Assistant Director, Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program

Assistant Director, Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program

The Assistant Director, Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program (ESEP), manages the planning and execution of multiple Rustandy Center programs and activities in the social entrepreneurship domains. Responsibilities include event execution, program administration, research, and stakeholder engagement for the marquee John Edwardson, '72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) competition, Tarrson Social Venture Fellows program, faculty commercialization, and other new and existing programs. It is based in the Hyde Park campus with occasional events and meetings in downtown Chicago (primarily around the Gleacher Center campus).

Responsibilities :

• Provides program administration and execution support for the suite of social entrepreneurship programs within the Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program (ESEP), which is part of the broader Business and Society Team at the Rustandy Center.
• Administers the John Edwardson, '72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) program that takes place throughout the academic year and supports social venture creation. Responsibilities include providing key course support for the New Social Venture class; overseeing all SNVC-related events including info sessions, pitch workshops, and classroom-based events; coordinating application review and applicant communications; coordinating three rounds of judge invites and logistics; serving as the SNVC programmatic liaison with the Polsky Center; and significantly, serving as the key organizer for the Edwardson SNVC Finals to ensure successful execution and follow-up of the day and working closely with the Rustandy Center event manager, marketing team, and operations team to do so.
• Manages and executes events associated with key milestones such as anniversaries, as well as ad-hoc events, including coordinating with speakers, setting up registration, staffing events, and coordinating with the Rustandy Center event manager and marketing team.
• Assists with continued venture support programs for students and alumni working on ESEP-supported ventures. Manages the program planning, application process, and execution of the Tarrson Social Venture Fellows program which provides mentorship and critical runway funding to help graduating students launch and grow their social enterprises. Manages the twice-annual alumni social venture support awards process, including application review, and works with the operations team on awards process.
• Manages relationships with select Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, working with them on relevant programs and workshops and supporting office hours with students.
• Assists with all aspects of the Rustandy Center's faculty commercialization program, which supports UChicago faculty in turning innovative research into commercially viable and impactful social ventures. Responsibilities include assisting with the application and project scoping process for faculty, coordinating training sessions, developing relationships across campus to identify promising leads, and helping to schedule meetings and presentations as needed.
• Liaise and develops relationships with student group leaders at Chicago Booth, including the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital club, Net Impact, the Government and Policy club, and more, and at other units (Harris Finance Group, Harris Ventures).
• Fosters alumni communities and closer connections to the center for participants in ESEP programming, including SNVC alumni, Tarrson Fellows alumni, and our social entrepreneurship programs in general.
• Contributes to the evolution of the ESEP program by refining our programs, ensuring relevant linkage between social entrepreneurship and broader Business and Society programs such as impact investing and sustainability, tracking program developments at peer institutions, developing relationships with external organizations to build the pipeline of social entrepreneurs at the University of Chicago, and more.
• Helps develop and track metrics to assess the success of social entrepreneurship and impact initiatives.
• Provides program support to programs and events in the broader Business and Society portfolio.
• Advises, supports, and recommends concepts for programming to leaders of various organizations and programs
• Markets student activities programming throughout the year. Develops and implements protocols for evaluating the effectiveness of programs.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications :

Education :

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience :

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred Qualifications :

Preferred Competencies :

Working Conditions :

Application Documents :

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.