Social Entrepreneurship

COURSE CREDIT: 4 Credit Hrs

COURSE LEVEL: 300

This course is intended to be an introduction to practices and principles of social entrepreneurship – roughly defined, the creative implementation of business strategies and market principles to work for social change.  The course focuses in great part on innovative approaches to addressing social needs, and explores contemporary case studies.  Topical themes include: Economic development through social enterprise; policy, politics, and free market forces; ethics and social responsibility; and globalization and the new economy. In particular this course will focus on case studies that engage entrepreneurial principles to address environmental issues. Students will visit a number of field sites, talk to expert practitioners, and observe innovative projects directly.

Course Faculty

Dr. Forrest Inslee

Dr. Inslee earned a masters and a Ph.D. in communication at Northwestern University, and a second masters in Christian Studies at Regent College, British Columbia -- all with an intercultural focus. His doctoral dissertation examined the culture of poverty, and was based on ethnographic fieldwork among Chicago’s homeless population. He later served as a professor and leadership consultant in Istanbul for several years. He now teaches at Northwest University in courses such as environmental justice and social entrepreneurship, and directs the MA in International Care and Community Development program at Northwest University