School Just Got a Whole Lot Cooler on Three New Changemaker Campuses

Ashoka U
Source: Ashoka U

The University of San Diego, Technológico de Monterrey-Guadalajara, and Middlebury College are joining the Changemaker Campus initiative – an elite consortium of leaders in social entrepreneurship education. Changemaker Campuses are colleges and universities that collectively strive to ensure that the educational experience is a world-changing experience.

Each of these three new Changemaker Campuses was selected for its leadership in social entrepreneurship education, demonstrated by innovative models for educating the next generation of competent changemakers to address society’s most intractable social problems.

“We are delighted to designate these leaders as Changemaker Campuses,” said Marina Kim, director of Ashoka U. “Throughout the selection process, we were inspired by their commitment to develop social entrepreneurship education that they have adapted to their unique institutions.”

As the first Changemaker Campus partner on the West Coast, the University of San Diego is an important leader in the region. Located only 22 miles from the Mexican border, in a diverse region of the country, USD students gain experience in social change by working with poor and marginalized individuals and groups.

Moreover, USD’s School of Peace Studies, the only free-standing school in the United States that is devoted to peace studies, is preparing global leaders with the knowledge and skills to create and sustain justice around the world. “Creating a more socially sustainable and just world is in our DNA,” said comments Julie Sullivan, PhD, executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego. “It is part of the mission for which we were founded.”

Entrepreneurship is seen as the catalyst of any substantial societal change at Technológico de Monterrey-Campus Guadalajara. At the core of the institution’s mission, students must become committed to using their entrepreneurial skills for economic, political, social, and cultural development of their communities, and for the sustainable use of natural resources.

At Campus Guadalajara, all efforts, both academic and co-curricular, converge toward this common goal of achieving a positive social impact through social entrepreneurship and innovation. As the first Mexico-based Changemaker Campus, and a leader in Mexican higher education, Campus Guadalajara is uniquely positioned.

“We believe that developing changemakers in higher education is the way forward,” said change leader and director of entrepreneurship and innovation, Isaac Lucatero, “This is a big opportunity for the campus in Guadalajara, for TEC, and for Mexico.”

With the conviction that global liberal arts must prepare students to lead a life of meaning in this complex century, Middlebury College brings a rich history of student-led, globally engaged programs to the consortium. Its cutting edge Project on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts creates space for social entrepreneurship at the center of a world-class, 21st-century liberal arts education.

Through the Changemaker Campus initiative, Middlebury College will continue to expand opportunities for students to shape their world, while connecting its social entrepreneurship efforts to the liberal arts education at its core. As Middlebury Change Leader and Professor of Economics Jon Isham remarks:

“Middlebury College students come to understand that to think and act independently, and to make the world a better place, they need to actively address age-old questions at the heart of the liberal-arts tradition.”

Since the launch of the initiative in 2008, a total of 15 colleges and universities have been recognized with the Changemaker Campus designation: Arizona State University, Babson College, College of the Atlantic, Cornell University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University, Marquette University, Middlebury College, Technológico de Monterrey-Guadalajara, The New School, Tulane University, University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Maryland-College Park, and University of San Diego. The Changemaker Campuses are leading colleges and universities that are setting the global standard for excellence in social entrepreneurship education.