Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Fellowship Receives Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award in Academic Learning
The most prestigious award in social enterprise higher education recognizes Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship’s GSBF program
Santa Clara University has announced that its Global Social Benefit Fellowship (GSBF) program, part of the university’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, has been awarded the prestigious Cordes Innovation Award from Ashoka U, an education initiative of Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs.
Santa Clara University’s GSBF is an innovative education and action research program for social entrepreneurship in which undergraduate students undertake in-depth and rigorous action research projects in developing countries, in partnership with social enterprises that have completed Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI®) programs.
“This award is a point of pride for the university,” said Michael E. Engh, S.J., president of Santa Clara University. “It recognizes our mission to blend the innovation of Silicon Valley with the spirit of Jesuit education. Through the creative instructional methods of the GSBF program, students are able to participate in the mission of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and touch lives, both here in the United States and around the world.”
“The key innovation offered by the GSBF lies in our action research model, which at its heart provides reciprocal value exchange,” said Keith Warner, Ph.D., OFM, director of education and action research at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and co-founder and director of the Global Social Benefit Fellowship. “The program simultaneously supports rigorous, transformative undergraduate student learning and the scaling of social enterprises worldwide. The GSBF is also a critical way for our GSBI social enterprise accelerator programs to engage the broader campus community in social innovation and entrepreneurship.”
“The action research undertaken by the fellows of the GSBF program provides value for all parties involved,” said Thane Kreiner, Ph.D., executive director of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and co-founder of the Global Social Benefit Fellowship. “The GSBF expresses the Santa Clara University and Miller Center philosophy of integrating practical action to serve the poor and protect the planet with the formation of future leaders.”
The Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation awards, which recognize high-impact social education innovations, will be presented during a keynote awards ceremony at the Ashoka U Exchange event, to be held March 2 to 4, 2017, at Miami Dade College. Santa Clara University’s GSBF program is being honored in the Academic Learning category, one of four Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award categories.
