Greetings-

I hope this letter finds you doing well and doing good! Here in Fort Collins, we are finishing the semester. Cohort 8 made their final presentations in Tom Dean’s Venture Forward Class, C9 is finishing their first semester of final exams and waiting to hear about team/project assignments, and applications are well under way for C10!

It has been a very positive semester. Starting with a multi-cohort weekend orientation at CSU’s beautiful mountain campus, we have enjoyed a fall full of good Colorado weather (you know what that means), challenging classes and progress on venture projects.

We recently learned that Net Impact has released a new MBA ranking for Social Entrepreneurship, and we are third. In the world.  Think about that and let it sink in.  I hope you are as proud of this as I am, because this is possible only from the many efforts of our students, alumni, faculty, staff, funders, and mentors (I could keep going, but thought I’d stop before I got to brewers).  You have all invested in this program, and it is beginning to pay off. Not just in recognition and awards, which are fleeting, but in good work, which is enduring.

This semester, our new dean asked me to shorten my title, so the GSSE is now “interim” free. As you know, I think it is the best program in the world to learn about how to use business to address the many challenges society faces. Almost every week, we hear stories of the good, hard work our graduates are doing around the world and across industries.  I could have said “amazing” work in the last sentence, and sometimes it is. And sometimes it is frustrating, difficult, and demanding. That is the nature of worthy work. It is an honor to be the Director of a program that prepares you for that work while you are here, and supports you in that work after you have graduated.

While you have all invested in building this program to where it is now, the work isn’t over. We also need support to keep the program going and growing.  So please offer to mentor a team that visits your area, Skype into a class to give your perspective on a topic, come visit if you find yourself in Colorado, or hire one of our awesome graduates.  Of course, we also welcome financial contributions, which you can make here. Bottom line, the program will be stronger if you all contribute in some way.

OK, well, Kat asked me to write a letter, not the whole newsletter, so I will sign off with wishing you a wonderful end to 2015, and best wishes for 2016.

Paul Hudnut

Director, Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise MBA Program