Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Academic Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Social Entrepreneurship


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Susan Meyeraan, coordinator

The Social Entrepreneurship minor is designed to foster knowledge and application of multidisciplinary skills in the fields of business and the social sciences to address social problems in sustainable and innovative ways. Students will be able to assess the social impact of the organizations they work with and lead changes that enable organizations to be more effective. The program aims to attract, foster, and grow a new type of business leader who is committed to changing the way social problems are addressed by finding sustainable practices to address some of society’s most challenging problems.

Vision

Social Entrepreneurship is a process of dynamic innovation inspired by opportunities arising from failures in social, economic, and political systems related in particular to social justice, community preservation, and environmental sustainability. As Wartburg College is renowned in its ability to prepare students for lives of service and leadership–continuing the inspiring work of the College’s founder Wilhelm Lohe in Germany more than 150 years ago–the Social Entrepreneurship Program builds upon and enhances this competitive advantage. 

Mission

The Social Entrepreneurship Minor at Wartburg College prepares students to understand and empathize with those currently or potentially harmed by issues related to social, economic, political, or environmental injustice; recognize opportunities inherent in any such problem; analyze and develop entrepreneurial solutions to these problems; and then design and lead organizations that implement their solutions and achieve desirable innovation within social, political, economic, or environmental systems. 

Program Goals

1.  Develop one’s own approach to creativity, leadership, and service.

2.  Demonstrate understanding of a social and/or environmental problem from an interdisciplinary perspective.

3.  Develop an entrepreneurial mindset when evaluating and diagnosing social or environmental problems.

4.  Prepare a business plan for addressing a social or environmental problem that demonstrates the ability to generate impact and financial viability. 

Intended Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • demonstrate the ability to integrate concepts and methods used in business to create small and large scale social change.

Department Overview

The Social Entrepreneurship Program is co-directed by Dr. Timothy Ewest and Dr. Scott Fullwiler.  

Dr. Ewest is an Associate Professor of Management and a Research Collaborator for Princeton University’s Faith at Work Initiative.  He has helped design and start over 50 businesses and was a driving force behind the design and launch of the Waverly Area Small Business Incubator and Consulting Center.  Ewest has substantial expertise in strategy, operations, entrepreneurship, non-profit management, and personal creativity; he also has a Master’s degree in Theology.  He has published widely in top academic journals and edited volumes on issues related to the intersection of faith, management, and work.

Dr. Fullwiler is an Associate Professor of Economics and holds the James A. Leach Chair in Banking and Monetary Economics.  He is a Research Associate with the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability in Kansas City, and has taught Sustainable Capital Markets in Presidio Graduate School’s sustainable MBA program (one of the very first of its kind) in San Francisco.  Fullwiler has expertise in financial management, financial markets and institutions, environmental economics and finance, systems theory, and business valuation methods.  He has published in academic journals and edited volumes on all of these issues and is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Social Entrepreneurship minor, students will be able to:

  • demonstrate the ability to integrate concepts and methods used in business to create small and large scale social change.

Programs

 

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