Change the World...Two Degrees at a Time

This is an article written for the Trinity Digest, published on October 1st, 2010.

Change the World...Two Degrees at a Time

A new addition to Trinity International University’s (TIU) catalog this year allows Trinity College students to graduate with a master’s degree in cultural engagement and an emphasis in social entrepreneurship as participants of the school’s Dual Degree program.

According to Master of Arts in Cultural Engagement Director, Dr. Michael Cooper, planning for the social entrepreneurship emphasis began last year and came about as an answer to the question of how Christians are to address human and social needs, as well as a response to his research.  Cooper said his research showed an increasing number of individuals were leaving the Christian faith because they didn’t see Christians “acting like Christians.”  The social entrepreneurship emphasis focuses on putting faith in practice.

According to Trinity’s website, the emphasis focuses on “social entrepreneur ventures that create opportunities for solutions…to local and global social concerns.”

As it relates to Trinity’s mission, Cooper said social entrepreneurship is about engaging issues of human need. 

“It is very much a holistic approach to engaging culture,” he said.

According to Cooper, the emphasis gives students an advantage in pursuing their goals of social change by giving them skills to understand what’s going on in the world and the core issues behind it.  While students have a large amount of information about problems in the world, they may not know the core issue behind each one. 

“We educate students to develop a framework to understand what’s at the core of these issues.  The western mind thinks jobs will help poverty, but there are a variety of issues behind the problem,” Cooper said.

To Cooper, the most important aspect of the emphasis is that students learn to understand culture exegesis.  Students need to develop a Christian response to illiteracy, human trafficking and educational needs. 

Several students in the program are already putting their work into practice, by conducting research in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and in Haiti.

Classes of the social entrepreneurship emphasis include several business classes, such as management and accounting, along with social entrepreneurship classes. 

The emphasis is geared toward a range of students.  Those interested in social justice issues may be interested in the program, as well as students preparing for vocational missions work.  Business majors that are focused on the social bottom line of business rather than the financial line may be interested as well.

Formerly known as the Master of Arts in Communication and Culture, the Masters of Arts in Cultural Engagement is meant to “provide students with the basic interdisciplinary tools to analyze, interpret, engage, and address culture,” according to Trinity’s website.

The university’s Dual Degree programs enable students to work on a master’s degree and bachelor degree simultaneously, allowing them to

graduate with a master’s degree in a shorter amount of time than usually required.

Sophomore Ethan Carlson, a participant of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Intercultural Studies Dual Degree program, said the Dual Degree program was a major factor in his decision to come to Trinity.  He said the classroom interaction between undergraduate students and graduate students in his classes has been a benefit of the program. 

“Forcing Christian ministry majors and business majors to grind out possible discrepancies they have regarding the way the Gospel should be spread is definitely beneficial for all,” Carlson said.