ProInspire Alumni Make Business School a Tool for Social Impact (Part One of Two)
The ProInspire Fellowship attracts a certain kind of person. Young professionals join the Fellowship because they share a belief that the discipline of business, while largely developed in the context of the private sector, can be used to create social value rather than private wealth.
ProInspire alumni Crystal Moore (DC ’10) and Meaghan Casey (DC ’11) are now bringing this belief to the heart of the traditional business discipline: the Master of Business Administration degree. In Part One, we see how Crystal is at the forefront of a trend to incorporate social change into traditional business school curriculum.
Business Education—for Education
Crystal Moore believes that all students, regardless of their socio-economic background, should have equal access to educational opportunity. Yet, through her volunteer work as a College Counselor for College Summit and her ProInspire Fellowship with DC Public Schools, Crystal came to understand that for many minority students living in low-income areas, this is often far from the case.
Crystal has certainly seen the severity of the academic achievement gap. According to Reach Incorporated, the nonprofit Crystal supports as a member of the Board of Directors, DC public school students who cannot read at grade level outnumber those who can by a ratio of more than five to one by the time they enter 9th grade.
She has also experienced how difficult change can be. Her work as a ProInspire Fellow at the Office of Secondary School Transformation at DC Public Schools consisted of implementing a performance management system based on the rigorous use of data. “Essentially,” she says, “the ProInspire Fellowship allowed me to serve on the front lines of transforming an educational system.”
Through these experiences, Crystal saw that systemic change was needed to give DC’s children the education they deserve. Crystal wanted to be a leader driving that change, and she knew that she needed to develop her leadership abilities in order to do so.
Following her Fellowship, Crystal joined Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business to pursue an MBA. Now in her second year, Crystal says that the program has enhanced her ability to think critically and adeptly about complex problems. “More so,” she says, “it has provided me the opportunity to step back, assess my current capabilities, and develop the additional skills I lack to become a successful public sector leader in the future.”
Crystal has bolstered her studies with coursework on education reform and policy, as well as healthcare policy and public management. The interdisciplinary curriculum, she says, will best help her drive positive social change. “It challenges me to look at problems and solutions through a variety lenses, and to identify the conceptual tools, interdisciplinary knowledge, practical skills, and professional experiences needed to positively transform education for all children in the United States.”
Crystal is not alone in her desire to use business education for social impact. “Amongst my peers,” she says, “interest in social impact has increased dramatically in recent years, and I would expect that this trend will continue. Many of my peers see the importance of having a strong foundation of management skills that can be applicable in both the private and social sector.” Many of the top business schools would appear to be following this trend, if their curriculum is any indication. According to a Bridgespan Group report covering top MBA programs, the percentage of courses including social benefit content increased by an average of 110% between 2003 and 2009, and the number of courses on nonprofit management doubled.
When Crystal graduates, she will be joining a boutique strategy consulting firm and strategic advisor to the education sector. Although the majority of her classmates will not end up in a social sector career immediately upon earning their MBA, Crystal says that “most are aware that they will be engaged as a social sector leader at some point in their career, whether as a board member, executive, or philanthropist.