Dr. Alessandra Bazzano Named a Social Entrepreneurship Professor
Dr. Alessandra, Bazzano, assistant professor of global community health and behavioral sciences, has been named to the next class of Social Entrepreneurship (SE) Professors. The professorship is an opportunity of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University and encourages selected faculty to pursue research and scholarship that contributes to their existing fields. The primary aim of this work is to diffuse experiences and knowledge of social entrepreneurship through courses, lectures, field projects, program development, symposia, and writing.
Bazzano, who will be the Carnegie Corporation of New York Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, will begin her term on July 1.
Her work applies a social innovation approach and design thinking methods to health behavior research and programming in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Her academic interests focus on the social and behavioral context for health, particularly as it relates to women and young children in low-income environments. Empathy, ideation, and iteration are key concepts in her teaching and research.
Bazzano is the second public health professor to be named an SE professor; Dr. Laura Murphy, clinical associate professor of global community health and behavioral sciences, was the first.
Previous work at Taylor supported by SE Professors includes “design thinking” crash courses, social innovation scholarship symposiums, enhancement of elementary education through an empathy initiative, as well as other applied work in disciplines including law, environmental science, bio-innovation, dance, communication, architecture, political science, and other fields.
As Taylor incorporates these five new professors into the existing and robust social innovation ecosystem at Tulane, each will continue to advance and expand offerings within their desired field and interests.
