The social entrepreneurship course will award a nine-credit certificate in which students will build a business with a mission to improve social impact alongside profits. Students will launch social ventures that will make meaningful contributions both locally and globally, according to the university.
The program includes summer partnerships with international nonprofits and ongoing collaborations with local entrepreneurs.
There are about 200 students majoring or minoring in entrepreneurship at UD, according to the university.
The idea falls in line with previous efforts at UD, including the Greater West Dayton Incubator, which helps West Dayton entrepreneurs get their start, and a flyer pitch contest that offers cash prizes to winners and is open to anyone in the Greater Dayton area.
The new social entrepreneurship program is named the Herr Ventures for Change Program after alumni Mike and Katie Herr, who donated funds to the social business program. UD declined to disclose the amount of their donation.
Mike Herr, an accounting graduate and UD trustee, and Katie Herr, an elementary education graduate and Parent Leadership Council member, established a scholarship fund in 2018 to support UD’s $400 million fundraising effort, “We Soar.”
“Social entrepreneurship should be at the heart of every enterprise,” says Mike Herr, “and the experiential learning and principles taught in this program will prepare all students to apply those principles to careers in any field, including business, engineering, education and medicine.”
