Ashoka U Co-Founder to Receive UNH Social Innovator of the Year Award

Thursday, October 25, 2018

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DURHAM, N.H.—Marina Kim, co-founder and executive director of Ashoka U, has been named the 2018 Social Innovator of the Year by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Social Innovation & Enterprise. An initiative of Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs, Ashoka U aims to impact the education of millions of students by collaborating to help colleges and universities rewire education to more effectively enable, empower, and catalyze student changemakers.

Kim will be honored at the 6th annual NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge Thursday Nov. 29, 2018. The presentation of the award will coincide with the live final round of the challenge, where eight finalists in each track will present their ideas to a panel of distinguished judges and Kim will give a keynote address. Following the address, the top three winners in each track of the challenge will be announced. Cash and in-kind prizes worth over $65,000 will be given to winners to fund their ideas. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For those interested in competing in this year’s challenge, the deadline for submissions is Nov. 7, 2018 at 10 a.m. EST. Information and entry requirements are available at unh.edu/svic.

During the keynote, Kim will speak to the issues facing higher education institutions as they work to equip the next generation with the knowledge and tools to be successful in tackling humanity’s most pressing social and environmental grand challenges. She will offer insights into how higher education can be prepared to lead in a new way. As colleges and universities work to achieve the mission of creating knowledge, educating and serving their communities, changemaking and social innovation can be powerful lenses for transformation. She will address questions including: How can institutions support this learning in the most powerful way? What changes do we need to see in higher education to live the values of changemaking throughout the campus culture? How can we all live purposefully and contribute to effective impact? 

Kim’s work in social entrepreneurship dates back over 15 years. She co-founded and leads Ashoka U, which works with colleges and universities to embed social innovation as an educational focus and a strategic approach to aligning the university’s culture, programs and operations. To date, Ashoka U has worked with over 400 institutions globally. Kim’s writing on institutional change and higher education innovation has been featured in Forbes.com, SSIR.org, and the Diversity & Democracy Journal. Ashoka U has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Huffington Post and The New York Times. Kim was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship, received the post-graduate Tom Ford Fellowship in Philanthropy from Stanford, and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Northampton. She holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford University.

Invested in supporting public education, addressing sustainability challenges, and equipping the next generation of changemakers, several community leaders and organizations have partnered with UNH’s Center for Social Innovation & Enterprise to provide support and sponsorship of the NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge. Lead supporters include Impax Asset Management | Pax World Funds, Kennebunk Savings Bank, Pierce Atwood, LLP, and Timberland. Additional sponsors include AMI Graphics, CCA Global Partners, Cirtronics, Cole Haan, Monadnock Paper, NH Business Review, NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, NH Clean Tech Council, NH Tech Alliance, Normandeau Associates, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs, PixelMEDIA, Prime Buchholz, LLC, and ReVision Energy.

The annual NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge is led by the Center for Social Innovation & Enterprise (CSIE) in partnership with, and support from UNH’s Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics, Carsey School of Public Policy, UNH Sustainability Institute and Net Impact UNH. CSIE’s mission is to inspire, train and support the next generation of changemakers. It is an interdisciplinary center offering high-impact experiences for UNH students to apply their academic learning in real world settings.

The University of New Hampshire is a flagship research university that inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. UNH’s research portfolio includes partnerships with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, receiving more than $100 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.