Taylor Center News

Each year, a select group of graduate students in our social venture accelerator, the Changemaker Institute (CI), work tirelessly in the evenings and on weekends to propel their idea for social change into a viable and sustainable social enterprise. A…

A college student sits in an Applied Math class waiting for the lecture to begin. As the professor introduces the three guests who were expected to talk about design thinking, the lights flicker. “OMG what’s going on,” cries one of…

For months now, individuals have sat at sewing machines for thousands of hours, making masks to protect people from the spread of COVID-19. These sewists joined artists, scientists, medical professionals, historians, designers, lawyers, singers, and others to create a homemade…

 By Samantha Fleurinor, Taylor Center Senior Program Coordinator Design thinking (DT) often elicits images of post it notes flying across the room, groups huddled over coarse prototypes made of cheap material, and enthusiastic millennials who are ready to take criticism…

Written by Tran Nguyen-Phuong, Taylor Center 2019-2020 Design Thinking Student Fellow and Erica Casareno, Taylor Center 2019-2020 Communications Student Fellow. Uncertainty is an unavoidable element of life. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to recognize this fact more than ever before.…

In a world changing in response to COVID-10, many of us find ourselves having completely restructured our lives and are in the midst of exploring entirely new ways to work, socialize, and imagine our professional journey ahead. Julia Lang, Taylor’s…

On Friday, May 15, 2020, I led a session on (re)framing practices in design thinking for the monthly Design Thinking the New Orleans Way virtual breakfast series. The purpose was to invite participants to reflect on how we can “frame”…

Written by Tran Nguyen-Phong, Taylor Center 2019-2020 Design Thinking Student Fellow. Albert Einstein was right when he stated that “you can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created.” Moving beyond what is safe and familiar is necessary…

Julia Lang, Taylor’s Assistant Director of Career Education, has written What is Life Design? Taylor’s Ten Life Design Frameworks, a piece that condenses the underpinnings of our Life Design courses into ten core frameworks and mindsets while providing dozens of activities…

On Tuesday, May 12, 2020, Julia Lang ran a webinar for Stanford University’s Life Design Studio to over 50 universities embedding life design on their campuses across the world. Julia shared how to recruit, train, and manage a fleet of…

In Spring 2020, Dr. Mallory Monaco Caterine challenged her students to create an inclusive, accessible Classically-based curriculum for New Orleans youth using the tools of design thinking. The seven students in her “Roman Fables” course spent the semester building their…

Written by Ruby Murfield,  Taylor Center 2019-2020 Design Thinking Student Fellow. As the academic year comes to a hectic close, my time as a student fellow at the Taylor Center ends, and it’s time to reflect on a whirlwind year.…

By Julia Lang and Mehr Manzoor Our Taylor Your Life for Graduate Students workshop was just two weeks into its 5-week series when Tulane University announced campus was closing and all classes and programs would be moved online due to…

The Taylor Center Research & Scholarship (R&S) team identified the long-running “Fast 48” design thinking weekend workshop as a priority for internal program review back in 2017. When this internal learning process started, the tenth Fast 48 was just coming up,…

Written by: Maille Faughnan & Laura Murphy   In light of the necessary lock-downs, social distancing, and the escalating public health threat of the global coronavirus pandemic, the world’s leading conference on social innovation in higher education –the Ashoka U Exchange…

On March 20, Dr. Lesely-Ann Noel co-hosted our monthly virtual breakfast with Lisa Cates, the president of the New Orleans Photo Alliance. DT NOW an abbreviation for Design Thinking the New Orleans Way, our monthly design thinking networking breakfast. At…

A message from the Taylor Center's executive director, Kenneth Schwartz Dear Taylor Community, We are following Tulane's COVID-19 policies. For current University policies, visit tulane.edu/emergency. At 5 p.m. on Monday, Tulane's Howard Tilton Memorial Library (along with our office) closed…

“It’s a metaphor!” I declared to the participants of my design thinking workshop. The gears start turning in their heads. I breathlessly watch them sketch out their visions before me, resurrecting houses from an assortment of recycled materials and scribbling…

"How might we work together to build a more just, healthy and equitable city?” In Fall 2019, the Crescent City Corps contacted Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, Taylor’s Associate Director of Design Thinking, to create a one-day design thinking workshop with a…

On Monday, February 17th, we held our Spring 2020 Social Innovation Conversation: "Decolonizing Social Innovation Research: Learning From PlayBuild NOLA." Angela Kyle, the Co-founder and Executive Director of PlayBuild NOLA, and Dr. Maille Faughnan, Taylor Center Research Fellow, shared their…

The Taylor team will be attending the upcoming Diversity, Equity and Student Success conference here in New Orleans. Four members of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation will be presenting at the convocation, hosted by the Association of American Colleges and…

Announcing the newest Taylor Provocation paper: A Theory of Change-Making: An Ecosystem Approach Dear educators, administrators, students, and community members interested in changemaking on your nearest campus, read our newest “Taylor provocations” paper. The team of authors are: Maille Faughnan,…

What does a world of many centers look like? How might we get there? The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking (Taylor) at Tulane University  together with the The Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group of the Design…

On Saturday, January 25 , Taylor’s Warehouse District location was buzzing with activity: “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys was blaring in the background and students belted out the lyrics, fully immersed in their design work. Most…

Researchers can now apply to present at the twelfth annual International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC). Heralded as “the world’s leading interdisciplinary social innovation research conference,” ISIRC 2020 will be held on September 1-3, 2020 in Sheffield, England. Jay Friedlander,…

Each year, a select group of graduate students in Taylor’s social venture accelerator, the Changemaker Institute, work tirelessly in the evenings and on weekends to propel their idea for social change into a viable and sustainable social enterprise. Participants in the…

The Taylor team is proud to introduce an incredible group of mentors for the 2020 Changemaker Institute cohort. These mentors commit their time and expertise to support our budding social entrepreneurs develop and hone their ideas for social change. Mentors…

Taylor Center staff and colleagues participated in a design thinking capacity-building retreat on December 9, 2019 at Taylor’s Warehouse District location. The aim of this active and experimental workshop was to build design thinking abilities by introducing participants to several…

Reflecting on the TYL4Grads Launch in Fall 2019 Greatest areas of learning and growth from the first cohort of Graduate Students who participated in TYL4Grads (Taylor Your Life for Graduate Students), a 4-week life design lab By Julia Lang and…

From video chat to flatscreen TVs, robotic help, printed food, drones and smartwatches, today’s innovations were once pure fantasies. The Taylor Life Design team is making predictions for the future of education and demonstrating how cultivating a design thinking mindset…

On November 1, the Taylor Center hosted its first Silent Scholars’ Writing Retreat of Fall 2019 semester at the Taylor Center’s Warehouse District location. Thirteen scholars, including Tulane faculty, Tulane graduate students, and a local writer—gathered to ‘silently’ work on…

On October 21, 2019, three recipients of the Taylor Changemaker Catalyst Award gathered in the Taylor Center classroom to share findings, insights about research methodology, and musings about how social innovation and change-making influences their scholarly work. Tulane School of…

What happens when philosophers, social scientists, designers, and social entrepreneurs start talking? New ideas for change, I hope. In early September 2019, I traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to attend the 11th International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC), the “world’s leading…

By: Barri Bronston The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University has developed an online library with materials such as instructor guides, videos, worksheets and other resources to assist educators in helping university students…

Tulane University honored skin care innovators Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields with its Distinguished Entrepreneurs of the Year Award and social entrepreneurs Stephanie and David Barksdale (TC ’00) with its Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award at…

Photo by Gigsy. By Dustin Robertson. How can Tulane students create social impact through social ventures? Alaa Mohammad, a biostatician and epidemiologist, walks up to a microphone, raises her eyes and asks the crowd to imagine a world free of…

Photo Courtesy: Cordula Roser Gray. By: Alexandra Greengrass. “I always have seen the relationship between architecture and design thinking as an intricately connected one…”, said SE Professor Cordula Roser Gray. Roser Gray says the elements of design thinking are very…

Photo: Gigsy. By Alexandra Greengrass. Michael Sorrell is currently president of Paul Quinn College, a historically black, christian university in Dallas, Texas, and has been for the past eleven years. On January 23, Sorrell visited Tulane as the NewDay and…

By Abigail Bean and Alexandra Greengrass. Christopher Oliver, PhD, never expected to work with an academic center focused on social innovation. “I  was a little taken aback because when I heard the term ‘social innovation,’ I thought of business schools……

Photo: Anjali Prasertong Video: Jennifer Scarnato Miller Check out this video to learn more about a  collaboration. The Design Krewe was a project with Liberty’s Kitchen (LK) and Top Box Foods (TBF), where Taylor trained selected graduates of the Liberty…

NEWDAY DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: Dr. Michael J. Sorrell is the longest-serving President in the 146-year history of Paul Quinn College. During his 11 years of leadership, Paul Quinn has become something unique - a small, private minority-serving institution that by…

NEWDAY DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: Katie Orenstein, founder and CEO of The OpEd Project, writes and speaks frequently about the intersection of media and mythology – that is, what we think is fact or fiction and how that shapes our ideas…

Tom Karrel, the 2017 design thinking graduate assistant spent sometime in Uganda, working for the Uganda Village Project. During his time there, he began translating his experiences with design thinking at the Taylor center to international health and development work…

  In June, Tulane School of Architecture alumni, faculty and friends gathered for the annual alumni reception during the AIA Conference on Architecture, held this year in New York City. Below are excerpts of my remarks from the event. We…

By Mary Johns. Through an innovative use of the Tulane School of Architecture’s graduate research fellowship, Professor of Practice Andrew Liles and graduate architecture student Lucy Satzewich employed a design approach to help local LGBTQ youth organization BreakOUT! create a…

Photo: Sally Asher Approximately 50 Tulane students enrolled in new course, Project IX: Student Design to End Sexual Assault, presented their ideas for shifting campus culture around sexual misconduct to the Tulane community at an event May 2. Creative, bold…

Juan Carlos Monterrey-Gómez never intended to be negotiating climate change policy at the United Nations barely a year after graduation. After earning a degree in economics and international development from Tulane University in 2014, the Panama native landed a job in…

After six months of intense research and development, five Tulane student-led social ventures revealed business proposals at the Taylor Student Showcase held April 11. The ventures, from a mental health tech company to a scholarship readiness program, are the first…

Photo: Sally Asher. By: Faith Dawson. When Kenneth Schwartz arrived at Tulane University in 2008, the School of Architecture was re-energizing after Hurricane Katrina and showing “a lot of momentum, and a lot of positive energy and goodwill in the community.” The time was…

The Tulane Hullabaloo covered a Project IX student led initiative, the Bedsheet Project, which aims to initiate discussions about sexual assault.  By Fiona Grathwohl. Next week, students from every sphere of Tulane will be invited to participate in the Bedsheet Project,…

Photo: ThinkStock. By: Keith Brannon. Participating in yoga and mindfulness activities at school helps third-graders exhibiting anxiety improve their well-being and emotional health, according to a new Tulane University study published in the journal Psychology Research and Behavior Management. “Our initial work found that many kids expressed…

Photo: Paula Burch-Celentano. By: Mary Cross. When the results of the climate survey on sexual misconduct were released at a town hall meeting on the uptown campus in January 2018, hundreds of students attended the event, with many speaking up…

Photo: PlayBuild NOLA/Facebook Running a nonprofit is not for the faint of heart. Constantly faced with a lack of time, money and resources, immediate needs compete with long-term planning and strategy for attention. Angela Kyle, founder of local nonprofit PlayBuild…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Marianne Desmarais as a 2018 Taylor Faculty Fellow. Marianne Desmarais, R.A., is a Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture and maintains a practice…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Cordula Roser Gray as the Beers Professorship II in Social Entrepreneurship and Cole Fellow starting January 1, 2018. Cordula Roser Gray is a Professor of…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Mallory Monaco Caterine, Dee Fuchs, Vivian Norris, and Dauphne Sloan as 2018 Taylor Faculty Fellows. In 2013, Mallory Monaco Caterine joined the Department of Classical…

Photo: Paula Burch-Celentano. By: Mary Johns. When a GE designer learned pediatric patients were often frightened by MRI scans, he transformed the experience into an adventure. With a touch of imagination, paint and special effects, the machines morphed into submarines…

Photo courtesy of J. David Ake/AFP/Getty Images SE professor, Dr. Elizabeth Townsend Gard, has been working with her Tulane law class on copyright infringement cases. Read the article below to learn more about her work appearing in the music industry. The…

Photo: Ryan Rivet. By: Mary Cross. The Changemaker Institute (CI), housed at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, is creating a more streamlined experience for students by offering two new paths: the Changemaker Institute, which helps students focus…

Gambit Weekly’s annual “40 Under 40” list honors local innovative professionals under the age of 40. Taylor Community Innovator Circle partner Aaron Frumin of unCommon Construction was honored in the local publication’s 2017 list. Frumin is founder and executive director…

NEWDAY DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: Theaster Gates (b. 1973, Chicago, USA) lives and works in Chicago. Gates creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation,…

Healthy Corner Store Collaborative grand opening event on Sept. 15, 2017. Photo courtesy Top Box Foods – New Orleans. Top Box Foods – New Orleans is co-coordinating a pilot project to increase access to healthy, affordable groceries in food insecure…

Kimberlé Crenshaw is a proponent of difficult conversations. The UCLA School of Law professor and leading critical race theorist visited Tulane on Monday, September 24, bringing her message of dialogue, societal introspection, and social justice. Walking out to a standing…

Social Entrepreneurship (SE) Professor Vicki Mayer is in the Netherlands on sabbatical. An update from her time abroad, originally posted on ViaNolaVie.com, is below. Photo by Kattiel, Wikimedia Commons, 2011. Social innovations are sometimes literally underfoot. I came to the…

“There’s a lot of value in understanding how we go about creating change… I think it’s really important to remember that change can be something that is as little as moving a grain of sand.” Changemaker Institute alum, Anoop Jain…

Living with water, and often flooding, is a fact of life for Louisiana residents. With the destruction from three major hurricanes fresh in the headlines, staff, students and community members came together to learn design thinking principles while rethinking the…

Photo by Ryan Rivet.  Tulane graduate student and 2015 Alvarez Spark Award recipient Sydney Gray travels to Pakistan this week for the U.S. Embassy to Pakistan’s Entrepreneurship Speaker Series. Gray is one of five individuals selected for the recently launched…

Communications and Marketing Fellow Josh Axelrod traveled to A Call to Men Conference in September 2017 to deconstruct toxic masculinity and study the parallels between changemaking and social justice. Josh is majoring in English and Political Economy. Toxic masculinity is…

Photo: Dean Schwartz speaks at the Fall 2017 All School Meeting. Each semester, we mark the beginning of a new term with an All School Meeting. This tradition brings our community together and sets the tone for the coming weeks.…

Taylor Center welcomes two new organizations to Community Innovators’ Circle The Phyllis Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University is proud to announce PlayBuild and unCommon Construction (uCC) as new members of the Community Innovators’ Circle…

Empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. Five words to live by for students in Professor Allison Schiller’s Design Thinking for Collective Impact class. A core in the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship minor, SISE 3010 introduces participants to the design thinking…

Two years ago, Dr. Vicki Mayer hatched a plan to create a user-focused online platform that documents and preserves New Orleans culture. This week, with the official launch of ViaNolaVie.com, that dream becomes a reality. ViaNolaVie.com is a fusion of…

Justin Massa is an innovator and entrepreneur with expertise in food, big data, housing, open gov data, and civil rights. His work centers on connecting industries, companies, and governments, which have historically lagged behind with the technologies and data they…

Photo: Paula Burch-Celentano By: Barri Bronston Note: Jordan Karubian is a Taylor Center Social Entrepreneurship Professor.  Could mockingbirds, known for mimicking the sounds of other birds, also be mirroring the effects of lead exposure in humans? Tulane University researchers have received…

Photo: Students in Tulane’s Teacher Preparation and Certification Program explore Italy during the program’s first study abroad experience held in June. (Photos from TPCP) By: New Wave staff. Original article here. Note: Shannon Blady is a Taylor Center Social Entrepreneurship Professor.  In…

FAST 48 is an immersive boot camp to cultivate mindsets and practical skills in human-centered design (HCD). It’s designed for graduate students, scholars, and professionals— scientists, artists, teachers, health promoters, business owners, non-profit directors, administrators. We welcome a diverse group…

Photo: Paula Burch-Celentano. By: Mary Cross. Note: Vicki Mayer is a Taylor Center Social Entrepreneurship Professor.  Whether filming the march of Mardi Gras Indians or recounting the history of Mimi’s in the Marigny, Tulane students have created articles, podcasts, photography, essays…

Aron Chang is visiting Taylor for a 12-month term beginning July 1. During his time with Taylor, Aron will engage with Taylor faculty, fellows, students, and staff through existing Taylor programming. Building upon his conversation with SE Professor, Dr. Thomas…

The Network Advisory Committee (NAC) and Ashoka U announced Taylor as one of the three recipients of the “Ashoka U Collaboration Fund”, a grant for Changemaker Campuses to collaborate on an initiative, program, or research project that advances campus-wide changemaking…

A Team-based Introductory Design Workshop Last Friday, about 18 participants came from Tulane and local community to join our final “Design Thinking and Donuts” of the year for a Team Challenge to Plan for Hurricane Season. Participants came from local…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is excited to announce our new partnership with Howard Tilton Memorial Library. This upcoming fall, the Taylor space will move from Flower Hall to the fourth floor of the…

An equipment-share lending library for STEM classroom supplies that provides teachers with resources to safely and effectively implement hands-on learning. An accessible, comprehensive, unbiased and free voter’s guide covering all local New Orleans elections A game product that promotes education…

In the spirit of spreading the ideas of philanthropy and changemaking, Director of the Taylor Center, Kenneth Schwartz shares a letter titled, “Unleashing the power of endowments: Philanthropy’s Next Great Challenge” from Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. For…

“I have been to tons of career service workshops/seminars over the course of my years at Tulane, but none were as personal or ‘taylor-ed’ to my specific areas of interest and my non-professional life goals as TYL. The program helped…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Laura Rosanne Adderley as a Taylor Faculty Fellow beginning February 20, 2017. Laura Rosanne Adderley is an Associate Professor of African Diaspora History at Tulane…

Artificial intelligence is at most people’s fingertips everyday. But we may not understand its implications and complexities. “When you speak to Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa to retrieve info, or use Facebook, you’re actually engaging with artificial intelligence,” said Shawn Rickenbacker,…

On February 24th, students, community members, and faculty gathered at the Taylor Center to tackle a challenge for a special edition of Taylor’s human-centered public crash course, Design Thinking and Donuts: Mardi Gras. During this two hour, hands on session,…

Dorothy Stoneman is the founder and former CEO of YouthBuild USA, Inc. a program that helps low-income unemployed 16 to 24 year olds work toward their high school diploma or its equivalent while building affordable housing for homeless and low-income…

Documentary artist and community media pioneer jesikah maria ross, who uses all lowercase, is visiting Tulane University this month, and again in April, as a Taylor Center Senior Fellow. Her February visit includes leading a Changemaker Institute workshop, class presentations,…

Jeanne Firth is visiting from the Department of Geography and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she holds a LSE Studentship. Jeanne is a PhD Research Student in Human Geography and the Environment and is part of…

Taylor is seeking a diverse team of responsible, open-minded, motivated, and dynamic “changemaking” Student Fellows for the 2017-2018 academic year. Applicants should be excited about supporting their peers and enhancing changemaker action and engagement on campus and in the community. Student…

On January 10, 2017, the Tulane City Center was re-dedicated as the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. The Center was founded in 2005 and has completed over 85 projects with countless students, faculty, and community partners in…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Saru M. Matambanadzo as the Ratner Family and New Day II Professor of Social Entrepreneurship beginning January 1, 2017. Saru M. Matambanadzo, Ph.D., joined the…

For Sherry, acting chair of Tulane’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the connection between Louisiana’s varied bird life and its abundant water features is clear. “Besides Louisiana with all its wetlands supporting some of the biggest and most diverse…

Tulane announces five finalists for $1 million Dead Zone Challenge By Roger Dunaway (roger@tulane.edu) The National Advisory Committee for the Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Challenge has selected five finalists for its $1 million cash prize, which will be awarded to the…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce community media pioneer Jesikah Maria Ross as a 2016 – 2017 Taylor Senior Fellow. Ross will visit Taylor throughout the academic year to give lectures,…

Taylor Research Fellow, Joshua Schoop, has been working on developing an Innovation Toolkit for government and as a lead investigator exploring the potential for behavioral economics as an innovation in family planning. This post is drawn from these experiences and…

Professor in Social Entrepreneurship, Shannon Blady, has spent the fall semester introducing first year students to socially innovative initiatives currently shaping the landscape of education in New Orleans. The course provides opportunities to explore many avenues of work with K-12 students and…

This fall, in partnership with the Taylor Center, Tulane Housing and Residence Life launched the Changemaker Residential Living Community (RLC) at Paterson House, a living learning community for students interested in making positive social change. In addition to co-curricular programming,…

NEWDAY DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: T. Morgan Dixon is the Co-Founder of GirlTrek, a groundbreaking three-year-old national nonprofit based in Washington, D.C that inspires and supports African American women and girls to live their healthiest, most fulfilled lives – simply by walking. Through…

A team of Tulane University students is collaborating with the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking to bring hands-on, creative problem-solving opportunities to campus. The group launched Design for America (DFA) Tulane, an interdisciplinary team of students,…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce Shawn Rickenbacker as a Taylor Senior Fellow for 2016-2017. Rickenbacker is an architect and creative technologist whose work focuses on the convergence of digital and…

“Everything that makes our daily living easier, more productive, more enjoyable, and more pleasurable was created because of a problem, and because some designer or team of designers somewhere out there in the world sought to solve that problem…Designers imagine…

  Taylor Research Fellow, Josh Schoop, has been integrating his research on the refugee crisis with his work with the Hult Prize Foundation. Read about his experience below.  During the past four months I have had the chance to work…

Read about Maille Faughnan‘s experience as an HCD facilitator in Kenya. “Today, we are all human-centered designers,’ one participant proclaimed at the end of an all-day workshop. Others around him nodded; some cheered. The mood in the room was giddy…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center For Social Innovation and Design Thinking  is proud to announce that our community partner Playbuild was selected as a winner in the Play Everywhere Challenge, a $1 million national competition that will award innovative ideas to…

Taylor is excited to introduce and welcome our eight new student fellows for the 2016-2017 academic year Taylor Student Fellows work closely with the Taylor faculty and staff to engage Tulane students in academic and co-curricular activities in social innovation,…

On August 25th, Phyllis M. Taylor received the 2015 Times-Picayune Loving Cup for her dedication to the New Orleans community. The Loving Cup was established for the unsung heroes who make our community a better place and Mrs. Taylor becomes the 113th…

Kenneth Schwartz, Director of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking is pleased to announce the appointment of Leah Berger Jensen as Director of the Tulane University Nitrogen Reduction Challenge as of July 1, 2016. Jensen…

As the Program Coordinator for the Taylor Center, Fleurinor manages Taylor’s marketing communication, oversees the student funding award process, advises student organizations, and supports Taylor programming. Previously, Fleurinor worked in housing for four years in various roles, including Resident Advisor…

Tulane University has been named the inaugural recipient of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi’s $100,000 Excellence in Innovation Award. The award recognizes Tulane for achievement in finding powerful solutions to local, regional, national and global challenges through the university’s…

Haley Burns (Tulane, ’15), a Changemaker Institute alumna, took her venture, Fund 17, full time after graduation. Fund 17 creates livelihoods by empowering community entrepreneurs via training and resources to underserved entrepreneurs in New Orleans. Click here for the full…

Taylor Partner PlayBuild is an NGO focused on transforming under-utilized urban spaces into exciting kid-friendly environments for play and learning. Full press release below. From the Playground to the Neutral Ground Together, We Can Bring Play Everywhere The state of play is about…

An intentional living community where homeless youth in New Orleans have a safe place to live, learn and work. A community gardening project that aims to alleviate the mental health burden and malnutrition of shelter populations. A smartphone photography program…

What Is The Phyllis M. Taylor Center For Social Innovation And Design Thinking? On “Notes from New Orleans” on WWNO, Director Kenneth Schwartz spoke with Sharon Litwin to answer the questions, “What is Social Innovation” and “What is the Taylor…

Professor Murphy has spent the past five years as one of the inaugural endowed, “Social Entrepreneurship Professors”, developing the original design thinking and social innovation initiatives including the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (SISE) Design Thinking course which launched as…

Dr. Jordan Kassalow is co-chairman and founder of VisionSpring, an organization providing radically affordable, durable, attractive glasses to people at the base of the economic pyramid. They are the main recipient of Warby Parker’s “buy one, give one” program and have delivered over 3…

Saru Jayaraman is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded ROC in…

Van Jones is a civil rights leader, former Obama White House advisor, and CNN political correspondent. He is the Founder and President of Dream Corps — an incubator, platform and home for world-changing initiatives that empower the most vulnerable in our…

Elizabeth Townsend Gard, a professor of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (SISE) at Tulane University’s Taylor Center, was researching British literature when it became clear that she would have to learn something about copyrights. It was 1994, and Gard was…

The Taylor Center is expanding! We are accepting applications for a Senior Program Coordinator through May 8, 2016. The Coordinator will work with the Program Manager and Assistant Director in the Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking to…

“Anger is actually a good motivation to start something if you channel it in positive ways.” —Sandy Rosenthal, Levees.org When Sandy Rosenthal spoke about leadership skills to a New Orleans women’s organization on Thursday (April 7), she issued a call…

Each week Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts shares reflections in his The View from Gibson blog post. This week’s post related to the entrepreneurial and spirit of social innovation that has been omnipresent in New Orleans over the last…

The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking invites you to join us on April 18th, from 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm at LBC Kendall Cram for and evening with Dr. Jordan Kassalow, our final NewDay Speaker…

The Center for Public Service (CPS), Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT), and the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking (TAYLOR) are excited to present Designing Transformative Service Learning Experiences with Dr. Richard Kiely at…

“It is a great and humbling responsibility to lead any university. It is the privilege of my life to lead Tulane.” —Michael A. Fitts, President of Tulane University On behalf of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and…

“The future of our country and the world depends on effective leadership, and I want Tulane students to be at the forefront of leading and changing our world.” —President Emeritus Scott Cowen It is a Tuesday morning, and Scott Cowen…

Although the Ashoka U Exchange 2016 has come and gone, the impact of the many discussions, workshops and site visits will have long-lasting reach. The Ashoka conference helps with this goal by presenting stories from other innovators around the nation.…

Taylor invites you to join us on March 10, from 6:00-9:00 p.m., for a night of cutting edge conversation with innovative and fascinating speakers. TEDxTU celebrates and cultivates social innovation in New Orleans. Our city is stewing a satisfying gumbo…

Taylor invites you to join us for a discussion with organizer, social entrepreneur, and author Saru Jayaraman on Monday, March 14, 5:30-6:30 PM at Richardson Memorial Hall Room 201. Saru Jayaraman is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Restaurant Opportunities…

We are delighted to welcome our newest member of the “Taylor Change Team.” Heather Marinaro joined the Taylor Center in a key management and organizational role as Department Administrator. Prior to joining Taylor, Heather worked in the Tulane Law School…

Every year Tulane University hosts CEOs, slam poets, student activists and filmmakers all under one roof at one of its most popular events of the year: TEDxTU. This huge event is put on by an entirely student-run team. Right now…

The Taylor Center announces Xiao Xiao as the Spring ‘16 Taylor Visiting Scholar. Xiao Xiao will be leading the module: Smash Course: Prototyping Interactivity for Music, Movement, and Medicine. This module will introduce a set of techniques for prototyping interactive…

Fueling Innovation to Ignite Higher Education Imagine a world where higher education institutions across the globe serve as vehicles for positive, sustainable social impact and innovation. This year, Tulane University is proud to host the 2016 Ashoka U Exchange from February 25-27,…

Now more than ever, today’s college students are drawn to public service, understand the value of teamwork, and crave real-world experiences that leverage traditional classroom teaching. Blending these features into an educational strategy is an opportunity and a challenge. The…

While students are just getting back into the swing of the spring semester, it’s not too early to start making plans for the summer, especially if a summer abroad program is something that’s on the radar. The Tulane University Office…

January 25, 2016 – The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking announces the expanded role of Dr. Brice Miller focusing on Community Engagement, Outreach, and Diversity Initiatives at Taylor and the Tulane School of Architecture. In…

Since the first PitchNOLA in 2009, the Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane, along with Tulane’s A.B. Freeman School of Business and Propeller, a nonprofit that incubates and launches socially minded ventures, have sponsored the PitchNOLA:…

Five Tulane University graduates have appeared in the 2016 Forbes “30 Under 30,” a new list of 600 entrepreneurs, breakout talents and change agents in 20 different sectors. The Tulane alumni hail from a range of industries, including consumer technology, manufacturing, education…

“I consider myself a changemaker because I believe in the best in people and dedicate my work to fostering the capacities for good and growth within us all. As we cultivate our own leadership capacities, we realize how much we…

“It’s so clear to me that the passion found in Changemakers on Tulane’s campus is too big to be satiated by any combination of academic or extracurricular opportunities. I’m absolutely thrilled that Tulane is introducing the Changemaker LLC – now…

SISE Professor Elizabeth Townsend Gard provided Tulane law students a unique opportunity to learn more about the way the movie business works from the inside out. During a weeklong visit to Los Angeles, a contingent of Tulane Law School students…

“It seems really simple,” said Liz Ogbu as she described her solutions to design challenges at Jacaranda Health, a maternity clinic in Nairobi, Kenya… When we are searching for ways to truly impact the lives of others, we must listen…

Remarks — Kenneth Schwartz FAIA Tulane School of Architecture Homecoming Reception November 6, 2015  Welcome to all alumni, faculty, students, parents, friends — Homecoming, Reunions and Family Weekend have become bigger and bigger each year; a wonderful opportunity for alumni…

Seventeen years ago, Anna Monhartova arrived at Tulane University as a student-athlete on the tennis team. She’s still here after earning a doctorate in international development and co-founding a tennis and life skills program for schoolchildren after Hurricane Katrina. Now…

The Taylor Center is proud to announce that Liz Ogbu, the first Taylor Fellows Expert-in-Residence, will host a public lecture on  November 9, 2015 at Tulane University, School of Architecture at 6pm. A reception will be held at 5:15pm in…

Empathy — the ability to recognize and respond to the feelings of another person — is the closest connection between two human beings. Empathy also is the place to start when undertaking an innovative enterprise, says Yonah Schiller, executive director…

Network Voluntours is a New Orleans-based nonprofit that promotes diverse economic development in New Orleans by connecting visitors and locals with local community organizations to create unique, and mutually beneficial, experiences. “The idea is to connect the nonprofit sector in…

As Director of University Partnership and Social Innovation, Stephanie Barksdale has spent the past five years working with social innovation at Tulane, helping to establish the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship minor. About a year ago, a $14.5 million endowment…

Beyond its Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane is looking to have a larger impact with its Nitrogen Reduction Grand Challenge, which challenges teams to alleviate hypoxia, an oxygen deficiency in water created from excessive nutrient enrichment. Tulane board…

The Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programming, as defined by the head honcho – giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty and academic environment.…

Now, with the ten-year anniversary of Katrina, many are revisiting the extent of Katrina’s impact on the area and reassessing how the disaster has shaped how designers can deal with catastrophe and hardship on a broader scale. In these discussions, Tulane…

Congratulations to SISE Director Dr. Anna Monhartova for her recognition in social entrepreneurship through her work with A’s and Aces. The USTA Foundation, the national charitable organization of the United States Tennis Association, recently released the final rankings for the 2014-15…

FailUp builds supportive communities in social entrepreneurship at universities across the country so they can produce better businesses. The platform has launched at Tulane and will expand to other universities in the future. Founder Ethan Levy, an  alum of the Taylor Changemaker Institute and…

Professor Joanna Lombard, dean at the University of Miami and Tulane School of Architecture alumna, will be hosting a Design Thinking Colloquium at the University of Miami. Professor Lombard co-teaches in the Ecosystem Science and Policy program and is an architect and Professor…

  (New Orleans, September 9, 2015) –– The Phyllis Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University is pleased to announce the inaugural “Community Innovator’s Circle” pilot partnership with Grow Dat Youth Farm. Through this exciting year-long partnership,…

When we think about Social Entrepreneurship in New Orleans in recent years, what role did Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent recovery and rebuilding play in the entrepreneurial mindset? It’s a somewhat common notion that entrepreneurism in New Orleans is a…

Building on a long tradition of engagement and design excellence at the Tulane School of Architecture….. More than 100 years to be precise, but with a special focus and intensity over the past 10 years, NPR features Tulane School of…

When The Cookbook Project (CBP) ­– a food literacy non-profit – taught skeptical students in the Lower 9th Ward at Our School at Blair Grocery how to make marinated mushroom po-boys, only one of the 18 kids had ever tried…

Fund 17 is a nonprofit social enterprise hoping to create a new economic system of opportunity in New Orleans. The organization is dedicated to combating opportunity inequality in the 17 wards of the city by providing micro-entrepreneurs with financial tools…

Tulane Ph.D. Student, Jessica Liddell, won a Taylor Changemaker Catalyst Award to spend her summer in Guatemala, where she took Spanish classes at a non-profit language school run by community activists and conducted HIV testing sessions in Spanish.  “For my engaged…

Grow Dat Youth Farm’s mission is to nurture a diverse group of young leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. Tulane City Center students designed and constructed an award-winning eco campus housing a teaching kitchen, offices, composting toilets, produce…

“After Katrina, many thought our city would never come back. But 200 years ago this year, an unlikely group fought the battle of New Orleans…. a combination of pirates, regular militia volunteers, Native Americans, free men of color, and at…

Kemberley J. Washington, Ann Monhartova, Dana Ray and Katie Moore at the Millennial Awards at the National World War II Museum. Saturday, July 25, 2015. (Josh Brasted Photo) Now in its third year, “The Millennials: A Salute to Service” awards…

Her upcoming training in Kenya will mark Sydney Gray’s return to East Africa, where she had worked on a project that brought improved access to water for rural communities. (Photo by Ryan Rivet) When Ashoka chose 100 people from across…

Tulane University has announced the next phase of an international competition that will award $1 million to the entrepreneur, researcher or inventor with the best plan to reduce the amount of crop fertilizer entering the world’s lakes and oceans through…

The author of the book Out of Poverty, world-renowned social entrepreneur Paul Polak talks about his approach to eradicating global poverty at a lecture jointly sponsored by Tulane University, Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation and 4.0 Schools. (Photo by…

Rising Tulane senior Evan Walter spearheads the Tulane Bike Enthusiast Initiative. Starting at the end of finals week, the group began collecting bikes usually abandoned around campus by students, to be donated to the Youth Empowerment Project. (Photo by Ryan…

Diamond Film Company hoped to set up shop on Bayou Saint John in the early 20th Century. Photo from: Louisiana Research Collection  A century before New Orleans was dubbed “Hollywood South,” the Crescent City was poised to become a major center…

This week, Trash to Treasure is conducting an extensive collection process, taking in clothes, dorm supplies, bedding and anything else students don’t want. The group plans to resell the goods or donate them to charities in the fall semester. (Photo…

For the past 30 years, Paul Polak has worked to help design and produce low–cost, income–generating products that have already moved more than 20 million people out of poverty. With the mission of inspiring and leading a revolution in how…

Earlier this year, I had the immense privilege of attending the Ashoka U Exchange in Washington D.C. as a part of the Tulane delegation. The Ashoka U Exchange, an international conference attended by about 700 people this year, seeks to…

Jennifer McNulty, above, right, senior program coordinator for social innovation at the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching, discusses this year’s class of participants with Changemaker Institute fellows Hannah Horowitz, left, and Elias Garcia, center, by her side. (Photos by…

The Taylor Center will offer two new opportunities for Fellowship roles: a Design Thinking Fellowship and a Programs and Event Coordinator Fellowship. I talked to Julia Lang, Senior Administrative Program Coordinator at the Taylor Center, to get a better idea of…

I’m sure many of you have noticed a couple marketing pushes on this blog, on our Facebook page, or in our newsletter surrounding the Changemaker Institute.  For those who don’t know, the Changemaker Institute is a 7-week incubator program in…

A young person works at Grow Dat Youth Farm. In my last blog, I discussed the cultivation of ecosystems for youth development. I highlighted the importance of interconnected change mechanisms, the role of feedback loops, and how change mechanisms can…

As a marketing fellow myself, I really feel I gained so much more than I expected from this fellowship.  I initially stumbled over this position after searching for a job to replace my work-study job. Read more at the student-curated Change…

Ken Schwartz, Tulane architecture dean, named director of Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking. (Tulane Public Relations) Kenneth Schwartz, dean of the Tulane School of Architecture, has been named the founding director of the Phyllis M.…

Kenneth Schwartz, Tulane Architecture Dean, named Sacks Chair in Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship. The below announcement was circulated to the entire Tulane Community on April 6, 2015. Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:  On November 17, 2014, President Fitts and Tulane…

You should definitely check out the Intro to SISE class (ID: SISE 2010). In the 2014-2015 school year, SISE and Grow Dat Youth Farm piloted a partnership to serve as the service-learning component for Josh Schoop’s class and to offer…

Jane Wei-Skillern is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley.  She holds a PhD from Stanford University and her research focuses on the leadership and management of social enterprises. …

Six semifinalists vying for a total of $40,000 in startup cash in the 2015 Tulane Business Model Competition will present their ventures to a panel of judges on Monday (March 23) during Entrepreneur Week. The event, which is free and…

I used the Engaged Learning Award offered by CELT to fund my trip to the Media That Matters conference at American University in Washington D.C. The Engaged Learning Award is awarded to students interested in attending conferences, workshops, or other programs…

Photo by David J Dalley A student group on campus has decided to combat low voter turnout with their own voting website based on dating site algorithms, starting with the upcoming SGA elections. The new website is a part of…

Photo of a participant in The Cookbook Project, a social enterprise founded and run by Allisa Billfield and Tulane alum, Adam Aronovitz. Alissa is a featured speaker at the SI Sympsium. I have a really cool SI program to tell…

It’s pretty widely known that Tulane offers undergrads the many unique opportunities to participate in social innovation programming, including earning a minor in social innovation and social entrepreneurship. However, there’s not as much social innovation programming for grad students.  Programs,…

For more than twenty-five years, Rare has empowered local communities in over fifty countries to shift from being resource users to environmental stewards. Rare’s unique approach trains local leaders to lead change, leaving a legacy of increased capacity and a…

The National Science Foundation has chosen Tulane University as an Innovation Corps Site, an effort to broaden the effect of Tulane’s technology-based research in the commercial marketplace. A Tulane news release said the project, titled Tulane I-Corps Site for a Resurgent…

The National Science Foundation is giving Tulane University money to help push technology-based research into the marketplace. The project, Tulane I-Corps Site for a Resurgent New Orleans, is being funded with a $163,000 grant from the NSF. It will involve…

Tomorrow, Green Wave Market’s Claire Beauchamp and CELT-SI’s Becky Otten will facilitate our next WoP workshop.  Because the theme is “Take Perspective… Someone Else’s,” I thought I’d ask them about their perspective on facilitating these workshops! Read more at the…

Fund 17 founder Haley Burns reacts on OUT TO LUNCH.  Photos at Commander’s Palace by Chet Overall. Haley Burns is leading a New Orleans economic revolution. It’s called Fund 17. Based on the microfinance model that won Muhummad Yunus a…

Tulane University students work alongside high school youth at Grow Dat Youth Farm. The challenges of global youth employment are well documented (ILO, 2013). It is clear that youth around the globe without meaningful opportunities are much more likely to…

Backed by an initial $1 million donation from thePatrick F. Taylor Foundation, Tulane University on Monday launched a Grand Challenge prize program to find a new technological solution for the low-oxygen hypoxia areas known as “dead zones” that form off…

The due date for applications to be an Ignite OC are fast approaching! To get a better idea of what it takes to be one, I interviewed Elias Garcia, a former Ignite OC and a Changemaker Institute fellow for CELT-SI, and…

After a series of speakers at the TEDxTU event in Dixon Hall on the uptown campus, students got the chance to talk to the presenters about their ideas for change. (Photo by William Smith) Michael Goldberg may be the CEO…

I’m sure every Tulane student is feeling the stress of finding a job for after graduation right about now.  Preferably, a job that they love to do. Well, have no fear…. WoP is BACK! Read more at the student-curated Change…

An aspiring social entrepreneur gets the audience involved at the annual PitchNOLA competition on Jan. 28 on the Tulane University uptown campus. (Photo by Guillermo Cabrera-Rojo) When entrepreneur Larry Irvin Jr. took the Freeman Auditorium stage at last year’s PitchNOLA…

Matt Flannery advises would-be entrepreneurs to take risks. The co-founder of microloan site Kiva.org, he lectured at Tulane University on Thursday (Jan. 29) for the NewDay Social Entrepreneurship Distinguished Speakers Series. (Photo by Guillermo Cabrera-Rojo) In his journey from software…

Every year, Propeller, the social innovation hub and accelerator, hosts  PitchNOLA 2015: Community Solutions, a live business pitch competition that asks New Orleanians to explain how they plan to drive progress in their community. The event was held last night…

In January 2012 entrepreneurs Larry Irvin and Kristyna Jones founded a new startup with the goal of inspiring more African American men into careers in the field of education. Read more about PitchNOLA at New Orleans City Business.

Brothers Empowered to Teach (BE2T) just won PitchNOLA’s grand prize of $5,000 for their initiative to close the achievement gap for at-risk students by inspiring and incentivizing men of color to choose education as a career, starting in New Orleans.…

Matt began developing Kiva in late 2004 as a side-project while working as a computer programmer at TiVo, Inc. In December 2005 Matt left his job to devote himself to Kiva full-time. As CEO for ten years, Matt led Kiva’s…

2013 PitchNOLA: Community Solutions semi-finalists line up to hear the judges’ deliberation. (Photo: Propeller) Imagine you have an idea. A great idea. An idea for a social venture that could change New Orleans. Maybe it’s a bold new solution for…

Whether it’s in the preliminary stages or has already been published, apply to present it at the second annual graduate student-led symposium on social innovation! This year’s event, Discovering Social Innovation through Engaged Scholarship, is a one-day research symposium on Friday, March…

Tulane University announced plans Monday to create a new center focusing on social innovation and entrepreneurship, using a nearly $15 million gift from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. The $14.5 million donation from Phyllis Taylor, the foundation’s chairwoman and a…

The Celebration of the Life of Stephen Paul Jacobs included more than 100 people who were at Richardson Memorial Hall to honor the memory and generosity of Stephen Paul Jacobs. Along with Steve’s family, friends and colleagues, also in attendance…

Sophomore Roxanne Heston wears a scarf and pin from South Africa after returning from an international conference in that country on civic engagement in higher education. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano) A smiling photo of Roxanne Heston leads off her LinkedIn…

In addition to the $10,000 prize, which will be determined by judges including Matt Flannery and Leslie Jacobs, entrants in the annual PitchNOLA competition are eligible for the Audience Favorite Award. (Photo by Cheryl Gerber) Have an idea to solve…

Phyllis Taylor, a Tulane University board member, recently awarded Tulane $15 million to create the new Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking. Read more at The Tulane Hullabaloo.

I struggle with the fact that some of my best friends in the world are forced to defecate outside. They belong to the latest generation of poverty-stricken Indians, enduring the indignity of not having a toilet. My friends represent just…

Tulane University has received a $15 million gift from Phyllis M. Taylor, the chair of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and a member of the Board of Tulane, marking one of the largest single donations in the school’s 180-year history. The…

Phyllis Taylor, a Tulane University board member and chair of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, announced a $15 million gift to the university to establish the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking. Taylor said that the…

While teaching English in Hanoi, Vietnam, Adam Aronovitz noticed a disturbing trend in local eating habits. As part of an English lesson, Aronovitz had asked his students to name their favorite foods. He found the answers shocking. Pizza, fried chicken…

“Instead of saying ‘fight the power,’ why not transform that power into an energy for good in the world?” said NewDay lecturer Scott Sherman on Wednesday (Oct. 22) at Tulane. (Photo by Guillermo Cabrera-Rojo) What needs to be in the…

Scott Sherman is a writer and researcher on the most effective methods of social change. He has worked on nonviolence and social justice projects from the war-torn island of Sri Lanka to the inner cities of America. He is an expert…

Changemaker Institute is the social venture incubator at Tulane University that matches student’s social ventures with experts in the New Orleans community. The Institute recently went through the52Businesses bootcamp, a New Orleans accelerator, to help focus on “change” and revamp…

A Tulane alumna, Ann Yoachim works within the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Program at Tulane, teaching students to use “design thinking” to tackle complex problems. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano) Design thinking — think of it as a new spin…

Students and community members buy local at the Green Wave Community Market. (Photo from the Green Wave Community Market) If eating green and buying locally sounds like a good idea, that’s because it is a good idea. It’s the driving…

The Humanure Power team’s first facility opens in July in the Supaul district of Bihar, India, where toilets for men and for women provide power to the community. (Photo from Anoop Jain) Humanure Power, the brainchild of Tulane University alumnus…

On Friday, September 26 Prof. Ann Yoachim of SISE led two-dozen Biomedical Engineering seniors through an intense 50-minute design thinking exercise at the newly furnished creative space in Flower Hall.  Prof. Lars Gilbertson—instructor of the students’ capstone Team Design course…

Old women carry toilet pot replicas during the International Toilet Festival organised by NGO Sulabh International on the occasion of World Toilet Day on November 18, 2014 in New Delhi, India. Photo by Subrata Biswas/Hindustan Times On Saturday at the…

It all started with a really bad Google search. Not “bad” as in “inappropriate;” “bad” as in “poorly worded,” one of those Google searches where you write out a whole phrase or question because you’re not quite sure what you’re…

If you have a desire to create positive social change, this article is for you. Here are things I learned from SIP that you should keep in mind as you continue to learn, fail, and grow. Identifying a root cause…

The Tulane School of Architecture has partnered with the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship program’s faculty and students to design and construct a space on the second floor of the Donna and Paul Flower Hall for Research and Innovation. The…

Leaders of four business incubators discuss the boom of entrepreneurship in New Orleans and how law students can contribute at an Aug. 27 panel on the Tulane University uptown campus. (Photo by Guillermo Cabrera-Rojo) The best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs…

Meet the 2014 student marketing team with CELT-SI (now call Student Programming at the Taylor Center). Read more on the student-curated Change Hub.

Summer is a busy time for the staff at the School of Architecture. While most students and faculty are away, they continue to work on our behalf all year long. We have made tremendous progress on a number of issues…

I had heard of WWOOFing from a Tulane student who presented at a forum and whom received grant money to participate in this program in Argentina. WWOOF, which stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is an organization that allows…

New Orleans artists and community activists Derek Shackelford (“Shack Speaks”) and Ayanna Molina, affiliated with True Love Movement, discuss the role of artists as activists and their responsibility to bring awareness to social issues. (Photo by Sally Asher) Do artists…

When I began looking for something to do during the summer, I knew I had my share of choices. I could find an internship and complete tasks in an office for three months, I could get a minimum wage job…

Human beings love doing things in groups. It starts off with fun birthday parties when we’re kids, and goes all the way to desperate attempts to have fun at conferences — which is why so many of them come to…

It is cheaper to discard a $59 microwave at the end of the school year than it is to keep it in storage between semesters. That’s why Trash to Treasure, a new student group at Tulane University, is providing a different…

At the Tulane School of Architecture we are often reminded of our role in the larger architecture community in New Orleans and beyond. The New Orleans Chapter of the American Institute of Architects recently honored three projects associated with the…

PRESERVATION MATTERS III  The City of New Orleans is the backdrop and inspiration for many of the programs and projects affiliated with the Tulane School of Architecture. The climate and geography, the redevelopment and recovery post-Katrina, and, most of all,…

Philip Auerswald is the 2013-14 presidential fellow and an associate professor of public policy at George Mason University. His most recent book is “The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Economy”. He is the founder of Innovations, a…

Liz Ogbu is an expert on sustainable design and spatial innovation in challenged urban environments globally. From designing shelters for immigrant day laborers in the U.S. to a water and health social enterprise for low-income Kenyans, Liz has a long…

By Vincent Baudoin, TSA M.Arch 1 (’15) Vincent Baudoin is a two-year advanced standing graduate student who received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Virginia in 2007. He is working with me throughout the semester on a…

I recently had the pleasure of announcing the inauguration of a new degree program at the Tulane School of Architecture to our university community: a four-year Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BSA) degree. This program will add dimension and energy…

It was with great sadness that we learned of Allen Eskew’s passing on December 10, 2013.  I had the pleasure and privilege of getting to know Allen quite well over the last five and a half years.  He was a…

I am deeply grateful for the widespread recognition of what we have been able to accomplish together over the past five years. The School of Architecture is in an excellent position, and this is a direct result of faculty and…

David Bornstein is a journalist and author who focuses on social innovation. He co-authors the Fixes column in The New York Times Opinionator section, which explores and analyzes potential solutions to major social problems. He is the co-founder of the Solutions…

This entry is an update to one I wrote in 2009, covering some of the same issues and with some excerpts taken directly from my earlier piece. However, there are some new perspectives as well emerging from my reflections back…

Described as Bill Gates’ favorite teacher, Khan is on a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. He started Khan Academy to offer open access to quality, self-guided learning tools online. The Academy, which grew out of…

I am very pleased to announce the launch of our new website. As the School has evolved in the post-Katrina years, we have seen added focus on many forms of engagement that have situated the students and faculty of this…

Check out our Google+ Hangout about the NewDay Challenge, a contest for Tulane students to compete for up to $20,000 in seed money to start a social venture that benefits New Orleans. The deadline to apply is April 3.

Kristin Goos Richmond founded Revolution Foods in 2005 with Kirsten Tobey to transform the way kids eat. Revolution Foods now serve 600+ lunchrooms and over 120,000 meals each day to students across 9 states and employs more than 750 community…

With the arrival of the New Year, it is an appropriate time to write about some of the work we have been doing toward the end of 2012 in response to the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy,…

January 28, 2013 Welcome Tulane students, faculty, guests from the New Orleans community as well as students and faculty from several of the other Schools of Architecture across the great state of Louisiana. I know you’re here, because I received…

Francisco Rodriguez, Dean at University of Puerto Rico Thank you Dean Schwartz. I appreciate Orval and Andreina Sifontes for making this possible. I was fortunate enough to deliver the first lecture, and its always a pleasure to come back to…

With a desire to help people help themselves, Martin Fisher co-founded and is CEO of Kickstart, an organization whose mission is to get millions of people out of poverty quickly, cost-effectively and sustainably. Martin Fisher, an engineer, inventor and social…

From Richard Misrach’s Petrochemical America 01 October 2012 INTRODUCTION Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA Favrot Professor and Dean View Lecture HERE I am pleased to start this introduction with a recognition of the sponsors of this talk – the Azby Fund of…

View Lecture HERE Welcome! For those who are new to the Tulane School of Architecture lecture series, my name is Kenneth Schwartz. Each year, as dean I have the great pleasure and privilege of putting together a series for the…

Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA Favrot Professor and Dean I am looking back on my four years at Tulane School of Architecture, living in and learning about the amazing City of New Orleans. The following notes are brief reflections, and I am…

Economist Sonal Shah joined Tulane for a lecture about pushing the boundaries of traditional business and social models, and how new models of innovation are needed to solve our society’s pressing social challenges. Shah recently served as the Deputy Assistant…

Student and alumni examples of how Tulane University is empowering students to make the world a better place.

Bill Strickland was born in 1947 and grew up in Manchester, an inner-city neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His life changed when he became inspired by high school art teacher Frank Ross, a skilled artisan on the potter’s wheel. Today, Manchester Bidwell…

After working for more than a decade in Central America and helping Nicaraguan coffee farmers improve their livelihoods through an organic coffee export cooperative, Paul Rice opened TransFair’s first “national headquarters” in 1998 to bring the fair trade movement to…

After working for more than a decade in Central America and helping Nicaraguan coffee farmers improve their livelihoods through an organic coffee export cooperative, Paul Rice opened TransFair’s first “national headquarters” in 1998 to bring the fair trade movement to…

Kathryn Hall-Trujillo worked for the state of California from 1976 to 1991 as a public health administrator, and during that time, noticed that families often struggled to pay for the care of infants born with serious health problems. When she…

Nishith Acharya is Executive Director of the Deshpande Foundation, where he leads the Foundation’s global activities, including strategic planning, grant making, evaluation and advocacy efforts for a wide array of causes, issues and partner organizations around the world. The foundation…

VIMEO https://player.vimeo.com/video/37665019?badge=0 In addition to and amidst my ongoing work in New Orleans, I am in the middle of an exciting two-month period of international travel designed to expand and enrich global opportunities for students, faculty, and alumni of the…

Nghana Lewis, the Louise and Leonard Riggio Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, is an associate professor of English and African & African Diaspora Studies. She is the founder and executive director of Encouraging Student Scholarship & Excellence through Native-Centered Education (ESSENCE),…

Byron Mouton, the NewDay Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, is a professor of practice at Tulane’s School of Architecture and director of URBANbuild, the school’s design/build program. In this video, Mouton discusses how the URBANbuild program is helping reinvigorate lower-income neighborhoods…

A recording of NewDay Speaker Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Foundation and superintendent, KIPP Houston. In partnership with Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives.

Carol Whelan, the Paul Tudor Jones Professor in Social Innovation, is a professor of practice in the Tulane Teacher Preparation and Certification Program in Newcomb-Tulane College. In this video, Whelan discusses the impact students in her class have when they…

Aaron Schneider, the Jill H. and Avram A. Schneider Professor in Social Entrepreneurship, teaches comparative politics, international political economy and Latin American politics as an assistant professor of political science at Tulane. His research explores the intersections of wealth and…

Dr. Mike Feinberg is co-founder of KIPP, a network of 57 public charter schools across the U.S. serving poor and minority students. Nearly 80% of students completing eighth grade at a KIPP school go on to attend college. KIPP, the…

Building upon Tulane’s strengths in civic engagement and service learning, we are proud to introduce the first class of Social Entrepreneurship Professors. Laura Murphy was named the Carnegie Corporation of New York Professor of Social Entrepreneurship last spring. Murphy is…

September 2, 2011 Welcome everyone! We’ll be covering a number of topics this afternoon including: Welcome by leaders of our student organizations Introduce new faculty and staff I will discuss my priorities for the year Presenting Richardson Memorial Hall Sustainable…

I was recently talking to a friend about an early interaction I had with someone who has become a friend. Irvin Mayfield is a Grammy award-winning musician and engaged citizen of New Orleans. He and I first met at a…

Global Opportunities For The Tulane School of Architecture: Shanghai, Rome, Rio Di Janerio.   In addition to and amidst my ongoing work in New Orleans, I am in the middle of an exciting two-month period of international travel designed to expand…

The summer months have been very active at Richardson Memorial Hall. Most importantly, we welcomed several new faculty and staff colleagues as well as new graduate students in architecture and sustainable real estate development, a few new undergraduate transfer students,…

Kenneth Schwartz, Dean A number of events and issues involving our “Sustainable Strategies” for Richardson Memorial Hall have evolved in significant ways over the past several months. I thought it would be timely to provide a summary. Although there are…

I am writing today on a cool and sunny morning in New Orleans. This note celebrates our Career Explorations in Architecture High School Program, established over 25 years ago. We are proud that this program will be running again this…

Tulane student Laura White talks about the opportunities she’s had to research best practices in social innovation around the world – even as an undergrad.

Posse is a nonprofit foundation that has developed one of the most comprehensive and renowned college access and youth leadership development programs in the United States. Founded in 1989, Posse identifies inner-city high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership…

This partnership began with a lunch in Manhattan. I wanted to meet with a School of Architecture and Freeman School of Business alumnus named Randall Dalia (TSA’80) whom I had heard about from several other alumni. Mr. Dalia is an…

The NewDay Social Entrepreneurship Distinguished Speakers Series presents prominent leaders from across the field of social entrepreneurship to share their own experiences, challenges, insights, thoughts, and recommendations to students and the community. The speaker series provides the Tulane community an…

The New Day Social Entrepreneurship Distinguished Speakers Series presents prominent leaders from across the field of social entrepreneurship to share their own experiences, challenges, insights, thoughts, and recommendations to students and the community. The speaker series provides the Tulane community…

Beginning with a single college bookstore in 1965, Mr. Riggio built Barnes and Noble, one of the largest enterprises in the history of American retail.  He is widely known as a visionary in the bookselling industry, and as a brilliant…

by: Elizabeth Davis TSA Graduate Student (‘12) Elizabeth Davis is a two-year graduate student having received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Virginia in 2006. She is a participant in our new “Graduate Research Assistant” program, where…

James Timberlake FAIA Kieran Timberlake Architects Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I am delighted to welcome everyone to the first lecture in the Tulane School of Architecture lecture series. We have a fantastic lineup for the year, including: Ammar Eloueini – New Orleans…

Welcome everyone! As you know, yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s arrival in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. President Obama was in New Orleans along with many others from across the country and the world. As we…

When I came to the school two years ago, many of you spoke with me individually and during the series of small lunch gatherings I hosted in the fall semester of 2008 and early 2009 about the absence of exhibitions.…

Kenneth Schwartz FAIA, Dean Welcome On behalf of the faculty and staff of the school, let me offer our heartfelt congratulations on your achievements at Tulane and in the City of New Orleans, and our best wishes for the months,…

When I visited Tulane during the search process two years ago, President Scott Cowen asked what I thought about Richardson Memorial Hall. I told him then and I still believe now that the building is fantastic in many ways. Any…

TOMS’ simple promise to give a pair of new shoes to children in need around the world with every pair sold is revolutionizing the way consumers shop.  The One for One business model has encouraged conscientious consumers to purchase and…

Bill Drayton started the nonprofit organization, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in 1981 to help support and celebrate social entrepreneurs — individuals who create new and innovative ways to solve social problems. He is considered as the ‘godfather of social…

The NewDay Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is a competition for social entrepreneurial ventures developed by Tulane students whose primary goal is to effect social change in New Orleans. Want a chance to win up to $20,000 to turn your idea into…

The construction of an effective curriculum is an iterative and cumulative process. A student’s outlook and experiences are profoundly influenced by the way a curriculum unfolds. Beginnings are particularly important, and traditions of design pedagogy within a school can be…

Darell Hammond grew up with seven brothers and sisters at Mooseheart, a group home outside of Chicago. The Mooseheart community instilled in Darell the power of volunteerism and helping those less fortunate.  His journey would eventually lead him to co-found…

The following notes were part of my address to the TSA Community at our first All School Meeting of the year. WELCOME EVERYONE! There is good news on several fronts. We don’t have a hurricane and Shaun Donovan, Secretary of…

We have completed another Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. My wife and I were given all sorts of advice on what not to miss – by students, faculty, and friends from the community. We had a great time with…

I started to study architecture and other modes of visual expression when I was thirteen or fourteen. I don’t think this is unusual for many students in architecture school. Art and architecture interested me initially in visceral ways. Paintings were…

One of the pleasures of serving as Dean is getting to know alumni. As I reflect on the first four months at Tulane, I realize how important my numerous interactions have been in forming a better and more complete understanding…

In the summer of 2005 a group of students undertook a design-build studio at Tulane under the direction of professor Doug Harmon. After a successful experience developing a thoughtful interpretation and transformation of a shotgun house, they were set to…

Architects imagine. Lately most of my imagination has been focused on Tulane University and New Orleans. This is a city that escapes simplistic description, and it feels almost pointless to try. Nonetheless it is my home now, and I am…