Theme 2011-2013: Change Your World
This is . . . about people who solve social problems on a large scale. Most . . . are not famous. They are not politicians or industrialists. Some are doctors, lawyers and engineers. Others are management consultants, social workers, teachers, and journalists. Others began as parents. What unites them is their role as social innovators, or social entrepreneurs. They have powerful ideas to improve people's lives and they have implemented them across cities, countries, and, in some cases, the world.
The 2011 - 2013 Common Theme is inspired by the stories and principles described in the book How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein. It is about ordinary people from extremely diverse backgrounds and from nearly every continent who have applied social entrepreneurship principles in the areas of education, medicine and health care, human rights, environmental issues, access to technology, literacy, sustainable development, poverty and homelessness, small and micro-business development, women's and children's rights, and infrastructure development.
Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new international movement, and now academic discipline, that is gaining momentum in a global economy in which governments are unable to sustain efforts to develop solutions to a burgeoning range of social problems. Bornstein defines social entrepreneurship as ". . . a process by which citizens build or transform institutions to advance solutions to social problems, such as poverty, illness, illiteracy, environmental destruction, human rights abuses and corruption, in order to make life better for many." It goes beyond a business or a social activism philosophy; it encompasses a multidisciplinary, holistic worldview. Social entrepreneurs "readily cross disciplinary boundaries, pulling together people from different spheres, with different kinds of experience and expertise, who can, together, build workable solutions that are qualitatively new."
How to Change the World will be part celebration and part challenge. The IUPUI campus and its individual units are renowned for service learning and social outreach activities. This Common Theme will allow us to recognize and celebrate our successes and challenge us to find new ways to make an impact in our community. It will introduce us to local social entrepreneurs who are willing to share their stories and engage students, faculty, and staff in events and activities that will encourage thought, debate, research, and innovation.
This multidisciplinary and multicultural Theme presents many opportunities for cross-campus research, interaction with international students and faculty, and expanding study abroad programs. It generates myriad ways to incorporate service and experiential learning at the campus, community, or global level by building on current partnerships and establishing new ones that will evolve beyond IUPUI.
Our greatest strengths are our highly diverse and creative population, broad range of disciplines and partnerships, and access to resources, which make IUPUI uniquely situated to engage in a Common Theme that has the potential to affect social change both great and small, locally and globally, giving everyone the potential to truly be a changemaker.
