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THE NEW SCHOOL ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP
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New York, September 21, 2009 — As part of a university-wide emphasis on social innovation, The New School is partnering with Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs, in the Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative, a three-year program to create new educational models to support and develop social entrepreneurship within universities.
“The New School is proud to work with Ashoka to develop programs that support, create and replicate social entrepreneurship in and outside the classroom that make a difference in New York and globally,” said Tim Marshall, Provost of The New School. “The university has long emphasized a cross-disciplinary approach to problem-solving, working to bring together students and faculty from design, liberal arts, and social sciences to explore the transformative benefits of collaboration. The Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative offers an opportunity to expand and extend our capability to support positive, creative leaders dedicated to social innovation.”
The program works to develop opportunities for students to have access to the resources, learning opportunities, role models, and a peer community needed to realize their potential as changemakers. The New School will be one of nine schools participating in the Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative, including George Mason University, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, The University of Colorado at Boulder, Tulane University, College of the Atlantic, and Babson College. In February, The New School team will join an annual meeting of Changemaker campuses to share best practices and latest developments in the field to set a new standard for social entrepreneurship education.
"The New School’s dedication to providing students with the practical tools and experiences to transcend traditional academic boundaries makes it a natural partner for Ashoka’s changemaker program," said Diana Wells, president of Ashoka. "We know this partnership will go a long way to giving students the tools to create change and establish a foundation for future changemakers in New York and beyond."
The New School’s work with Ashoka will include the participation of students and faculty from across the eight schools of the university. A core faculty team from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Milano the New School for Management and Urban Policy, Parson The New School for Design, and The New School for General Studies is working to assemble student volunteers to work with them in the creation of a changemaker program, including programmatic features, interdisciplinary curriculum, and internship programs. The group will work with the support of Ashoka’s accomplished social entrepreneurship fellows, themselves leaders in the industry.
“With the full participation and support of both The New School and Ashoka, we aim for nothing less than developing the next generation of social entrepreneurs,” said Michele Kahane, who recently joined Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy as Professor of Professional Practice of Social Entrepreneurship. “As faculty and administrators, we are fortunate to have a university-wide program that attracts dynamic students interested and committed to positive social change. We look forward to partnering with these students to fulfill our potential as both individuals and as an institution to improve our campus, our community and our future.”
The New School kicked off the Ashoka initiative at an event on September 21, the eve of the Clinton Global Initiative, an international forum dedicated to results-driven social innovation. Titled, “Social Entrepreneurship: How Everyone Can be a Changemaker,” the New School event featured leading social entrepreneurs discussing how to tackle diverse global challenges from poverty to climate change. Moderated by Bruce Nussbaum, Visiting Professor of Innovation and Design at The New School and contributing editor of BusinessWeek, panelists included Sara Horowitz, founder and Executive Director of Working Today and the Freelancers Union; Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises and D-Rev: Design for the other 90%; and Billy Parish, founder of the Energy Action Coalition.
About Ashoka
Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of approximately 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them to start, grow, succeed, and collaborate on their ventures. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of global initiatives that supports the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka is creating change today, for an Everyone a Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.
About The New School
Founded in 1919, The New School is a legendary, progressive university comprising eight schools bound by a common, unusual intent: to prepare and inspire its students to bring actual, positive change to the world. Located in New York, but active around the world, The New School forges new paths of progress in the arts, design, humanities, public policy, and the social sciences through 82 graduate and undergraduate degree-granting programs, as well as through certificate programs and 650 continuing education courses offered more than 6,400 adult learners every year. For more information, visit http://www.newschool.edu.
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