxic Polarization A Look at Changemaking & Bridge Building

2015 Exchange:
Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke

2011 Exchange:
2011 Social Entrepreneurship Education Innovation Awards: Panel Discussion with Bill Drayton, Greg Dees, and Susan Davis

2011 TEDxAshokaU:
Teaching Innovation

AWARDS:
– 2015 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator (SEAD)
– 2012 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Enterprising Leadership Initiative (ELI)
– 2011 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Global Consulting Practicum

Florida International University (FIU) is Miami’s only public research university and one of the largest universities in the United States. The university is a solutions center working to solve the 21st century challenges faced by our local and global communities through student learning, innovation and collaboration. With over 80% of students identifying with a minority group and half being first-generation college students, FIU brings a unique perspective to the field of social innovation and entrepreneurship.

FIU’s Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program engages the community in creating opportunities for positive social impact. Programs such as StartUP FIU foster innovation and entrepreneurship for students, faculty, alumni and members of the South Florida community. FIU’s nationally recognized Global Learning program provides opportunities for our students to think globally about economic and environmental problems. South Florida is at the forefront of challenges, such as sea-level rise that will require innovative and collaborative solutions. Now more than ever, FIU understands its commitment to creating a campus where everyone is a Changemaker by creating avenues for the university community to become social innovators and entrepreneurs.

Located outside Washington, D.C., George Mason University (Mason) provides its 35,000 graduate and undergraduate students access to rich cultural experiences and the most sought-after internships and employers in the country. Students hail from all 50 states and over 130 countries. Forty percent of our students are first generation college students, 1/3 are Pell Grant recipients and more than half identify as minorities. Recognized for innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and accessibility, Mason is proud to be a Ashoka U Changemaker Campus noted for strong retention and graduation rates of historically under-represented students. Central to Mason’s strategic plan is the question: “What can Mason do—or do better—to produce the types of graduates, scholarship, and service-oriented action that will best serve society?” Thus, we offer a variety of curricular opportunities (university-wide entrepreneurship minor), research opportunities (Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research), student clubs (Mason Changemakers), co-curricular experiences (Mason Summer Entrepreneurship Accelerator), tri-sector partnerships (Honey Bee Initiative), and spaces (The MIX) to support changemaking and meaningful impact both regionally and globally.

Mason Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Leading Change the Changemaker Way
The Role of Higher Education during Times of Upheaval
Antiracist Educator Professional Development
Brain(mental) health: Journey onto well-being & resilience
Dismantling Denial about Teachers’ Biases
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, & Strong Institutions
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change Research and Teaching
Addressing Racial Inequalities & Promoting Ethnic Justice at GMU
Three big ideas for the future of student preparedness
Creating A Sustainability Ecosystems in Higher Education
Leveraging partnerships for the SDGs
Health Equity: The Role of Researchers, Community Partners, & Practitioners

2011 TEDxAshoka U:
TEDx talk featuring Whitney Burton, GMU ‘11

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is based in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, but also has a campus in London and a campus in New York. Although Glasgow has a historic past and a global outlook, it has some of the greatest social challenges of any city in Europe and the University fulfils a key role in contributing to the city’s development, in part through providing opportunities to students from some of the poorest communities of the region. The University’s commitment to social innovation is reflected in and inspired by its motto, For the Common Good, and is shared by its students and staff at all levels and not least by the University’s Chancellor, musician and activist, Dr Annie Lennox and Nobel Laureate and Chancellor Emeritus, Professor Muhammad Yunus. In fulfilling its mission, GCU undertakes ground-breaking research into social innovation and the impact of social ventures, particularly through the work of the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, developing socially entrepreneurial initiatives to benefit the communities within which we are located; and embedding the principles of social entrepreneurship into the curriculum through our Strategy for Learning.

GCU Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
What Is the Civic University For? Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange: 
Three big ideas for the future of student preparedness

2020 Exchange: 
Digital Storytelling for the Common Good

AWARDS:
– 2017 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Common Good First

Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with more than 8,000 undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students. A Marquette education offers a virtually unlimited number of paths and destinations for students and prepares them to Be The Difference. To help support a culture of changemaking and innovation university-wide, Marquette launched the 707 Hub in 2017. Part of the Office of Research and Innovation, the 707 Hub is a space designed to foster collaboration and innovation. Because anyone can be innovative, the 707 Hub is open to all students, faculty, and staff and encourages a cross-disciplinary approach to solving problems. The Social Innovation Initiative, located in the 707 Hub, helps students develop changemaking skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and grow their networks through a series of curricular and co-curricular programing. The University’s Jesuit mission has made social innovation a natural fit for the institution and been a powerful tool for interdisciplinary learning. Marquette’s pillars – excellence, faith, leadership, and service – form the foundation for preparing agents of positive social change.

Maruqette University Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2020 Exchange:
Equipping Future Changemakers
Everyone a Changemaker: Empowering Changemaking Through Organizational Culture Change
How Athletics Can Advance Changemaking

2011 TEDxAshoka U:
TEDx talk featuring Matt Barr

Through a commitment to immersive learning, Middlebury College prepares students to lead engaged, consequential, and creative lives, contribute to their communities, and address the world’s most challenging problems. To support this mission, the Innovation Hub offers funding, coursework, events and mentoring, as well as dedicated workspace for social impact projects, ideation and collaboration. The Innovation Hub helps students develop leadership, creative thought, and intellectual risk-taking through a multitude of opportunities on and off campus.

A liberal arts college founded in 1800, Middlebury is located in the Champlain Valley of central Vermont, and has an enrollment of 2,600.

Middlebury College Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
Open-Source Learning for 2020 and Beyond – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Becoming a Changemaker Educator

2020 Exchange:
Big Idea Talk: Hate, Love, and Reconciliation in Our Time: The Role of Changemakers

2014 Exchange:
2014 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardees 

AWARDS:
– 2017 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: Post Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Management

– 2014 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: MiddCORE, Middlebury’s Leadership and Innovation Program

Founded in 1861, North Central College is an independent, comprehensive college of the liberal arts and sciences that offers more than 65 undergraduate majors and six graduate programs. With more than 2,900 students, North Central provides a rigorous, student-centered education and fosters a diverse, inclusive and globally engaged community that prepares students for action and leadership in a complex world. Less than 30 miles from Chicago’s Loop, the campus is located in the Historic District of Naperville, Ill., a convenient location for immersive and community-engaged learning experiences. Recognized nationally for environmental sustainability, campus internationalization, and the education of first-generation students, North Central leads with its values and takes seriously the mission to develop “curious, engaged, ethical, and purposeful citizens and leaders.”

The College’s Center for Social Impact serves as a hub for cross-campus social innovation initiatives, offering five pathways that guide students on their changemaking journeys: Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Advocacy and Activism, Civic Engagement and Leadership, Service and Volunteering, and Academics and Research. For each pathway, the Center offers connections to degree programs, student clubs, campus-wide events, internships and funding opportunities. Signature programs include the annual Changemaker Challenge pitch competition that funds new student ventures, and TEDxNorthCentralCollege, a community platform for sharing innovative ideas. Student organizations include The Union, a student-run music venue focused on social change, and Enactus, a socially conscious coffee business that partners with Guatemalan farmers. ConVerge, the College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, provides student, alumni, and community innovators with the resources to develop, launch and grow their ventures. For more information visit www.northcentralcollege.edu.

North Central College Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Dialogue & Advocacy: Amplifying Our Voices to Bring Change
The ARC: resource creation for supporting student activists

2020 Exchange:
Coffee as a Catalyst for Change: Across Borders, Across Disciplines
Supporting 1st Generation College Students
Want to talk? Methods to prepare students for connective conversations in divisive times

Pacific School of Religion is a progressive, multidenominational seminary and center for social justice that prepares spiritually-rooted leaders to work for the well-being of all. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Pacific School of Religion is home to a vibrant and diverse community of faculty, staff, and students from a wide range of spiritual, religious and cultural backgrounds. Reflecting the interreligious and multiethnic reality of the world, Pacific School of Religion develops and connects individuals engaged in faith-based leadership and social activism through rigorous scholarship, practical training, and immersive fieldwork.

Pacific School of Religion Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Sustaining leaders of color: the story of Ignite Institute

2020 Exchange:
What the World Needs is Love: Changemaking Across Differences in Divisive Times

As a comprehensive innovation university, Ryerson University was designated Canada’s first Changemaker Campus in 2013. 

Being innovative is true to who Ryerson is as a community that embraces unconventional, creative thinking and approaches to learning, teaching, scholarly, research, and creative activities, and day-to-day operations. Innovation allows Ryerson to stand apart. It builds on these roots, continuing to develop and foster an innovation ecosystem throughout the institution. (Ryerson University Academic Plan, 2020 – 25)

Ryerson’s social innovation and social entrepreneurship initiatives are led by the Office of Social Innovation and Social Ventures Zone, respectively. The Office of Social Innovation (OSI) strives to create transformative solutions to complex social issues through teaching, learning, and research. Advancing opportunities to support, drive, and lead change at Ryerson University and with the broader community. The Social Ventures Zone (SVZ) works with students, alumni, faculty, and people from the broader community to build social ventures that create real impact. The SVZ model is based on rigorous research and global best practices about how social ventures can be best supported.

Ryerson University Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
Inclusive Innovation at the Ryerson Diversity Institute – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS:
2020 Exchange:
Unintended & Unexpected: Troubling Consequences in Changemaker Education

Simon Fraser University is Canada’s most community-engaged research university, with over 35,000 students across three urban campuses located in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby. Ranked as Canada’s top comprehensive university, SFU is a place where innovative education, cutting-edge research and community outreach intersect. Through our authentic community partnerships—both locally and globally—SFU is developing emerging leaders and solutions for a sustainable, just and healthy society.

Building upon this commitment, SFU Innovates is a university-wide strategy that builds on our dynamic culture and seeks to strengthen SFU’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. SFU Innovates brings together a complete continuum of programming and resources for entrepreneurs and changemakers. This includes interdisciplinary, experiential learning environments; support for creating and testing innovative ideas and models; and helping companies grow their economic, social and environmental impact.

Simon Fraser University Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
Whose Knowledge Is It? – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS:
2020 Exchange:
It’s in Our Strat Plan! Embedding Social Purpose Institutionally
Research as a Tool for Social Change & Innovation

2019 Exchange:
Graduating Changemakers: Expanding Possibilities for Higher Ed in the 21st Century

Singapore Management University (SMU) is the first and only autonomous university situated in the heart of Singapore’s central business district. Our university seeks to create an environment that nurtures critical thinking, innovation, communication, and leadership. Social innovation at our campus is supported by a core curriculum that emphasizes developing intellectual capabilities together with a deep understanding of one’s role and purpose in Singapore and the global community at-large. Our Centre for Social Responsibility connects students with community service opportunities across the globe. SMU-X, our signature experiential learning experience, brings together academic faculty and industry partners to transform traditional courses into project-based learning experiences that have an impact on the greater community. The Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship prepares interested students to address social problems with business solutions. The Lien Centre for Social Innovation and the Shirin Fozdar Programme build capacity and provide programming related to understanding and empowering vulnerable populations in Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond. Through diverse curricular and co-curricular programme offerings such as these, SMU students gain valuable insights that give them a keen sense of their capacity to lead positive change in society.

SMU Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2020 Exchange:
Models for Paid Student Internships

UDD is a private university founded in 1990 by a group of six changemaking entrepreneurs committed to the development of Chile. UDD started its first campus in Concepción, a city where poverty and education were big challenges at the time. Since its founding, UDD sought to educate new kinds of professionals for Chile, entrepreneurial spirits with a unique value proposition for the community and a strong commitment to the public good.  Three signature values, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Public Responsibility and Ethics, serve as the backbone of UDD’s educational project, and have remained strong since the university’s founding.

The university is committed to being a leader around these signature values, with all initiatives reporting on how they are advancing them. UDD also allocates resources and has designed its organizational structure around promoting its signature values. For example, the Vice Presidency for Innovation and Development promotes these matters across the institution. The Direction of Public Responsibility was created to promote Social Innovation within UDD, and across Chile and Latin America.

UDD is a different kind of university, embracing start-up logic, a pro-entrepreneurship culture, an obsession for change and innovation, and a clear focus on students. The university is helping to spread these ideas and aims to mobilize the Latin American higher education system.

UDD Thought Leadership
 

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Compromiso social en tiempos de COVID / Community engagement during COVID

The University of Maryland, located just outside of Washington, D.C., was selected as one of the first Changemaker Campuses in 2008 for its commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship across all levels of the university. The Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC), based in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, has led social entrepreneurship initiatives since its founding in 2009, working with students, faculty, and external partners to create a better world through business principles. Leaders such as the Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, based in the School of Public Policy, the College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, and the Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship prepare thousands of students to tackle the world’s toughest problems through philanthropy, data-driven decision making, and entrepreneurial thinking. Together, these partners have created interdisciplinary courses and programs that equip and empower UMD students to make their ‘Fearless Ideas’ become realities.

University of Maryland Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:
2021 Exchange:
Local to Global Impact: Project-Based Learning Connecting Students to Industry
Bringing the Social Impact Toolkit to Interdisciplinary Courses ​

2015 Exchange:
Keynote: 2015 Exchange Welcome
ChangeTheWorld.org Nonprofit Consulting Program

AWARDS:
– 2015 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: ChangeTheWorld.org Nonprofit Consulting Program

Based in the heart of England and only a short journey from London, Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge, the University of Northampton offers our students an outstanding academic experience. At the heart of all that we do and offer is our commitment to transforming lives and inspiring change. Driving this commitment to transforming and changing the world around us is the 2010-2105 ‘Raising the Bar’ institutional strategy to be Number 1 at social enterprise in the UK; offering our 14,000 students the opportunity to explore and experience social entrepreneurship in action. This is delivered by the Changemaker Campus team, coupled to a unique national enterprise start-up and growth infrastructure in Inspire2Enteprise. 14,000 students exploring and solving social problems is creating the UK’s largest social innovation funnel.

University of Northampton Thought Leadership

PUBLICATIONS:
Changemaking and Graduate Employability – Stanford Social Innovation Review

PRESENTATIONS: 
2021 Exchange:
Lessons from the Pandemic: The importance of the changemaker campus
Innovation & Leadership for Changemaking Institutions

AWARDS:
– 2018 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Awardee: The COGS Toolkit

St. Thomas seeks to become the school of choice for undergraduate and graduate students desiring to develop the knowledge, skills, dispositions, experience, and relationships to make change for the common good. By empowering all members of the university community to be changemakers, we are fulfilling our mission to educate “students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully to advance the common good”. We are building upon our long history of Catholic social teaching and service to create an educational environment in which all can collaborate to create a more equitable and sustainable world. Our urban setting, rich in optimism and passion for progressive action but hindered by one of the country’s widest opportunity gaps, provides an ideal proving ground for the power of changemaking in higher education. We are using the language and concepts of changemaking to help our campus members develop and apply their empathy and understanding to form vibrant partnerships for addressing social challenges. We are focusing on action, where curricular and co-curricular programs work with communities to bring about positive change both locally and globally. More broadly, we are providing leadership in higher education by illustrating how social innovation can draw from and contribute to our commitments to diverse interdisciplinary collaborations, interfaith dialogue, mindfulness, meaningful work, and the blending of inclusion programs with leadership training. These efforts are providing reciprocal benefits, enriching the educational experience for our students while simultaneously advancing the common good.

University of St. Thomas Thought Leadership

PRESENTATIONS:

2021 Exchange:
Local to Global Impact: Project-Based Learning Connecting Students to Industry

2020 Exchange:
Community-Based Action Research as a Change Strategy: Considering Equity, Power & Impact
Hands in the Crisis, Eyes to the Future ​
Teaching with Under-Told Stories: Bringing Changemakers to Your Campus​
Creating Leaders for Sustainable Systems through University-Community Partnerships​
Universities, Innovation & the making of “Human Super-Heroes?​
Everyone a Changemaker: Empowering Changemaking Through Organizational Culture Change ​
Local Partners, Global Bridges: Maximizing Community-University Collaborations to Advance Changemaking ​
How Athletics Can Advance Changemaking ​
Ethics & Changemaking: Aligning Technology with the Greater Good ​
The transformative potential to integrate urban agriculture & social innovation to advance student learning & community well-being
One University – One Breath: Changemaking through Mindfulness ​
Meet the Editors
Interfaith Engagement & Changemaking in Higher Education