Interdisciplinary Minor

North­east­ern Uni­ver­sity estab­lished the Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Minor in Global Social Entre­pre­neur­ship (GSE) in Decem­ber 2010. Under­grad­u­ates from any col­lege within the Uni­ver­sity are eli­gi­ble for the GSE Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Minor, includ­ing busi­ness stu­dents who may also pur­sue a DMSB Entre­pre­neur­ship con­cen­tra­tion with a track in Social Entrepreneurship.

Why Study Social Entrepreneurship?

Social entre­pre­neur­ship is a rapidly grow­ing field of study, and an area that offers new and diverse career oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple inter­ested in “doing well and doing good”.  Much of the impor­tant activ­ity in the field is focused on the devel­op­ing world, and more specif­i­cally on find­ing sus­tain­able enter­prise solu­tions to alle­vi­at­ing poverty among the nearly 3 bil­lion peo­ple around the world liv­ing on less than $2 a day. Busi­ness, and espe­cially socially dri­ven inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, is now tak­ing a lead­ing role in find­ing and devel­op­ing these solu­tions, in part­ner­ship with gov­ern­ment, NGOs, phil­an­thropy, and other ele­ments of civil soci­ety.  Only a coop­er­a­tive part­ner­ship that offers the strengths of each sec­tor can make the kind of changes needed to ensure that every per­son has the oppor­tu­nity to live a healthy and pro­duc­tive life.

Foun­da­tion for the Minor:

The GSE Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Minor was cre­ated by the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with other col­leges within the Uni­ver­sity.  The minor is based on classes and Field Research Pro­grams offered by DMSB in social entre­pre­neur­ship since 2007, when the DMSB cre­ated a new Social Enter­prise Insti­tute (SEI) under the lead­er­ship of Pro­fes­sor Den­nis Shaugh­nessy.  Classes and inter­na­tional pro­grams offered by other programs/departments in the Col­lege of Arts, Media and Design includes Inter­na­tional Affairs, Human Ser­vices and Law, Pol­icy & Soci­ety; these course offer­ings can be com­bined with busi­ness offer­ings to com­plete a truly inter­dis­ci­pli­nary field of study in social entrepreneurship.

Required Course­work:

The Minor requires under­grad­u­ate stu­dents to com­plete five courses in the fol­low­ing sequence:

1. The Core Course
   Social Entre­pre­neur­ship ENTR2206 or Hon­ors equiv­a­lent* (offered Fall and Spring only)
2. In-Country Field Study
   SEI Field Research Pro­gram or Selected Dia­logues of Civ­i­liza­tion Pro­grams Bali or Zam­bia** (8SH)
3. Elec­tive
   See Approved Courses List below
4. Elec­tive
   See Approved Courses List below

The cur­rent approved list of elec­tives (addi­tional courses will be added) includes:

• ENTR2210: Social Impact Invest­ing: Con­nect­ing Com­pas­sion and Capital  
• ENTR2320: Busi­ness Model Design for Social Impact SPRING ONLY 
• ENTR3219: Busi­ness, Global Poverty & the Micro-finance Rev­o­lu­tion (Effec­tive Fall 2011) SPRING ONLY
• ENTR4506: Advanced Top­ics in Social Entre­pre­neur­ship Cap­stone SPRING ONLY
• ANTH3120: Con­sumer Cultures
• ANTH2305: Global Mar­kets & Local Cultures 
• INTL1101: Glob­al­iza­tion and Inter­na­tional Affairs
• INTL3460: Transna­tional Activism in Global Civil Society
• HUSV1101: Human Ser­vices Professions
• HUSV3570: Strate­gic Phil­an­thropy and Non-Profit Management
• HUSV3550: Social Pol­icy, Advo­cacy and Activism
• POLS3324: Law and Society
• POLS4510: Inter­na­tional Law
• POLS3487: Pol­i­tics of Devel­op­ing Nations
• HONR1205: Voices of Development
• LPSC2302: Global Human Rights

No more than 12 cred­its (three courses) may be counted toward the minor from any one col­lege.  For exam­ple, stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ing in an SEI Field Research Pro­gram can­not count ENTR2219 or ENTR4506 towards the minor. Stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ing in a Dia­logue rather than a SEI Field Research Pro­gram can count up to three ENTR courses toward the minor, one of which must be the required ENTR2206.

*The Hon­ors Sem­i­nar equiv­a­lent HONR2206 (for­merly HNRU206) from the 2008–2009 aca­d­e­mic year can be sub­sti­tuted for ENTR2206. The Hon­ors Sem­i­nar equiv­a­lent HONR1205 from the 2010 aca­d­e­mic year onward can be sub­sti­tuted for ENTR2206.

**Please note that cer­tain Dia­logues of Civ­i­liza­tion pro­grams that con­tain social entre­pre­neur­ship con­tent (enter­prise solu­tions to poverty and other con­di­tions of poverty) and related field expe­ri­ence may be taken instead of an SEI approved pro­gram. Only eight cred­its earned from a Dia­logue can be applied to the minor.  Infor­ma­tion on which Dia­logues are approved will be avail­able to stu­dents as of Decem­ber 2010.

**Approved Dia­logues

 Sum­mer 1: Bali (Dr. Denise Horn) 

INTL3460 - Transna­tional Activism & Advo­cacy 
INTL4940 - Global Corps Practicum 

Sum­mer 2: Zam­bia (Dr. Lori Gar­dinier)    

HUSV 4945 — Lead­er­ship & Inter­na­tional Pro­gram Development

HUSV 4866 — Inter­cul­tural Stud­ies through Human Services