New Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship class announced – Fall 2012

PPOL 3050 will introduce students to innovative approaches to solve the world's biggest problems, such as poverty, climate change, and lack of access to quality healthcare, housing and education. PPOL 3050 Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship (3 credits; Wednesdays at 7:00-9:45 pm) will be co-taught by Ross Baird (A&S '07), Executive Director of Village Capital, and Dr. Sang Hwang, Architecture School Lecturer in International Sustainable Development, and is supported in part by the Jefferson Trust. In addition, the course will incorporate guest lectures by social entrepreneurs from the field via video conference. The course is cross-listed in the College (GDS 3050) and Curry (EDLF 3050).

Two New Experiential Social Entrepreneurship classes announced – Spring 2013

The first course (PPOL 4735) of these experiential courses would have a local focus, and the other would have a global focus (PPOL 4730), with 10-15 students enrolled in each. These experiential courses will allow the students to apply what they learn in the Fall 2012 course through work with social entrepreneurs in Charlottesville and with 15 visiting social entrepreneurs from Tibet.

• PPOL 4735: Local Social Entrepreneurship: Reducing Poverty in Charlottesville (taught by Darden PhD candidate Lauren Purnell)
• PPOL 4730: Global Social Entrepreneurship: Case Study - Tibet (taught by Darden PhD candidate Megan Hess)

SE classes @UVA

PPOL 3050: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship - co-instructors: Dr. Sang Hwang & Ross Baird

Social entrepreneurship is an approach to creating system-level change through the application of entrepreneurial thinking to social ventures, non-profit organizations, government institutions, and NGOs to create economic, environmental, and social value for multiple stakeholders. In this course you will be introduced to a range of entrepreneurial approaches aimed at solving social problems – from the non-profit to the for-profit.   Bornstein describes a social entrepreneur as: “one obsessive individual who sees a problem and envisions a new solution, who takes the initiative to act on that vision, who gathers resources and builds organizations to protect and market that vision, who provides the energy and sustained focus to overcome the inevitable resistance.” This is a course about those individuals and the organizations they create. On the non-profit side the course introduces organizations that are developing new innovative and sustainable approaches to funding their initiatives.
Students will also get a thorough introduction to the for-profit approach to social entrepreneurship, including discussion of social business, benefit corporations, and impact investing.

Enrollment: 30

PPOL 4735: Field Course in Local Social Entrepreneurship - instructor: Lauren Purnell
This is an experiential learning class applying the skills gained in PPOL 3050– Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship. Using the frame of “poverty reduction,” students will study social ventures being implemented in Charlottesville and have the opportunity to work directly with social entrepreneurs in the community.  They will work in small groups local social entrepreneurs to deeply understand the problems they are trying to address and the hurdles they face.  Students will draw on skills developed in the Fall 2012 course to provide advice on raising additional capital for project growth, expansion of marketing, and creative new revenue streams.

Requirement: PPOL 3050: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, Enrollment: 15

PPOL 4730: Field Course in Global Social Entrepreneurship - instructor: Megan Hess
This is an experiential learning class applying the skills gained in PPOL 3050– Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship. Using the frame of “conscious entrepreneurship,” students will study social ventures being implemented around the globe and have the opportunity to work directly with 15 social entrepreneurs from Tibet.  Students will work in small groups with 15 visiting Tibetan Social Entrepreneurs to deeply understand the problems they are trying to address and the hurdles they face.  Students will draw on skills developed in the Fall 2012 course to provide advice on raising additional capital for project growth, expansion of marketing, and creative new revenue streams.

Requirement: PPOL 3050: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, Enrollment: 15