Colorado College has been designated a Changemaker Campus by Ashoka U, and selected to join a global consortium of leaders in social innovation. The group seeks innovative, transformative, and sustainable solutions to social problems. The 26 members of the consortium, which includes only three liberal arts colleges, are committed to advancing social innovation initiatives on their campuses.

Founded in 2005, Ashoka U is the university division of Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs. Ashoka U takes an institutional change approach to impact the education of millions of students, collaborating with colleges and universities to break down barriers to institutional change and foster a campus-wide culture of social innovation.

The Changemaker Campus designation solidifies Colorado College’s reputation as a leader in developing innovative, socially minded curricula and programs. The rigorous selection process involved months of assessments, interviews, site visits, and strategy sessions. Faculty, staff, and students teamed together to get the designation for CC, which joins Middlebury and Rollins as the only liberal arts institutions in the Ashoka network.

One of the benefits the “changemaker campus” designation provides is global recognition for the work CC does toward social entrepreneurship.

“Our students take the initiative to accomplish extraordinary things — we see it time and again,” said President Jill Tiefenthaler. “At CC, the spirit of innovation and social entrepreneurship runs deep, and we are proud to be recognized as a Changemaker Campus by Ashoka U. Together we can build stronger, more vibrant communities and empower the future leaders of social change, those who are determined to find solutions to world’s most pressing problems.”

Rachel Maremont ’15 with teachers and students from a school in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is part of the team that worked for CC’s Changemaker Campus designation. She spent nine weeks last summer working with a public health organization in Cochabamba through CC’s Global Sustainability Internship Program. The college’s selection by Ashoka as a Changemaker Campus stemmed from its Global Sustainability Internship Program.

Rachel Maremont ’15 with teachers and students from a school in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is part of the team that worked for CC’s Changemaker Campus designation. She spent nine weeks last summer working with a public health organization in Cochabamba through CC’s Global Sustainability Internship Program. The college’s selection by Ashoka as a Changemaker Campus stemmed from its Global Sustainability Internship Program.

In a rapidly changing world, students need interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and solutions-oriented skills to succeed. At the same time, students’ expectations of their educational experiences are changing: 72 percent say that having a job “where I can make a difference” is very important and 65 percent expect to make a social or environmental impact through their work, according to a 2012 Net Impact study conducted by Rutgers University and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

“The college is aiming to expand all types of global experiences for students, drawing on the strength of the Block Plan,” said Sociology Associate Professor Eric Popkin, director of Global Social Innovation and Ashoka Programs and the designated changemaker leader on campus. The structure of the Block Plan facilitates student innovation on a local, regional, and global scale, by allowing students the opportunity to use a block — or more — to explore social problems and seek meaningful solutions without jeopardizing their coursework in other classes.

Our students take the initiative to accomplish extraordinary things — we see it time and again.”
— Jill Tiefenthaler, President of Colorado College

Ashoka was impressed by the number of strong programs at the forefront of social innovation that CC already has in place, Popkin said. Among them are the State of the Rockies Project, Public Interest Fellowship Program, Venture Grants, The Big Idea, IDEA Space, and Global Sustainability Summer Internships, featured elsewhere in this issue.

CC also has a strong global perspective, with an average of 25 global block courses offered every year, and approximately 80 percent of Colorado College students involved in off-campus academic work at some point in their CC career.

“The educational goals of students are changing,” said Marina Kim, cofounder and executive director of Ashoka U. “These student demands add a new dimension to the call for innovation in higher education: How can colleges and universities foster the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that equip graduates to address increasingly complex global challenges? Every student should get the chance to acquire the skills necessary to make a difference in the world.”