On today's episode, we have our 7th and final episode in our special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change with our conversation with Rachel Maxwell, Head of Learning and Teaching Development at the University of Northampton. Rachel shares her work in developing change maker learning outcomes to be adopted institution-wide, her own philosophy around change-making, and the impact the upcoming Ashoka U publication will have on the field of changemaker education.

Biography

Dr

Rachel Maxwell is Head of Learning and Teaching Development in the Institute of

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT) at the University of

Northampton in the UK. She is currently leading a number of projects supporting

the student experience, including improving the first year experience and the

development of a framework of graduate attributes embedding employability and

Changemaker skills across our curricula. 

Since starting work at the

University of Northampton in 2012, Rachel has displayed a strong interest in

Changemaking, primarily through her work to embed the skills and attributes

associated with Changemaker into our curricula. In this way, her desire is to

ensure that all students at Northampton receive a meaningful, on-programme entitlement

to engage with Changemaking, thus supporting the institutional strategy:

Transforming Lives + Inspiring Change.

We continue our special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change with our interview of Jacen Greene, Director of Impact Entrepreneurs at Portland State University. Jacen shares his winding journey from the private sector to consulting to higher education and working with change making education. He also shares how his private sector experience influences his work in education and how important learning outcomes are for a strong educational foundation. Listen to find out why Jacen believes that every decision he makes to be more inclusive in his programs has benefited every student participating.

Biography

Jacen Greene manages social innovation programs in PSU's School of Business,

including the Social Innovation Certificate and Elevating Impact Summit, and

co-founded PSU's new Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative. He teaches

design thinking and lean startup courses in social entrepreneurship, initiated

the student-run B Impact consulting program, and leads an award-winning case

writing program. He serves as PSU's Change Leader, official representative to

the Ashoka U Changemaker Campus network, and is one of Ashoka U's global

Network Advisory Committee members.

Jacen's case studies

have won the Oikos Case Competition, placed 2nd in the Next Billion

Competition, and been used by more than 2300 students and faculty. He has

published in the International Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology

Learning, VentureWell 20th Annual Conference Proceedings, Case Studies in

Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, and the Oikos Case Quarterly.

In addition to

overseeing the planning team for the yearly Elevating Impact Summit, he has

presented at or led workshops for the Fulbright Program, AmeriCorps, Net Impact

Conference (2011), GoGreen PDX (2012), VentureWell OPEN (2016), Ashoka U

Exchange (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), and Social Enterprise World Forum (2018),

among others.

Jacen graduated Beta

Gamma Sigma with an MBA in sustainability from Portland State University and

magna cum laude with a B.A. in China Studies from Willamette University. He has

previously worked or taught in India, China, Cambodia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Links

Learning Objectives GuideDownload

https://guides.library.pdx.edu/c.php?g=527355&p=3605354

Today's episode brings us our 4th installment of our special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change with our conversation with Rebecca Riccio, Director of the Social Impact Lab at Northeastern University. Rebecca shares her philosophy of change making education from the ways of thinking, ways of being, and ways of doing, to her disdain for placing too much emphasis on specific terms like "social entrepreneurship" or "social innovation" and lastly her chapter in the forthcoming Ashoka U publication.

Biography

Rebecca Riccio is the founding Director of the Social Impact Lab (SIL) at Northeastern University, an experiential learning hub that prepares students for lives of citizen-leadership and social change through systems thinking, complex problem solving,  and ethical community engagement.  Throughout her career, Rebecca has developed and managed cutting edge projects around the world, including the first federally funded teacher training program in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall; satellite-based email networks connecting health facilities in Africa and Asia before commercial options became viable; and the world’s first massive open online course or MOOC on experiential philanthropy, which engaged thousands of students around the world in awarding grants from the Buffett family’s Learning by Giving Foundation.  She continues to break new ground by researching and developing experiential learning methods that challenge students to grapple with the complexity and ethical implications of engaging in social change using techniques such as network and systems visualization, real-dollar grantmaking, and community-based service-learning. Rebecca is a leader in the growing use of experiential philanthropy education to illuminate the study of the nonprofit sector, civil society, and social justice by having students confront the power and privilege of managing scarce resources in the face of vast need. The model she developed at Northeastern, Northeastern Students4Giving, is now being adapted in countries around the world through SIL’s Global Philanthropy Initiative. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and social change at Northeastern University and has lectured on philanthropy, social justice, and policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Links

Social Impact Lab website: https://cssh.northeastern.edu/impactlab/

Social Impact-athon website: https://www.socialimpactathon.com/

Rebecca's talk at Ashoka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXxSIGdyPv4

Today we continue with our 3rd episode in our special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change by learning from Molly Ware, Professor of Education at Western Washington University. Molly shares her own journey to change making through the classroom, her work as an educator of educators, and her chapter in the upcoming Ashoka U publication

Preparing Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, and Changemaker Learning Outcomes. 

Biography

How can we accomplish more together than is possible alone? It's the question that's driven my work since I left my science teaching gig in GA public, middle schools. Since then, I've worked as a teacher educator in partnership with public school teachers in WA state - supporting the growth of new change maker teachers. In addition, I've worked to support organizational innovation & evolution at Western Washington University & beyond through a variety of leadership roles including Faculty Senate President, Director of Western Reads, and organizational change & innovation consulting work. I currently teach classes focused on leading systemic change and am finishing a memoir on adventures in system change.

In addition to her work at Western Washington University, Molly is founder & lead consultant at We Evolve where she supports organizational change & innovation in higher education & the social impact sector. https://www.we-evolve.org 

She is also finishing a memoir on her adventures in learning to create transformative change that will be completed this summer.

Links

http://www.we-evolve.org

On today's episode, we continue our special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change with Hattie Duplechain, Research and Evaluation Specialist at Ashoka U. Hattie shares her own journey into change-making through the K-12 system, her role, and the process she helped lead in writing the upcoming Ashoka U publication

Preparing Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, and Changemaker Learning Outcomes. 

Biography

Research and Evaluation Specialist, Hattie leads measurement efforts for the Ashoka U team. Hattie focuses on cultivating and working in partnership with Ashoka U's research community to document the effects of changemaking education and share learnings through knowledge products. Before joining Ashoka U Hattie worked as a primary level teacher, initially as U.S. Fulbright grantee to Nepal and later as a founding teacher at a Nashville, Tennessee middle school. Hattie began her work at the intersection between social innovation and higher education as a Vittana Fellow, supporting the microfinance organization’s work to fund higher education internationally. Hattie holds dual B.A. degrees in English and Communication Studies from Clemson University and an M.Ed. in International Education Policy and Management from Vanderbilt University.

Links

www.ashokau.org

40 Conversations about Changemaker Learning Outcomes

3 Critical Questions Changemaker Learning Outcomes Can Help us Answer 

Recommended Evaluation Resources_Summer 2018Download

Today we kick off the special series Ashoka U on Teaching Change with an interview with Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ashoka U Marina Kim. Marina shares her passion for change-making, how she got involved in the field as an undergraduate and reflects on the last 10 years since she co-founded the organization. She also discusses her hopes for the field and the upcoming Ashoka U publication Preparing Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, and Changemaker Learning Outcomes. 

Biography

Marina’s

work in social entrepreneurship dates back over 15 years. She co-founded and

leads Ashoka U, which works with colleges and universities to embed social

innovation as an educational focus and a strategic approach to aligning the

university’s culture, programs and operations. To date, Ashoka U has worked

with over 400 institutions globally. Marina’s writing on institutional change

and higher education innovation has been featured in Forbes.com,

SSIR.org, and the Diversity & Democracy

Journal, and Ashoka U has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy,

Huffington Post and The New York Times. Marina was named in the Forbes 30 under

30 for Social Entrepreneurship, received the post-graduate Tom Ford Fellowship

in Philanthropy from Stanford, and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of

Northampton. Marina holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford

University.

Links

www.ashokau.org

On today's episode, we learn about the 50 billion tons of waste the fashion industry generates per year goes into our landfills and how Melissa Feezor of Raw Materials by Melissa is determined to change that fact.  Melissa Feezor shares her journey of operating a boutique one-off fashion business to struggling to pay her bills and take of her two children and back again.  Melissa is creating cool stylish looks out of unlikely sources specifically "old man pants".

Biography

Melissa Feezor worked in the creative field most of her adult life. She founded a graphic design company, enjoyed a fine art career and launched raw materials, an upcycled fashion line. Then she lost everything. During the economic downturn of 2008, she went thru a divorce and lost her home. With two small children to care for, she gave up on her creative career and worked as many odd jobs as she could to keep them afloat. It was a dark and humbling time. The loneliness, isolation, and shame of living below the poverty level nearly broke Melissa. But, it never got to her sweet and incredibly brave kids, age 6 and 9 at the time. Mia and her brother Michael sat vigil outside mom’s bedroom door during Melissa’s “time outs” to cry, and would say under the door; “breathe mommy, just breathe”. 

As she got back on her feet the strength of her children stuck with her. She felt a desire to help other children who came home after school to a parent in a desperate situation and through no fault of their own had to be a kid and an adult all at the same time. She knew the only way to help these courageous kids was to help their parents get back on their feet and help make the family whole again. Melissa learned, through her own challenging experiences, that kids just want their parents back to being parents.

Melissa eventually went back to the corporate world. There she tried to rally coworkers to see the needs of the poor and show them how thoughtfully designed products and programs could “solve the world’s problems, with the world’s problems”. This crusade leads to several humanitarian programs, including a virtual food drive and a volunteer engagement program. These ideas caught the eye of top-level executives of her billion dollar employer. Although she had CEO level support, corporate red tape and layers of management caused the eventual demise of her big, world-changing ideas.

What can only be described as divine inspiration thru a Christian faith-based journey, Melissa was led to her earlier love of upcycling clothing. Her son, Michael, once told her after a particularly upsetting episode early in the divorce, “mom, you take everything bad and make it good”. Focused on that principle, equipped with the skills of being able to design wearable fashion out of old clothes and a special vision to see textile waste as a valuable commodity, Melissa relaunched raw materials. This time to benefit humanitarian causes in addition to environmental benefits.

With the blessing of a second chance at love and the support of her new husband she left the safety of her corporate job and is devoting herself full time to raw materials and its basic principle: making high fashion from old clothes for good causes. Through product line development, pops ups, fashion fundraisers and workshops she is hoping to fill a great need as a social enterprise element for those needing way back to society. She currently is focused on several non-profits who serve sex trafficking survivors and is teaching what she knows to others. Melissa hopes this will provide not only a trade for these survivors but also a dignified, sustainable way back to society.

Links

www.rawmaterialsbymelissa.com

Follow @rawmaterialsbymelissa on Instagram

On this episode, we speak with a Dani Chesson who is a Business Transformation Consultant with Chesson Consulting in New Zealand.  Dani shares her journey from New York to New Zealand with a few stops in between and shares her excitement for helping businesses to not only becoming more profitable but also more rewarding.  Dani's work and passion are in building the capabilities needed for change!

Biography

Dani Chesson, Ph.D.

With a unique blend of design, business, and organizations development skills, Dr. Dani Chesson’s helps companies tackle complex challenges to reach their full potential. Dani is the creator of Chesson’s DESIGN THINKER PROFILE, Dani takes a Design Thinking approach to creating innovative yet pragmatic solutions to complex business challenges.

Throughout her career, Dani has taken a design perspective to help organizations create new products and services, adopt emerging technologies, and successfully implement large-scale transformational change. Prior to starting Chesson Consulting, Dani was a former Vice President at Bank of America where she led global teams in operationalizing innovation, managing change, and responding to regulatory requirements. She has also held leadership and consulting roles at Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting, Sherpa, LLC, and HSBC.

Dani holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications with a focus in graphic design. She holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Organization Development from Queens University of Charlotte where her research focused on how designers approach their work. As part of her graduate work, Dani also completed a Certificate in Executive Coaching. She is also accredited in the DISC Value Index, a certified Six Sigma Green Belt, and a trained facilitator of the Immunity to Change process. Dani earned her Ph.D. in Leadership and Organizational Change from Antioch University where her research involved developing an assessment for measuring the capabilities of Design Thinkers and expanding the use of Design Thinking in organizations. Dani is a scholar-practitioner who brings insights from research into organizations and whose research is informed by her work with clients.

Links

Dani Chesson contact - [email protected]

http://www.chessonconsulting.com

https://designthinkerprofile.com/

 

On this episode with speak with current doctoral student and aspiring social entrepreneur Sara Frost.  Sara is finishing up her coursework for the Ph. D. in Leadership and Change, from Antioch University and will be embarking research on risk-taking in social enterprises.  Sara shares her aspirations to begin her own "Art Bus" social enterprise that would travel around the United States bringing the Arts to school children.  She also shares her own journey in discovering, studying, and practicing social entrepreneurship.

Biography

Sara Frost, Ed.S.

Data Systems Manager at The Guild for Human Services and Ph.D. Student at Antioch University

By day, Sara is the data systems manager at a special education school in Massachusetts; she uses data to inform the agency in decision-making. By night, she is a Ph.D. student at Antioch University. Her dissertation is on barriers to Risk-taking for Social Entrepreneurs. She has been excited about social entrepreneurship since 2008 when she came up with an idea for a social enterprise that she wants to start. At the time she was unaware of the exciting world of social entrepreneurship.

Along the way, she has tried to gain the necessary education to start such an endeavor. Although she hasn't quite gotten her idea off the ground, she has learned about some really cool people who are changing the world.

Sara is also a sloth enthusiast, a mom to a human and two dogs, and wife to a 3D Animator and video game designer.

Sara has a BA in Theater from Florida State University, an MS in Human Services Administration from Louisiana State University Shreveport, and an Ed.S. in Special Education from Bay Path University.

Given the opportunity to tell you what to do, she would encourage you to be kind to everyone, do one thing that excites you every day, and stay awesome.

Links

Sara Frost contact - [email protected]

Jerrid Kalakay's Dissertation - “JUST” Business and Often Personal: An Exploration Into the Incidents Social Entrepreneurs Identify as Critical to Leading Their Enterprises

Guild for Human Services Website - www.guildhumanservices.org

AmeriCorps NCCC - https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-programs/americorps-nccc

Sara also encourages you to buy the coloring book that has a picture of her baby, called Dogs Are Mean: The (ADULT) Coloring Book (Animals Are Mean) (Volume 2) https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Are-Mean-Coloring-Animals/dp/1729812589/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542998965&sr=1-1&keywords=animals+are+mean+dogs+are+mean

On this episode, we speak with Dr. Randy Bartlett on his project of creating a new progressive independent high school named City of Bridges in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Randy is the founder and will serve as Head of School when the school opens in the Fall of 2019. He has three core values at the forefront of the school's development real work project-based learning, peace and justice, and student agency. Randy shares why a new high school is needed in the Pittsburgh community and why change making is an essential education component.

Core Values

The City of Bridges School will:

Have real work project-based learning as a cornerstone of its educational offerings;

Be explicit in enacting the values of peace and justice within and outside of the community;

Have the student voice and agency in all major decisions related to the operations and curriculum.

Biography

Dr. Randy Bartlett, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Head of School-Humanities Teacher

Randy has been working in education and non-profit organizations for two decades. He has been a teacher in small rural schools like the Acworth Center School, a school principal at Propel East and Propel Montour, a designer of the project based Andrew Street High School, a Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Data and A Senior Director of Research, Reporting and the Arts. He designed and directed the Pittsburgh Urban Teaching Corp and teaches graduate students on their path to becoming teachers at Chatham University. He has served as the president of the Board of Trustees for the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, and as a curriculum consultant for The Sprout Fund.

Most importantly he is a father, husband, a seeker of new experiences and a joyfully curious learner.

Randy has a BA in History and Religion from Oberlin College, a M.Ed. in Integrated Learning from Antioch University New England, a post-masters certificate in Educational Leadership from Keene State College and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.

A utopian at heart, he believes that enriching learning opportunities and supportive communities can transform our world

Links

Randy Barlett Contact: [email protected]

City of Bridges High School Website: www.cityofbridgeshighschool.org

City of Bridges High School Donations Site:  http://cityofbridgeshighschool.org/donate/