Professors in Social Entrepreneurship

Building upon our strengths in civic engagement and service learning, we are proud to introduce the first class of Social Entrepreneurship Professors at Tulane University. The establishment of these five endowed Social Entrepreneurship Professorships provides a critical mass of faculty support for university-wide, interdisciplinary endeavors in social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The Social Entrepreneurship Professors will teach, develop a research or practice agenda, and participate in the continuing elaboration of programming and initiatives in the civic engagement and social innovation arenas.

Each one of these colleagues has been appointed to separately endowed professorships named after their core benefactors. These named positions thus remind us of the crucial importance played by our generous supporters in making possible the social entrepreneurship initiatives across the university itself. We are very grateful indeed to these very special friends.

Nghana Lewis - The Louise and Leonard Riggio Professorship

Nghana Lewis is associate professor of English and director of the program of African and African diaspora studies at Tulane. Her outreach, teaching and scholarship reflect her deep investments in community action planning and community-based research that respond to the wide range of issues confronting black people in general and black women and children specifically. In 2005, Nghana received a Louisiana Board of Regents Education Enhancement grant to launch the Encouraging Student Scholarship and Excellence through Native-Centered Education Program (ESSENCE). Contact Nghana at nlewis2@tulane.edu.

Byron Mouton - The New Day Professorship

Byron J. Mouton is an established architect, educator, New Orleans native and alumnus of Tulane University. He now finds himself building his locally based practice, BILD Design, in conjunction with his academic role as professor of practice at Tulane's School of Architecture and as director of the school's design/build program -- URBANbuild. With more than 20 years of experience in the fields of architecture and construction, having received several design awards and with a high degree of exposure in national and international architecture publications, Byron is committed to critical design and construction assignments that are focused on environmental remediation and the construction of affordable housing in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. Contact Byron at bmouton@tulane.edu.

Laura Murphy - The Carnegie Corporation of New York Professorship

Laura Murphy is clinical associate professor in the Department of International Health and Development at Tulane University, as well as adjunct associate professor at the Payson Center for International Development and an affiliated faculty member at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Her current research focuses on social change in ruralAfrica and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in that region of the world. This work has been funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Laura teaches on themes that span development, population, environment and interdisciplinary social science research, having earned the President's Award for Excellence in Professional and Graduate Teaching in 2008. Contact Laura at lmurphy2@tulane.edu.

Carol Whelan - The Paul Tudor Jones II Professorship

Carol Whelan is a professor of practice in the Tulane Teacher Preparation and Certification Program in Newcomb-Tulane College. With support from the Center for Public Service and the staff at Banneker Elementary and Middle School, Carol redesigned the Education in a Diverse Society class to include the teaching of social innovation strategies. Many of her students have received funding for their innovative ideas through the support of Tulane's Social Entrepreneurship Program and the Ashoka/Youth Venture program. Visit Carol's blog at http://socialinnovationineducation.blogspot.com for information about these projects. Contact Carol at cwhelan@tulane.edu.