Masters of Professional Studies in Social Entrepreneurship
What is Social Entrepreneurship? Social Entrepreneurship is the use of creativity to establish innovative projects to help categories of people in need. Sometimes these projects are informal community initiatives, but often they are formal programs run by nonprofit agencies that have received 501(c)3 status from the Internal Revenue Service. Although most social entrepreneurship projects have a nonprofit focus, some fascinating social entrepreneurship projects exist within socially conscious for-profit corporations.
Admission Criteria
- 3.0 minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA
- Personal statement no more than 1 page addressing 1) Why are you interested in receiving an MPS in Social Entrepreneurship, 2) What category of people in need are you most interested in assisting and why?
- February 1 deadline for admission application
- Have not already earned Sociology's 9-credit Social Entrepreneurship Certificate.
- Those who have taken no more than 15 credits from the Core and emphasis courses as an undergraduate.
Any course grade below a C will automatically place a student on probation. Probation involves close monitoring of the student's performance to ensure that a B average is quickly (re)established. If a B average is not quickly (re)established, termination from the program may occur.
30 CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED
Core Courses (9 credit hours)
SOC 664G Social Entrepreneurship and Grassroots Social Action (3 credits)
SOC 671G Program Development and Evaluation (3 credits)
SOC 621G Advanced Sociological Research (3 credits)
SOC 870 Grant Writing (3 credits)
SOC 679G Community Theory and Development (3 credits)
SOC 680G Nonprofit Organizations (3 credits)
SOC 681G NGOs: Global Social Innovation (3 credits)
Students who have taken one or more of the above courses prior to admission into the program may, through consultation with their advisor, substitute a maximum of 15 credit hours from the Elective courses below. Students who have taken SOC 664G, 680G, and/or 681G must substitute up to 6 credits of SOC 675G Seminar courses having a variable topic of Social Entrepreneurship. Students who have taken the grant writing course SOC 470 as an undergraduate will have to substitute a class for the grant writing course SOC 870.
Electives (6 credit hours)
POLS 616G Public Personnel Management (3 credits)
MGT 611G Human Resource Management (3 credits)
LDRS 640G Principles of Civic Leadership (3 credits)
LDRS 650G Principles of Organizational Management (3 credits)
LDRS 810 Qualitative Research (3 credits)
LDRS 818 Ethical Leadership (3 credits)
IDS 804 Information Literacy (3 credits)
SOC 644G Sociology of Aging (3 credits)
SOC 675G Seminar in Sociology: Variable Topics (3 credits)
SOCW 865 Social Work Supervision and Agency Management (3 credits) *msw dual degree pathway
SOCW 860 Personal and Professional Development Seminar (3 credits) *msw dual degree pathway
SOC 677G Internship in Sociology: Advanced Grant Writing (3 credits)
-OR- SOCW 895 Advanced Clinical SW Field Practicum II (6 credits) *msw dual degree pathway
Program Coordinator:
Dr. Gary Brinker, gbrinker@fhsu.edu, 785-628-5233
Advisor:
Dr. Gary Brinker, gbrinker@fhsu.edu, 785-628-5233
Important General Competencies Developed:
• Listening and effectively communicating ideas
• Creative thinking and problem solving
• Ethical decision-making
• Building respect for people different from ourselves
• Building respect for ideas different from our own
• Analyzing previously unrelated ideas and identifying meaningful patterns among them
• Converting an abstract set of ideas into a specific plan of action
Specific Job Skills Developed:
• Professional interaction and nonprofit leadership
• Advocacy and networking
• Operating in the public sector
• Program development
• Program evaluation
• Grant Writing
• Needs assessment development, administration, and interpretation
• Constructing and testing measurable client outcomes
• Fluency in statistical principles and analyses
• Using Internet search engines to access relevant literature and data
• Technical report reading and writing
• How to start a nonprofit corporation