Teaching Social Entrepreneurship in Public Affairs Programs: A Review of Social Entrepreneurship Courses in the Top 30 U. S. Public Administration and Affairs Programs

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship uses a radically innovative way to address social problems, with sustainable financing and a scale that can be expanded for broader social impact. Social entrepreneurship courses have a growing presence in U. S. public affairs programs, but the content of these courses has not yet been mapped. For this paper, we reviewed 16 syllabi from courses taught in U. S. schools of public affairs and administration, largely from schools ranked in the top 30 nationwide in 2012 by U. S. News & World Report. We identified patterns in program approaches, course content, and evaluation methods in order to offer information to others who may be teaching these classes now or in the near future. We conclude that the confluence of values, skills, and knowledge offered by public affairs programs is highly relevant to students who endeavor to be social entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs at any level of government or nonprofit organization.

• Public affairs
• social entrepreneurship
• curriculum

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kimberly K. Wiley

Kimberly K. Wiley is a doctoral candidate in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. She developed Askew School’s first social entrepreneurship course and continues to teach it alongside her studies in nonprofit management, policy implementation, and social policy.

Frances S. Berry

Frances S. Berry is the Reubin O’D. Askew Eminent Scholar of Public Administration in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. Her research and teaching is in public policy, innovation and diffusion, strategic and performance management, and policy networks.