Program Overview

The goals of the 2011 U.S. Institute on Social Entrepreneurship are to teach practical frameworks that will help students turn ideas into actionable plans for creating social value, to build leadership skills, to expose the students to successful leaders in the social entrepreneurship sphere, and to deepen the students’ understanding of American culture. The goals of the Institute will be achieved through five main activities:

Course on social innovation
7-session course on “Understanding Americans”
Mini “internships” at local social enterprises
Speaker Series and Leadership Activities
Cultural Activities

1. Course on social innovation

LBJ School of Public Affairs

University of Texas at Austin

Summer 2011

Social Innovation

RGK Center Institute on Social Entrepreneurship

Instructor Information

Peter Frumkin

SRH 3.301

512-232-7061

frumkin@mail.utexas.edu

Suzi Sosa

SRH 3.323

512-471-7061

suzi.sosa@austin.utexas.edu

Course description

This is a class focused on understanding the many forms and functions of social innovation in society. At a time when fresh solutions to public problems are increasingly coming not just from government, but also from the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, we will focus in this class on understanding how to diagnose needs and then design effective interventions. We will explore how social entrepreneurs develop their ideas, define intended impact, market their solutions, understand competition, and collaborate with other actors. At the end of the course, students should have mastered a set of conceptual tools that will allow them to be effective problem solvers in diverse settings throughout their careers.

The class will be divided into two parts. The first part, which makes up one-half of the course, will focus on profiling and analyzing an existing social enterprise, and will be taught in a lecture, workshop and site-visit format. The second part, making up the remaining one-half of the class, will focus on students developing their own socially innovative ideas. This portion will be in workshop format, where the professors will work one-on-one with students during class time to help develop the students’ ideas.

Course Objectives

The course has five main objectives:

1) To introduce students to the concepts and practices of social entrepreneurship;

2) To introduce students to the components of a successful social enterprise;

3) To equip students with the tools to be able to accurately identify and assess innovation and impact in social enterprises;

4) To train students to view the world from a perspective of social innovation; and

5) To empower them to develop their own innovative solutions to difficult social problems in Turkey.

Readings

We will provide students with the two books that will complement classwork. Reading is required as indicated. Additional readings are suggested and will greatly enhance the student’s learning experience. They will be allowed to take the books back to Turkey with them.

1. Dees, J. Gregory, Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs

2. Dees, J. Gregory, Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs: Enhancing the Performance of Your Enterprising Nonprofit

Assignments

Students will complete a series of exercises/assignments that will require them to apply the tools and frameworks learned in class to an existing nonprofit or for-profit enterprise in Austin. They will choose an organization from a list that will be provided based on their own interests. Each class has a corresponding assignment, which will be completed partially at their site-visit and finished as homework.

Attendance and Classroom Rules

Students are required to attend all lectures and discussion sections, and attendance will be taken. When students must miss a class due to illness or emergency, he/she should contact Kelly to make her aware of the situation in advance.

Students are encouraged to participate actively in class. Therefore, there is a NO LAPTOP / NO CELL PHONE RULE in effect. This means students may not use an electronic device of any kind during the class. We ask that you listen and participate fully in the collective learning, and give the class your undivided attention. Be sure to turn your phone off before class and remind the person in the seat next to you to do the same.

Additional expectations

None of the assignments given in class are optional. You are expected to set aside the proper amount of time each day/evening to complete your assignments. We will ensure that you have access to the LBJ computer lab so that you can use a computer to do your assignments.

2. 7-Session Course on Understanding America

LBJ School of Public Affairs

University of Texas at Austin

Summer 2011

UNDERSTANDING AMERICANS: AN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE,

HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE USA

RGK Center Institute on social Entrepreneurship

Presenter

William A. Mitchell, Colonel (RET), Ph.D.

Bill_mitchell@baylor.edu

Course description

This is a 7-session class designed for undergraduate college level Turkish students attending the summer 2011 Institute for Social Entrepreneurship at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The sessions will introduce students to American culture and society, including history, government, comparison of U.S.—Turkish constitutions using contributions from Thomas Jefferson and Ataturk, geographical snapshots of the U.S., American cultural traits, and the past, present, and future contributions of Turk involvement in global civics. The course is interactive with short lectures and discussions.

Course Objectives

The course has five objectives:

To help the students become comfortable and quickly adjust to a new learning environment;
To train students to understand and evaluate Americans based on American values and culture;
To ensure students know core values of American constitutional democracy;
To introduce and generate an interest in American history;
To encourage student involvement in Turkey’s global civics movement.

3. Mini “Internships” at Local Social Enterprises

This program complements the first two weeks of the Course on Social Innovation. Students will choose a local social enterprise from a list provided and will make four visits to the organization. Each visit will have a structured assignment to help the students get the most out of their time. Students will have the opportunity to work with and learn from some of Austin’s most prestigious social entrepreneurs during these visits. We have already vetted local social enterprises that are willing and excited to participate in this program. Potential social enterprises include:

BancVue

Big Brother Big Sister

Blue Avocado

Boggy Creek Farm

campus2careers

Capital IDEA

College Forward

Emancipet

English at Work

Foundation Communities

Greenling

Lance Armstrong Foundation

Lifeworks

Mobile Loaves and Fishes

People Fund

Re:char

Slow Money

Students of the World

Sustianable Food Center

Uplift Austin

4. Leadership Activities and Speaker Series

Leadership is a core theme of the Institute and we have worked hard to integrate it into all aspects of the programming. Leadership programming learning objectives are:

Understand and practice the individual traits necessary to be a successful leader
Learn and practice strategies for effectively conveying your ideas during one-on-one persuasion
Understand the social and political dynamics of working in teams

Additionally, we have a Speaker Series, which includes several sessions on leadership. The Speaker Series will feature esteemed guest speakers who address issues such as leadership and social entrepreneurship. Specifically:

A. Session on Tenets of Leadership

This session will develop student leaders by providing both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills necessary to develop greater self-knowledge and leadership competence. Students will explore their talents, values and interests; strategies for providing effective leadership; and how to work collaboratively as an ethical change agent within a community. A faculty member from the University of Texas at Austin will teach this session.

B. Social Entrepreneurship Leadership

Additional sessions will focus on the leadership traits that students need to be successful social entrepreneurs. Prestigious local social entrepreneurs will lead these sessions. Tentative speakers include:

Lee Walker, Serial Entrepreneur and former President of Dell
Mellie Price, Founder, SourceSpring and FrontGate Tickets
Philip Berber, Founder and Chairman, Glimmer of Hope Foundation
Doug Ulman, CEO, Livestrong
Brett Hurt, Founder and CEO, Bazaarvoice
Roy Spence and Judy Tabulsi, Founders, GSD&M
John Mackey, CEO, Whole Foods
Roy Sosa, Founder, MPOWER Ventures
Clayton Christopher, Founder and CEO, Sweet Leaf Tea Co.

5. Cultural Activities

The cultural activities are meant to orient students with American culture and deepen their connection to and affection for the United States. Cultural activities are selected based on city offerings, weather and student interest. Popular activities from last year’s Institute that will be considered for this year include: