U-Md. Business School Launches Initiative for Social Value Creation

College Park, Md. – March 11, 2009 — The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the launch of the Initiative for Social Value Creation, a push to engage every student in courses and experiential learning programs that build leadership and an understanding of how businesses can create both economic prosperity and transformative social change. Melissa Carrier, executive director for Social Value Creation, will lead the effort, which will support the groundwork for establishing a center dedicated to social value creation.

“Business schools have a responsibility to make sure that future leaders have the values and skills to apply business processes to transform social problems while creating economic value for their organizations” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “Smith’s location near Washington, D.C. — the intersection of public policy, nonprofit organizations and business — is a strong point of leverage in giving our students a true understanding of how they can create social value at any organization.”

The Initiative for Social Value Creation will give students a comprehensive educational experience and encompasses an engaging curriculum, real-world field experience, cutting-edge research, and targeted career planning. The goal is to teach students to consider their business decisions and apply business processes and entrepreneurship to tackle some of society’s most critical environmental and humanitarian needs.

The flagship component of the Social Value Creation program is experiential learning —the opportunity for students to engage in real-world field work, such as helping a nonprofit organization achieve scale or traveling abroad to work on sustainable projects in developing countries. Below are just a few of the opportunities for students in this area:

• Social Venture Consulting Program, where MBA students provide consulting work for nonprofit organizations
• Seed funding and incubator services to support social ventures
• Global field projects
• Engineers Without Borders university partnership where business students provide consulting for projects in developing countries
• Active student clubs including Net Impact, Society for Green Business and Terp Changemakers

The initiative will aggressively support engagement with policymakers, scholars and organization leaders to facilitate an exchange of Smith School best practices and thought leadership. Some examples will include a Social Enterprise Symposium for practitioners, students, faculty and alumni to be held on March 26, as well as a Changemaker Speaker Series to launch this fall. Scholarship in social entrepreneurship will be actively promoted with up to three faculty research awards a year.

The Smith School’s status as one of four Changemaker campuses selected by Ashoka, a nonprofit network of social entrepreneurs, will also support the initiative’s wider engagement and impact. The Ashoka pilot program will culminate with a May 8 film festival hosted at Smith, screening student-made videos that highlight how they are making a difference in the world.

“We fully expect most of our student to work in Fortune 500 companies and become entrepreneurs, while some may elect to work in the social sector,” said Carrier. “Regardless of where they eventually go, our goal is to inspire our students so they may see new possibilities in their financial, social and environmental contributions as business leaders of the 21st century.”