“There is no excuse not to become transformational citizens,” he said at a workshop attended by about 30 Gabelli School of Business students and faculty on Sept. 26 at the Rose Hill campus.

A professor of practice at the University of Virginia, White joined the Gabelli School of Business as one of three Gabelli fellows, along with Katherine Milligan and Patrick Struebi, in August.

A Life-Altering Event

White lost his left leg when he stepped on a landmine during a backpacking trip in Israel in 1984 and went on to found Jerry’s Landmine Survivors Network. The group was an instrumental organizer, along with the late Princess Diana of Wales, of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. He was honored for his efforts when the campaign was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.  He went on to become the co-chair of Global Covenant Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing religion-related violence, protecting its targets, and rehabilitating its victims.

In his workshop, the first of several events that he plans to conduct at Fordham, White showed students how to recognize the difference between the intrinsic values they possess within themselves, and the skills they’ve learned in fields such as accounting, finance, and marketing. It’s possible to marry the two, he said, regardless of what field you work in.

“It’s about aligning who you are and how you see the world, and what you contribute, to create models of transformational leadership, which are needed more and more because of the complex problems we face with uncertainty and volatility around the world,” he said.

Focusing on Vocations, Not Just Jobs

White’s presentation was based in part on the leadership strategies he teaches in his UVA course called Religion, Violence and Strategy: How to Stop Killing in the Name of God. At the gathering at Hughes Hall, he asked students to pick one person whom they considered to be an icon, and come up with three positive attributes that person possesses. They then had to identify one that they themselves possess.

The point, he said, was to get them to think not just about their future jobs, but their vocations.

“Students need a shot in the arm. I think they’re very fearful. Their number one pressure is, get a good-paying job that pays off student debt, and their parents will then have a sigh of relief. That’s not a formula for sustainable happiness and impact. That’s a tactical transaction called graduation and having a job, so we can prove it was all worthwhile,” he said in an interview afterward.

“We’re looking at the leaders of tomorrow who have skill sets across all sectors, because that how you change the world. People stand in their values and who they are, whether they’re working at Starbucks, at a U.N. embassy, or at Morgan Stanley. They can make change happen wherever they are.”

An Emphasis on Sincerity

Carina Oriel, a senior majoring in business administration with a concertation in financial technology, said she was pleasantly surprised with the workshop. Although she still has a year of classes left before graduation, she’s already accepted a position in corporate restructuring and turnarounds at the consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal. She said she’s been wondering how she’ll be able to have a positive impact as just one person.

“[White] said we have to cultivate ourselves in a way that’s irreplaceable to the company, wherever we go. That was really helpful for me, because Alvarez is a pretty big firm, and I worry that I will be a little fish in a big pond, and not really stand out,” she said.

“I thought it would be a sort of self-help event, but I didn’t really think I’d come away feeling relieved. After I walked out, I felt like there was a weight lifted off my shoulder. I really came away feeling changed.”

Alexandra Oloe, a junior majoring in finance with a global business concentration, picked the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as her icon, and when White asked what attribute she admired in him, she picked humility. Was she also humble, White asked? She hesitated to say yes.

“He was like, ‘No, you are. You have to know,’” she said.

“In order to be an effective leader, you have to be sincere and genuine in who you are.

You can’t fake it. If I want to lead people, I have to be myself. They can’t look up to a fake person. So, I liked his emphasis on being sincere.”

Oloe likewise took to heart White’s advice that one can effect change in small ways by focusing on their immediate community. Two years at the Gabelli School have already convinced her she wants to work for a socially conscious company after graduation, she said, and White’s workshop helped seal the deal.

Learning from ‘Super-Survivors’

To gird them for the challenges ahead, White drew upon the lessons he shared in his book I Will Not Be Broken, (St. Martin’s Press, 2008). In it, he talks about “super-survivors”—people who have lived through unspeakable horrors but still find happiness. He notes they all share certain traits that can help students weather whatever issues they may encounter.

Super-survivors, he said, all face facts, choose life, reach out, get moving, and give back. If students learn the recipe of resilience ahead of time, he said, they’ll be better equipped to bounce back when things go badly, whether it’s a family issue, a medical problem, or financial troubles.

“My experience of being a landmine survivor is obviously a very dramatic one, but it makes the point. We’re always saying life’s a minefield, things may blow up in your face,” he said.

“Resilience is something you have to get in shape for. It’s not some genetic gift.”

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, said the renewal, which takes place every five years, is a testament to Fordham’s dedication to coordinate resources from across the institution and focus them toward improving the lives of others.

“It’s external validation that we’re living our mission. When you look at what AshokaU is doing, it’s really holding us accountable to educate change leaders. That’s what Fordham is really about—educating students who will make positive change,” she said, noting that being a member of the network also allows Fordham to tap into resources of universities around the world that have similar missions, visions, and goals.

One of the highest-profile changes to take place at Fordham as a result of the partnership with AshokaU was the creation of the Social Innovation Collaboratory. Housed within the Gabelli School of Business but open to the entire university community, it hosted 10 social innovation applied learning and action research groups last year. The groups, which comprised 131 undergraduate and graduate students, focused on topics such as financial inclusion, sustainable fashion, climate impact initiatives, diversity, equity and inclusion, and social-impact storytelling.

AshokaU noted in its renewal letter that Fordham has shown its commitment to social innovation in multiple ways. Last fall, the collaboratory’s steering committee, which is co-chaired by Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, and Dean Rapaccioli, was reformulated to include more senior leadership. In March, a new assistant director position was filled at the collaboratory, and a part-time communications position will also be filled in the near future.

Fordham has also begun using a Kumu visual map to match students with opportunities for social innovation throughout the University’s schools, departments, and centers.

“It shows you the network of different things that are going on. It will help us identify the various entry points that students can take, whether it’s curricular or co-curricular, to engage in social innovation efforts,” said Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., associate dean of undergraduate studies and strategic initiatives and professor of marketing at the Gabelli School.

“It’s a kind of GPS for the students.”

The Ground Floor, a course that is offered to every first-year student at the Gabelli School of Business, was also retooled last fall to have a greater emphasis on social innovation. Working with mentors from the Fordham Foundry, students in the class are now tasked with forming a plan to address one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. At the end of the semester, the plans are entered in a contest co-sponsored with PVH Corp., and the team with the best plan is awarded a $2,000 prize.

Aksoy said a good example of the direction Fordham is heading is the Ignite Scholars program, which the Gabelli School launched last year. To be admitted to the program, students must demonstrate leadership skills as well as academic success. Starting a business is one example of leadership; taking action to improving their community is another.

Resilience is a big part of the Ignite program. Associate professor Yuliya A. Komarova, Ph.D., has been organizing workshops on resilience with students, and on Sept. 26, Gabelli Social Innovation fellow and Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Jerry White will conduct a workshop on personal transformation.

“His story is really inspiring; he worked with Princess Diana on eliminating landmines, and was himself the victim of a landmine,” Aksoy said.

“It’s not just about academics,” she said, “but also about building these really important skills and mindsets in our students.”

Sean Sullivan, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business, and Margaret Desmond, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, were selected to take part in Innovate NYC, a collaboration between New York City universities and the DO School. The DO School, which is based in New York and Germany, supports the spreading of social impact and innovation by committed individuals and organizations. The initiative is supported by the Newman’s Own Foundation.

For seven months, Sullivan and Desmond will attend sessions at the DO School that focus on entrepreneurial methods and techniques for effecting genuine change. The students will be tasked with the “The Shared Resource Challenge,” a challenge developed in cooperation with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, to create an innovative product or service that improves access to critical resources for nonprofits and social enterprises in New York City.

Ron Jacobson, PhD, associate vice president in the Office of the Provost, said the innovative collaboration, which also features Columbia University, The Cooper Union and The New School, will provide an opportunity for students to learn outside of the classroom.  Fordham committed to this exact kind of experience when it was designated in April 2014 as an Ashoka “Changemaker campus.”

“Students can come out of Fordham with not only knowledge and  values, but also real world skills and engagement with the community, and having worked with others to  learn processes and help find solutions to significant social  problems,” he said.

Desmond, an anthropology and philosophy double major who also is in the pre-med program, said she applied to the program because she hopes to eventually work for a non-profit in the medical sector.

“It’s a chance to meet a lot of people who are involved in innovative programs and try to learn from them and make those connections, and to spend time with people creating something tangible and positive,” she said.

Sullivan said he was intrigued by networking possibilities, as well as the experiential education that the DO School offers. While at Fordham, he has majored in finance and interned for the Environmental Defense Fund.

“I want to shift more toward social innovation and being a social entrepreneur. Even if it’s not right after graduation, I want to have that mindset throughout my career,” he said.

“It’s great that we can get all these schools together, because we are all in similar situations.”

Through the partnership, students in a new academic course and a complementary practicum—both focused on sustainability and funded by BMW—will work in teams to enhance features of BMW’s new fleet of electric vehicles, the i3 and i8 series. The students will then have the opportunity to share their ideas with BMW representatives.

“Students have a natural understanding about products [like BMW-i]. We don’t need to explain to them what an electric vehicle is and why it’s needed—they all get it,” said Tadhg O’Connor, BMW-i area manager for the Eastern region, during a visit to the Rose Hill campus.

“They’ve grown up consuming these products and they’re used to thinking about how to integrate them into our cities. Their intuition is very valuable to us.”

Carey Weiss, sustainability initiatives coordinator and the instructor for the Social Innovation Practicum, said that the students’ inherent awareness of sustainability is apparent even in these early weeks of the practicum, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students on all Fordham campuses.

Regarding urban mobility, “Our younger students have brought up the fact that they may never own their own car and have instead talked about ideas like group shares of cars—entirely different models for ownership,” Weiss said.

“These are issues that other generations might not see, but to these 20-year-olds they’re front and center.”

The fact that this generation of college students is immersed in an increasingly urban and sustainably minded society makes partnering with a university ideal, O’Connor said. Fordham is an especially good partner in these efforts, he added—in addition to being designated an AshokaU Changemaker Campus, Fordham has an established a history of operating sustainably, such as prioritizing energy efficiency and powering the Ram Van fleet with bio diesel fuel.

In addition to the practicum, the partnership with BMW underwrites a new academic course, Sustainable Business Foundations, which provides students with a panoptic view of the efforts to make businesses and communities beneficial for “planet, people, and profit” alike.

“The course gives students a perspective on the current challenges related to sustainability, things like urban mobility, infrastructure, food, and public policy,” said course instructor Michael Pirson, PhD, an associate professor of management systems.

“It also helps them gain a keener awareness of the environment—natural as well as social and political—which they’ll need to respond to in whatever career they choose.”

For their midterm projects, students in the class will work in teams to identify a real-life problem for either BMW or the city of New Rochelle, New York, and design a sustainable solution. So far, students have floated ideas about making charging stations for electric vehicles more common and developing smartphone technology that allows drivers to remotely check how much further they can travel before needing a charge.

“We’re trying to change the way we educate not only through academic rigor, but also through applications—providing real-life challenges that we need to figure out and that the students can work on,” Pirson said.