Social Impact and Sustainability

As a Babson student, you have numerous opportunities to take action on issues that matter to you alongside your professional and personal pursuits. Our undergraduate curriculum and our Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™) methodology emphasize the skills and mindset needed to create positive change wherever you end up in your life and career. 

During your time on campus, you will gain real-world experience and competencies in creating positive social impact whether locally, nationally, or globally. Along the way you will be introduced to the multiple pathways for being a changemaker, from social entrepreneurship to activism to the social sector to impact careers.

Social Impact Opportunities on Campus

The Institute for Social Innovation offers programming and resources to help you understand how you and your peers can advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including issues like inequality, climate change, poverty, and education. The Institute provides guidance and tools to help you understand who you need to be—and what you need to do—to make your desired change in the world.

Natalie Taylor Scholars

Students passionate about creating social impact can apply to the Natalie Taylor Scholar program, which combines academic and co-curricular experiences to help students advance one or more of the aforementioned UN Sustainable Development Goals. Many Taylor Scholar alumni have become successful social entrepreneurs, social intrapreneurs, and social sector leaders. As part of this program, you take two courses in our entrepreneurship division: Be the Change: Evaluating Social Impact, and Scholar in Action. 

Recently, three Taylor Scholars led a project for a new garden space on campus that honors the memory of Sudeeksha Bhati ’22, a Global Scholar and student leader who passed away in 2020.

Sustainability Interns

Babson Sustainability Interns are undergraduate campus leaders who run office hours every weekday, connecting students to a wealth of resources, activities, opportunities, and ideas on climate change and other issues impacting our environment. They work on initiatives like Babson’s Good Business Index and the Slash the Trash campaign.

Community Service

You can put your entrepreneurial skills to use while giving back through Babson’s Community Action Program (CAP). Students have opportunities to engage with local organizations, including Community Servings, Cradles to Crayons, and Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore. You could mentor youth at local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of Boston and the Needham Housing Authority or be trained through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to prepare taxes for low-income community members during the tax season. 

Work-study-eligible students are also paid for their community service hours.

Service Immersion 

During campus breaks, you can engage in intensive (and sometimes life-changing) service experiences, whether helping to build affordable housing in the Gulf Coast or El Salvador, or to teach entrepreneurship to youth in underserved communities in Tanzania or Guatemala.

Social Impact in the Classroom

In addition to the Taylor Scholars, Babson provides a solid foundation for undergraduate students looking to actively and professionally pursue social impact causes. 

Socio-Ecological Systems

All undergraduates take Socio-Ecological Systems (SES), one of our signature courses, which teaches students how to think in systems through learning about a part of nature (for example, water management, food systems, farming, and natural disasters) and their role in protecting and managing it. After taking SES, you have an understanding of integrated sustainability, and how people, communities, and businesses need to work together to preserve our planet. 

In addition to SES, we offer a variety of courses in the liberal arts and sciences as well as in business and finance that introduce students to social impact concepts and initiatives. These include introduction to sustainability, social media etiquette, social impact across the globe, corporate social responsibility, and how to think entrepreneurially about social and environmental issues.

Concentrations

Our undergraduate program provides students with the opportunity to specialize in one or more concentrations. With over 20 options, you can tailor your degree beyond the business and liberal arts and science foundations our degree provides. Students interested in learning more about social impact have options that cover the wide range of our curriculum, including: 

• Environmental Sustainability
• Global & Regional Studies
• Historical & Political Studies
• Identity & Diversity
• Justice, Citizenship, & Social Responsibility
• Legal Studies
• Literary & Visual Arts
• Social & Cultural Studies

Undergraduate Clubs & Organizations

There’s always something to do on our campus. Among the 100+ clubs founded by Babson undergraduates are clubs focusing on social and environmental issues and chapters of national organizations.  Opportunities include: 

• Babson Sustainability Club is a student-run environmental advocacy organization that empowers community members to be leaders in sustainability on and off campus.
• You can join the Babson chapter of the Food Recovery Network, an organization that helps colleges and universities tackle food waste and hunger.
• The Babson chapter of Habitat for Humanity supports events designed to eliminate substandard housing in the Greater Boston area as well as on national and global levels.

Special-Interest Housing

Some of our student clubs and organizations also have a special-interest housing component.  Living-Learning Communities are housing options where undergraduate students can live on campus with other students who share similar passions and goals. Many options, including some for first-year students, focus on social impact, including:

• GIVE Tower provides opportunities for students to create a positive social impact in the Greater Boston area and to grow their understanding of social issues.
• Living Social Entrepreneurship is available to first-year students interested in social entrepreneurship.
• The ONE Tower (Origins of Necessary Equality) community is a safe environment for students from all over to come together and share their experiences and provide support for themselves and the greater Babson community through events and programs.
• Members of Women Giving Back participate in on- and off-campus service events, including serving two off-campus group homes once a week.