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Ashoka U Changemaker designation provides network of opportunities for students

By Kirsty Warren ’18

Social entrepreneur network Ashoka U named Hamilton a Changemaker Campus, a designation granted to institutions of higher learning dedicated to social innovation. The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, Community Outreach and Opportunity Program (COOP), and students who took part in the Social Innovation Fellows program all contributed to getting Hamilton recognized by Ashoka. Associate Director of the Levitt Center Chris Willemsen emphasized that the designation is a commitment to action on the part of Hamilton.

“It’s not just a stamp of approval. We’re committing ourselves to innovation and positive social change,” Willemsen said.
Professor Marianne Janack expressed similar sentiments. Janack is one of the “Change Leaders,” a member of the group that encourages and implements social innovation on campus. 

“Our designation is mostly about promise and potential; the Ashoka evaluation process showed that there are lots of little pockets of social innovation happening on campus, and in our relationships with Utica and other colleges in the area, but that until we embarked on this process, no one had thought of bringing them together under a larger umbrella,” Janack said.

“The designation is a powerful motivation to keep advancing the college’s educational goals of educating citizens who are able to imagine and implement informed, ethical, and effective solutions to persistent social problems,” said the Director of the Levitt Center, Professor Julio Videras.

According to Ashoka U’s website, Changemaker Campus candidates pay the organization $8,500 over two different phases of the selection process. Then, institutions pay an additional $10,000 for “on-boarding” once they have been designated a Changemaker Campus. School officials say Hamilton paid $1,000 less under an earlier pay schedule. “This one time fee covers the cost of an Ashoka U visit to campus as well as feedback and assessment about our programming from experts in the field and other associated costs of belonging to the university network, Willemsen explained.

Eren Shultz ’15 said social innovation is a natural fit for Hamilton, where students learn to think and find solutions in a creative, unconventional way. After attending a conference at Harvard in 2013, Shultz, a group of other students, Videras and Willemsen began working to bring the concept to Hamilton.

Hamilton follows Stanford’s definition of social innovation, which defines it as “a novel solution to a long-standing social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable or just.” Plans for continued social innovation are as varied as the students and faculty involved. According to Videras, Hamilton’s plans include providing fellowships for students who are passionate about social change. One of the fellowships in the process of being funded will go to a graduate who wants to work in the public sector while another will support a social innovator who wants to serve the local community. Janack said she is excited about the prospect of starting a settlement house in Utica and other projects to serve Utica and the surrounding area. On campus, Hamilton will offer more social innovation classes.

“We’re partnering with many people both on and off campus, working together to try to address persistent social problems,” Willemsen said. Since applying last spring Hamilton underwent the three-phase selection process which included a “360° Campus Scan,” a site visit by Ashoka U and a selection panel in which Change Leaders make a case for their institution before a panel of experts who decide whether the school qualifies as a Changemaker Campus. Willemsen, Janack and Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds traveled to California to “pitch” for Hamilton in August. Ashoka U Outreach Manager Rebecca Kagan said the organization was impressed by Hamilton’s commitment to social innovation at all levels by administration to faculty to students.

“Ashoka kind of termed ‘social innovation,’” Shultz said. “They started looking at the social sector in a new way, looking for ways to create sustainable change.”

Tsion Tesfaye ’16 is a member of the Innovation Team, which she defined as a group that works to integrate solution-focused problem-solving in the Hamilton community. After being involved with the application process, Tesfaye said she was not surprised Hamilton received the designation.

“What really hit me was what [being named a Changemaker Campus] meant,” Tesfaye said. “It means being connected to the Ashoka network, which includes fellows all over the world doing great, amazing work. In fact, great and amazing are understatements. Mentoring and networking are everything.”

Ashoka’s main branch includes almost 3,000 fellows in 70 countries. Ashoka U, the higher education branch, is made up of 27 colleges and universities including Hamilton. Hamilton’s designation as a Changemaker Campus connects students to this resource network.

“Ashoka U thinks about how to get our smartest and brightest people to start thinking about tough challenges and how to solve them in new ways,” Shultz said. “You have Ashoka U and then you have the Ashoka Fellows. If a student is working on a project, chances are one of those fellows has done something similar or has valuable advice. I went to Africa on a Levitt research grant for two months to study sustainable agriculture. All around Africa there are all these Ashoka Fellows who I tapped into through this network. I stayed with them, I learned from them, I worked with them. That’s just an example of how those fellows are a resource to us as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus.”

Students like Tesfaye and Ryan Ong ’16 participated in last years’ Social Innovation Fellows program and created projects that embody what Ashoka strives for. Ong developed a fashion brand which collects donated clothes and redesigns and sells them. The funds are then donated to an organization which advocates for homeless LGBTQ youth. He called the Levitt Center a hub for systemic positive change coming from Hamilton students. Tesfaye spent the summer working with students in Ethiopia, trying to combat brain drain by encouraging them to stay and work in their country. Videos about Ong and Tesfaye’s projects were submitted to Ashoka U during the selection process.

“Students involved in social innovation had a humble, yet ambitious, vision for how their ventures would contribute to social impact. They are careful to account for the ways in which their work could do damage, as well as good, and to think intelligently about their choices. Students get involved not in the “remote lives of others,” but instead return to communities they are connected to,” Kagan said. “In addition, faculty and staff encourage them to view their work developing ventures as stepping stones, instead of expecting their current venture to be a silver bullet.”

Tesfaye returned to the idea Willemsen brought up: being named a Changemaker Campus is only the beginning.

“We would like to see it more as a commitment to action than as just a title to put next to our name and advertise,” Tesfaye said. “It means that we need to put more effort into spreading social innovation on our campus. Leadership or innovation courses should not be restricted to a specific major or a certain type of personality. The beauty of it lies in that it can be applicable to anyone.”

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