Faces of change
These students and alumni are tackling challenges head on.
Do good. Give back.
Social entrepreneurship at SMU means dreaming up big solutions to the world’s challenges. See how our students, alumni and faculty are up to the task.
Pictured: Kirsten Edwards ’24 works to find roofing solutions in Tanzania as part of Professor Jessie Zarazaga’s Sustainability and Development program. Read more about the courses below.
Pareeni Shah ’25, Inspire NextGen
The Hunt Scholar started her tutoring company for refugee and underprivileged students while still a high school junior in Allen, Texas. Since becoming an SMU student, that endeavor has only expanded. Thanks to high school friends and her fellow Mustangs, Shah and her co-tutors are now virtually serving students in Texas, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania - with much of that expansion thanks to on-campus organizations. “With SMU in the center of Dallas, there are so many companies, nonprofits and resources,” she says. “Getting out of your comfort zone and utilizing that is so helpful.”
Jude Lugo ’25, LectureLogger
Third time was a charm for this year’s Big iDeas winner – he had previously pitched a project called Commerce Navigator, which helped small online sellers and hobbyists with bookkeeping. Though he saw some success, it was LectureLogger that caught the attention of Sheri Kunovich, associate provost for student academic engagement and success. The program helps students and professors track attendance, but the impact is much bigger – improved retention and student success. Lugo hopes the system will help alert professors to students who might be going through mental health crises, too. “The goal is to support students going through difficulties,” he says.
Claire Ellis ’18, Malibu Apothecary
Claire Ellis studied marketing with an entrepreneurship concentration — including taking Simon Mak’s class — long before she knew she’d open a candle company with a portion of proceeds supporting charitable causes. The beach lover opened Malibu Apothecary, a line of clean candles inspired by her travels, with a percentage going back to coastal conservation and breast cancer research. “You can’t be a business today without some sort of give-back,” she says. “That’s something I’m really passionate about, and why I create these products in the beginning.”
Lidya Winnie ’19, Konjo Beauty
The Ethiopia native grew up in a culture where most people made their own skincare, haircare and bodycare products using natural resources. When she moved to the U.S., she couldn’t find products she loved. So, putting her entrepreneurship skills from the classroom to work, she launched Konjo Beauty – using ingredients from Africa – in 2019, not long after graduating. Today, the former markets and culture major gives 20% back to orphanages and community organizations back in Africa. “I want to not just take from Africa but give back, as well,” she says.
Community engagement courses
At SMU, students are required to take part in community engagement as part of the path to graduation. That’s because we believe your education isn’t just about what you learn – it’s what you’re empowered to do. Through these courses, our Mustangs are prepared to take on some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Click through below to explore each of these classes:
Introduction to Entrepreneurship; Conversation and Community; Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Leadership; Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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Intro to Entrepreneurship
Professor Simon Mak
Cox School of Business
In this class, students come up with 10-15 startup ideas before diving into deeper projects. From there, they develop pitches for a social venture in a developing country. Each semester, Mak takes students to serve as judges for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program at a local detention facility. “You can take what you study and make an immediate impact,” he says. “I want students to realize you can do well financially by helping others and solving a problem.”
Conversation and Community
Professor Talia Weltman-Cisneros
Dedman School of Humanities and Sciences
This upper-level Spanish class allows students to use their conversation and language skills to make an impact in the community. Weltman-Cisneros and her students work with a myriad of partners, but this year, they worked with students at St. Cecilia Catholic School in Dallas, Texas, to discuss the solar eclipse and the history of astronomy in Aztec culture. “For a lot of these students, that’s their history,” she says. “They’re learning about their history and heritage.”
Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Leadership
Professor Doric Earle
Meadows School of the Arts
As part of SMU-in-London, Doric Earle teaches Social Innovation – Profitable Solutions for Positive Impact to his study abroad students every summer. “The idea is that that you can have a for-profit company and still make social good,” he says. “That is no longer a contradiction.” Back home, he also teaches Applied Organizational Communication, where students form into teams and consult under-resourced nonprofits in South Dallas on communications planning. Students who find their calling in social entrepreneurship can pitch to SMU’s Social Impact Lab for investments, where Earle is co-director.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor Jessie Zarazaga
Lyle School of Engineering
As director of the Sustainability and Development Program, which is housed under Civil and Environmental Engineering, Jessie Zarazaga has undergraduate minors as well as master’s and Ph.D. students all working on projects focused on social good and problem solving. Projects can take students anywhere from South Dallas to Tanzania. “We’re all there collaborating on the work, and everybody’s aim is to create change in that social context,” she says.
Campus resources
Hunt Institute
As Eva Csaky, executive director of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity puts it, “our mission is to help solve society’s pressing problems while leveraging market mechanisms in the private sector to do that – that’s almost the definition of social entrepreneurship.” The institute includes a Social Enterprise Program, which has been fostering problem-solving in students since 2018. In addition, the Social Enterprise Unicorns program is a newer innovation focusing on social entrepreneurs with technology-based solutions.
Office of Engaged Learning
As senior director of the Office of Engaged Learning, Jennifer Ebinger has seen students from all majors and concentrations dream up big ideas and pursue them into reality. The program connects students with research, service projects, internships and entrepreneurial projects to transform their ideas into tangible impact — watch for a new initiative for first-year students to launch next fall. “It’s a joy to see them grow and change, try and fail, build resilience and methodology,” she says. “It’s fun to see them awakened and challenged.”