I’m pleased to announce the first cohort of SIS Social Innovation Fellows. Please join me in congratulating them! These 11 Masters students join the Social Enterprise MAs in completing their qualifications for SIF this academic year. An additional 14 SIS MA students are, or have been, candidates in the process of qualifying. In addition to the Programs mentioned above, they represent GEP, GGPS, IER, and IPCR.
The SIS Social Innovation Fellows are a co-curricular activity open to students across all SIS graduate programs. It was created out of a realization that Social Enterprise certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on SIS students with an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship. This is well illustrated by the broad range of Programs our Fellows are based in.
In addition to the SE courses, the Fellows have access to the out-of-course activities we offer our MA students. These include: a self-assessment and career planning process tailored to people who want to be changemakers, joining SE students at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, getting coaching about their venture ideas from SE faculty and Practitioner Affiliates, attendance at downtown and on-campus networking events, and use of the startup incubator 1776’s facilities downtown and in Crystal City. They also hear about social innovation-related job openings and internships as well as off-campus opportunities to get up to speed with latest developments and new techniques in this field.
Eventually we hope to raise funds to support some of their ideas and ventures.
This was our pilot year. We’re off to a good start, due in good part to all of you PDs who spread the word about SIF to their students. We’ll recruit our next batch right after the Fall Semester kicks-off.
Thanks for all your encouragement and support!
Robert Tomasko, Program Director