Ballard Center News 

I am a philosophy major at BYU but an entrepreneur at heart. While in college, I started my career in real-estate investing, learning how to flip houses and lease vacation rentals. It was both exhilarating and exhausting. 

Change often comes in waves—waves of thought, courage, faith, and determination. As a woman seeking change, Misan Rewane learned to fight the issue of youth unemployment in her home country by creating waves of her own.

Just as my life was changed when I was nine years old, I now have the remarkable opportunity to take part in changing others’ lives who seek to improve the society in which they live.

Through my work with the Social Venture Academy, my perspective on social issues has changed, and it has created a pattern of learning and growth within my life.

The Y-Prize: Social Innovation Solution competition is an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students at BYU to address a real-life problem that a current business faces by proposing a solution to be implemented by the company.

A grandfather and grandson both spent time in Vietnam—but for very different reasons.

The Nonprofit Management Student Association (NMSA) was incorporated into the Ballard Center during the 2018­–2019 academic year. The NMSA has grown from its infancy in 2009 to a total of seventeen board members and seventy-eight student members. Today, nineteen students are active contributors to the program. The overall mission of the NMSA is to “develop future leaders in the nonprofit sector by providing memorable experiences, coordinating professional networking, and connecting students with internship opportunities.”

For Alicia Gettys, the endless cycle of cynical and disheartening news sparked an interest in creating a new kind of news that shares stories of hope and optimism, with a little help from a former NFL star.

“Our end goal is to create a single landing page for all of the nation’s free legal services so we can provide justice for all.”

The Ballard Center's Social Venture Academy works to solve social issues across the globe, and recent participants seem to be setting a new trend in social entrepreneurship—women helping women.

While the hustle and bustle of big cities in America are characterized by taxis and Uber and Lyft vehicles, Madagasca's ubiquitous mode of travel looks very different.

From her college years on, Rose Palmer has connected people, organizations, and communities—leaving them stronger than they were before. When she was a student at BYU, she grew BYU Women's Conference seven-fold. Palmer is now back as a staff member, connecting students to the BYU Marriott School of Business Ballard Center through her position as event coordinator.

The Global Innovation Group (GIG) unites professors from across BYU’s campus to focus on advancing social innovation and fighting global problems, such as poverty. Research teams do this by applying the latest research techniques to individual programs and by developing research ideas for problems that currently have no known solution.

In February 2018, the World Health Organization reported that more than 800 women die worldwide every day due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Students who participate in the Social Venture Maternal Health Challenge propose technology-related solutions to lower the mortality rate for pregnant mothers.

Have you wondered what your life is going to be like after college graduation? Do you dream about making a difference with your career, yet worry that it won’t be financially viable?

While as a student at BYU-Idaho, Madeline Steele, a public health major, stumbled upon the one and only social innovation class at offered on campus. Intrigued by the ad for the class that promised she could change the world, Steele enrolled in the class and loved what she learned.

Proximity allows social innovators to better understand people who are experiencing a social issue. To further the Ballard Center’s mission of searching for pattern-breaking social innovations around the world, students receive grants to make off-campus internships possible. Most of the grant funding comes from generous donors who believe in the power of travel and face-to-face interaction when solving social problems. Without these grants, many students wouldn’t have the opportunity to travel abroad.

In 2017, University Impact, an impact investing firm opened its doors in Provo, Utah. Although the impact investing industry (providing monetary support to companies that generate both social impact and financial return) is relatively new, University Impact is doing something unique in the space—nearly all of its associates are college students. In an investing world where internships and jobs are highly competitive, this niche, impact investing firm gives students a chance to hone their skills and gain experience before they’ve even started their full-time career.

The Ballard Center has over thirty programs, and students can almost always find a way to get involved; however, navigating through the variety of classes, competitions, internships, and events can be intimidating.

After six months of anticipation, Brigham Young University finally welcomes its newest dean. On 1 January 2019, Brigitte C. Madrian began her tenure as dean of the BYU Marriott School of Business.