Impact Entrepreneurship (Graduate Minor)

Overview

The Impact Entrepreneurship graduate minor is offered through Parsons School of Design.

The Impact Entrepreneurship graduate minor offers students an opportunity to further develop their entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and mindsets, so that they can identify opportunities to create positive social impact in our rapidly changing world.

By drawing on interdisciplinary courses that build on their interests and needs, students take a collaborative, design-driven, systems-oriented approach to recognizing and developing business opportunities that are financially sustainable, address unmet social needs, and have the potential for scalable impact. They develop diverse skill sets in areas including cross-sector leadership, management, venture development, design research and prototyping, fundraising, finance, marketing, and social responsibility.

Curriculum

This graduate minor requires successful completion of 9 credits. The required core course for this minor is either Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship or the Fellowship Cohort Course (for fellowship holders only). In addition to the core course, students must select two electives from the chart below.

Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time. Students seeking to pursue alternative coursework in other subject areas to fulfill the minor should consult with their advisors.

Subject AreaCourse OptionsRequirements
Core CourseNMGM 5007 Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship
PSDS 5111 Fellowship Cohort Course (by application only; for students accepted to the Graduate Fellowship)
3 credits
Innovating for Impact Electives

UTNS 5500 Impact Venture Lab (by application; spring only)
PGDM 5110 Sustainable Business Models (spring only)
NMGM 5104 Intersections Between Management and Social Justice
NEPS 5008 Sustainability Perspectives and Practice (spring only)
PSDS 5510 Resilient Mutual Development (spring only)
PSDS 5110 Startup Ecosystem Interventions for Positive Change
JTEB 5101 Non Profit Acivism (spring only)
NMDM 5346 AI and the Media Industry: Practices, Promises, Perils
PSDS 5302 Public and Collaborative Services
PMFM 5030 Technology and Innovation
NMDM 5315 Managing Innovation in Media

3 credits
Leading & Managing for Impact ElectivesNMDM 5303 Media Management and Leadership
NMDM 5328 Media Deal Making
NMDM 5311 Market Research for Media Managers
NMDM 5315 Managing Innovation in Media  
NMDM 5331 Multicultural Media Business (spring only)
NMGM 5028 Mindfulness Leadership Development (spring only)
CENT 5500 Arts Management and Nonprofit Governance
CENT 5600 Finance for Art Managers
PMFM 5060 Global and Local Leadership (spring only)
NURP 5032 Public Management and the Public Interest
PGMD 5250 Ethical Leadership for Design Professionals
NURP 5011 Public Finance and Fiscal Management
NMGM 5202 Systems Approach to Management and Organizations
NMGM 5208 AI Without Bosses
3-6 credits

Learning Outcomes

A student who has completed this graduate minor should be able to demonstrate:

  • An understanding of the fields of impact entrepreneurship and social innovation as approaches to social change across diverse geographies (both within the United States and globally), social challenges, and contexts.
  • Knowledge of the methods and conceptual frameworks used to design, test, and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities that seek to address diverse social challenges.
  • Knowledge of various approaches to leading, resourcing, and managing social impact organizations.
  • A greater capacity to work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and communicate their ideas.
  • An understanding of the issues of power and privilege related to striving toward social impact with a commitment to social justice.

Faculty

Co-director: Rhea Alexander, Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management
Co-director: Swale Nunez, Part-Time Lecturer

Additional Faculty
Sujatha Jesudason, Professor of Professional Practice in Management

Michele Kahane, Professor of Professional Practice in Management

Cynthia Lawson, Associate Professor of Integrated Design

Latha Poonamallee, Associate Professor of Management and Social Innovation

Eligibility

The Impact Entrepreneurship graduate minor is available to graduate degree students across The New School. 

Students can retroactively apply successfully completed courses toward a minor upon declaring or applying. After a student successfully completes a minor's requirements, the minor will appear on the student's academic transcript at graduation.

For questions about this minor, please contact the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative at impactentrepreneur@newschool.edu.

Take the Next Step

Contact your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit with your degree requirements.

Declare or change a minor on my.newschool.edu in the Academics tab. Note that some minors require an application.

Take The Next Step

Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy

The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.