Smith School Launches Center for Social Value Creation

College Park, Md. – September 17, 2009 — The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the Center for Social Value Creation will launch Friday, September 25 with an event in Washington, D.C., to explore how leaders create, build and sustain organizations for social impact while meeting business goals. The center’s priority is to engage students in courses and experiential learning programs to enable them to become global leaders who understand how to use business as a vehicle for both economic prosperity and transformative social change, and to support faculty research in related areas.

“We are committed to giving our students the hands-on experiences that will help shape them as business leaders with a deep sense of individual responsibility who have the knowledge and tools to use business as a vehicle for social change,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “The ‘Leadership for a Better World’ event showcases the center’s ideals and highlights leaders in business, government, nonprofits and academia who are achieving social value creation.”

The inaugural daylong “Leadership for a Better World: Creating Social Value Through Innovation” forum will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., and focuses on the role of business in society. The event is co-sponsored by the Smith School’s Center for Social Value Creation and Center for International Business Education and Research. Speakers include Honest Tea President and CEO Seth Goldman, author and Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Fast Company founder Alan Webber, and Nobel laureate and professor Thomas Schelling. Along with other leaders in the social value sector, they will guide discussions on how organizations can foster social change through models of innovation.

The event officially introduces the Center for Social Value Creation at the Smith School, which was formed to provide students with a comprehensive educational experience and encompasses an engaging curriculum, real-world field experience, cutting-edge research, and targeted career planning. Programs include the Social Venture Consulting Program and Global Impact Program study trips and give students opportunities to engage in real field work consulting with nonprofits locally or by traveling to developing economies. The Center for Social Value Creation also supports related faculty research and bridging this theory with practice by working to infuse social value concepts throughout the coursework for all students.

“Over the next several decades we will see an evolution from pure private-sector market capitalism to much deeper and broader private-public partnerships, with a resurgence of focus on business ethics, environmental sustainability and social value creation,” said Melissa Carrier, executive director of the Center for Social Value Creation. “This is where business is headed and we are preparing our students to lead in this new paradigm.”