News & Features

Enrichment Grant Report: Kehan Zhou ’15 and Julian Compagni Portis ’15

Kehan Zhou and Julian Compagni Portis were selected to receive an Enrichment Grant from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship to attend Startup Weekend New Haven in November. You can read their story below, and visit the PCSE website to learn more about our grant programs. ************************** Startup Weekend New Haven was a really great opportunity for my business partner,…

Student Spotlight: Alicia Gansley ’15

Civic engagement takes many forms at Wesleyan: volunteerism, activism and advocacy, community-based work, and more recently, unique academic experiences like service-learning and civic engagement courses.  Alicia Gansley ’15 – a Computer Science major completing the Economics minor and Civic Engagement certificate – has been involved with nearly all of these activities during her time at…

A Wesleyan Guide to Giving for Good

When it comes to gifts, we are taught early on that it’s the thought that counts. We prioritize sentimental value over monetary value, but another factor to consider is a gift’s social value: what are the repercussions of your consumption in communities, economies, and environments around the world? The rise of social entrepreneurship has made it…

Enrichment Grant Report: Lizzie Shackney ’17

CoCo Chair Lizzie Shackney ’17 was selected to receive an Enrichment Grant from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship to attend the Igniting Innovation Summit at Harvard last month. You can read Lizzie’s story below, and visit the PCSE website to learn more about our grant programs. ************************************** On November 7, I attended the Igniting Innovation Summit on Social Entrepreneurship…

My Top 5 Moments from the 2014 Net Impact Conference (by Hannah Lewis ’13)

This past November, I attended the Net Impact Conference in Minneapolis, MN. Net Impact is a nonprofit whose mission is to “empower a generation to drive social and environmental change on campus or throughout their careers.” With over 2,700 people in attendance, the Net Impact Conference was full of enlightening discussions both onstage and off,…

Reblog: GIS Service Learning Class Shares Field Research, Projects with Community

In Professor Kim Diver’s Introduction to GIS course, students learn to not only use Geographic Information Systems, but to harness their power to help community partners make a difference in Middlesex County. Olivia Drake has covered the work of this semester’s class: Five groups of students enrolled in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Service Learning Laboratory course…

Money, Money, Money (a roundup of grants, prizes, and fellowships for social impact)

There is money and support available from a wide variety of sources for aspiring social entrepreneurs and changemakers, but it’s not always easy to find these resources. Following is a round-up of grants, prizes, and fellowships that Patricelli Center team member Luciana Contreras ’16 has been reading about recently. Some are available only to current undergraduates, some…

I Need a Personal WHAT?!

Do you remember the first time you heard the phrase ‘personal brand’? If you’re like me, you thought, “That’s gross. I am a human, not a business or a product.” Reading the plethora of related articles in Forbes and being told by the New York Times that I need professional photos instead of selfies turned me off even further. Well, I…

‘YOLO’ and Other Advice from Alumni

When alumni connect with the Patricelli Center for the first time, they often leave bits of advice for students and young entrepreneurs. As fall break comes to close and courses kick into high gear again, we’re happy to offer a mid-semester pick-me-up and share some of their wise words. (If you’re an alum with truth bombs to…