Oberlin’s Entrepreneurship Symposium celebrates the launch of the Creativity & Leadership project by creating a forum in which to define and explore entrepreneurship in a liberal arts setting. The symposium is designed to provoke dialogue among students, faculty, and alumni, and to introduce students to a network of student, faculty, alumni, and regional entrepreneurs and advocates.

INVENTING THE FUTURE will explore entrepreneurship within the fields of finance, the environment, the arts, and social enterprise, as well as the intersections among market, social, civic, and arts entrepreneurship. The symposium will feature keynote speakers and panelists, and provide opportunities for all participants to meet informally to share their own entrepreneurial ideas and ventures.

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AGENTS OF CHANGE: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Panelists
Daniel Ross ('94), Director, Nuestras Raíces, Alexandra Samuel ('92), CEO, Social Signal, Aimee Thompson ('94), Founder and Executive Director, Close to Home

Moderated by
Beth Blissman, Director, Bonner Center for Service & Learning

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 1:30 a.m.
West Lecture Hall, Science Center

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Daniel Ross ’94 , Director, Nuestras Raíces

Daniel Ross has served for 11 years as Director of Nuestras Raíces, a grass-roots organization to promote economic, human and community development in Holyoke, MA through projects relating to agriculture, food, and the environment. He has helped community members start over 17 sustainable small businesses. Mr. Ross is a founding leader of the Holyoke Food & Fitness Policy Council, the Holyoke Youth Task Force, and the Pioneer Valley Environmental Coalition. He previously worked with community health clinics in NJ, FL, and MA to develop migrant farm worker outreach programs with the East Coast Migrant Health Project. Mr. Ross earned a B.A. in political science from Oberlin in 1994 and received an Ashoka Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship in 2007.

Alexandra Samuel ’92, CEO, Social Signal

Alexandra Samuel is CEO of Social Signal, an online strategy company that works with business, government and non-profit clients to create engaging, mission-driven online communities. Social Signal uses its expertise in maximizing online participation to create site concepts, blueprints and engagement plans that turn web sites into active, dynamic communities. Social Signal’s projects include building NetSquared.org for Compumentor, creating the Green Gifts Facebook application for BC Hydro, and launching Tyze.org, a social networking tool for combating social isolation. Alexandra holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.

Aimee Thompson ’94, Founder and Executive Director, Close to Home

Aimee Thompson is the founder of Close to Home, a domestic violence prevention organization in Boston. Her work on the issue of domestic violence has included directing the development of coordinated community responses in Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia. At Boston Medical Center, Ms. Thompson developed a group therapy program for children and their mothers, and provided training for Boston police officers on children and trauma. She has provided workshops on Close to Home’s approach throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Uganda, South Africa, and the Caucasus. Ashoka and Boston’s Social Innovation Forum have recognized her work. Ms. Thompson has a B.A. in religion from Oberlin College.

Beth Blissman, Moderator, Director, Bonner Center for Service and Learning, Oberlin College

Beth Blissman has directed Oberlin College’s Bonner Center for Service & Learning since 2000, working with faculty, students, community partners and alumni who are interested in connecting academic work with appropriate community-based needs. Her experience includes over 15 years of creating and teaching community-based learning courses, and also orienting and training faculty, teaching assistants, and community partners. Ms. Blissman received a Ph.D. in religious and theological studies from University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology in 2000. Her continuing research interests include the intersection of religious traditions with social change and ecosocial transformation.