Conversation

A pandemic business assessment

Associate Professor of Business and Management and Diana Davis Spencer Chair of Social Entrepreneurship Imran Chowdhury this fall again will be working with students who participate in the Social Entrepreneurship Launch Program. He helps guide them from idea to execution of their own social enterprises. In May, he led students in organizing and presenting the first Wheaton College Social Impact Conference. Magazine editor Sandy Coleman recently checked in with Chowdhury to ask him to share his insights on the changes he has seen in the business world during the pandemic.

What major changes in business have you seen during the pandemic? “The global nature of the public health crisis brought on by the pandemic has had a major impact on traditional businesses, social enterprises, nonprofits and governments. Most clearly, the disruptions can be seen in buying patterns, the effect on the global supply chain and an increased emphasis on health and safety. Many of these changes are likely to linger in the years to come.

“For instance, in terms of buying habits, the shift to online purchases and e-commerce in the United States and elsewhere made this mode of shopping concrete for many who might not have seriously considered it prior to the pandemic. Some of this shift will remain even as we, sometimes quite happily, go back to in-person shopping, where we may see more use of hybrid modes combining inperson and online shopping [buy online/ pick up in store].

“In terms of the social impact of business, we saw that many businesses worked together with their local communities to develop solutions to the problems they were facing—from manufacturing face shields and ventilators or hand sanitizer to distributing food and essential services to the needy. These solutions were often offered at or below

cost, or supported by philanthropy or emergency government support.”

Is there an increased interest in engaging in businesses that have social impact? “I think there is absolutely more interest. Many of the students I work with, including in my ‘Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation’ course and the First-Year Experience [FYE] course on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that I teach with Assistant Professor of Political Science Jonathan Chow, have aspirations to create social impact in their work. They want to do this either by directly engaging with social enterprises as employees or founders, or by creating social impact through volunteering, doing policy-related work or through other forms of engagement. This mirrors what many have noted about younger workers: Millennials and Generation Z individuals want to have an impact through the work they do; they are not simply looking for a paycheck in their professional lives.”

Why now during one of the most challenging times in history? “Part of this stems from the shared experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly everyone around the world went through it or experienced the impact in some way. This is somewhat unprecedented in human history, and I think it has demonstrated the need for a focus on the greater good, on working together for shared outcomes that can benefit everyone.”

PETE BYRON

Interest in social entrepreneurship has grown, Professor Imran Chowdhury says.

Read the full interview at wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine

Professor of English Charlotte Meehan

Faculty

Imran Chowdhury, associate professor of business and management, co-wrote the article “Managing tensions and divergent institutional logics in firm-NPO partnerships” published in January in the Journal of Business Ethics. In February, he was invited to become a member of the Committee on the National Program at the Council on Foreign Relations and, in July, he played many roles at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics 2021 annual conference, including co-organizing the special track “Social Sciences for the Real World” for the third consecutive year; chairing a session on “Commodification of Time, Labor and Well-Being in the Modern Economy;” and moderating a session on “Corporate Social Responsibility.”

John Collins, professor of physics, co-wrote the article “Theory of Nonradiative Energy Transfer between Two Optical Ions Using Proper Adiabatic Approximation” published in June in the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology.

Francisco Fernandez de Alba, professor of Hispanic studies, co-edited Fashioning Spain: From Mantillas to Rosalía (Bloomsbury, 2021). Scott Gelber, professor of education, wrote the article “The History of Assessing Curricular Antiracism” published in May in Assessment Update.

Jessie Knowlton, assistant professor of biology, co-wrote the article “Birds and Bioenergy within the Americas: A Cross-National, Social–Ecological Study of Ecosystem Service Tradeoffs” published in March in Land.

Mark LeBlanc, professor of computer science, in May won a $20,000 grant from New Hampshire Humanities for the project that he is co-directing titled “Co-Creating a WWI Yankee Division Virtual Pilgrimage.”

Ellen McBreen, associate professor of history of art, wrote the book review “The ‘Black Art’ Renaissance: African Sculpture and Modernism Across Continents by Joshua Cohen,” published in The Burlington Magazine in July.

Charlotte Meehan, playwright-in-residence/ professor of English, in May won a $15,000 Artist Fellowship in Dramatic Writing from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to use freely in support of her work and life. The award recognizes exceptional work by Massachusetts artists across a range of disciplines. Kim Miller, professor of women’s and gender studies and history of art, won a Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship in May for her project titled “Building Stories into the World: Surveying Commemorations of Slavery.” Alumni

Megan Collins Hatfield ’06 wrote her third thriller The Family Plot (Atria Books, 2021).

Jean Baldini Isaacs ’66 was featured in May in The San Diego Union-Tribune article “A life in motion: The dancing life and legacy of Jean Isaacs” about her retirement from her position as the artistic director of the San Diego Dance Theater.

Shanita Gopie Liu ’07, CEO of Coach Shanita Inc., delivered a TEDx talk titled “How to Activate Courage” in May.

Adara Meyers ’08 won a $1,500 Finalist Award in Dramatic Writing from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Meyers is an interdisciplinary writer and longtime creative collaborator at Sleeping Weazel (the Boston multimedia theater company launched by Professor of English Charlotte Meehan).