About Us

The Institute for Leadership and Social Impact is an interdisciplinary institute that promotes servant leadership and organizational practices that contribute to a more just, caring, and equitable world.

Through workshops, coursework, grants, and a major lecture series (Impact), the Institute for Leadership and Social Impact empowers our community to account for the economic, social, and environmental impacts of businesses. We bring together students, researchers, business leaders, and social entrepreneurs in ways that stimulate core-level change.

We foster leadership development and collaboration between academia, for-profits, and non-profits, promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship and a broad sensitivity to human-centered values.

Our ultimate goal is to enhance the capacity of Georgia Tech to produce graduates who are motivated and prepared to contribute to just, caring, and sustainable societies.

History

Former Scheller College Dean Terry C. Blum has the unique position of looking at the Scheller College of Business within the larger picture of the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2006, she set out to fill in some of the gaps she realized existed. Dr. Blum wanted to focus on the ecosystem of societal value creation and servant leadership while encouraging collaborative pedagogy.

In 2014, Terry Blum in collaboration with Cyrus Aiden (Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering), co-founded the Excel program, which is an inclusive postsecondary program with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With the creation of Excel, Georgia Tech became a pioneer of inclusive education as one of the first large public universities to offer a four-year program for this population of students. After championing Excel’s full institutionalization at Georgia Tech and their physical move to CEISMC, ILSI continues to advocate for greater inclusion at Georgia Tech.

To align our mission with our name, we changed from Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship to Institute for Leadership and Social Impact in 2019. We also added new programs like the Social Impact Fellows, Excel Alumni Program, and Faculty Research Grants. Our existing activities and programs reflect our focus on social and racial justice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Programs

To carry out our mission, we offer a wide range of programs. We invite you to learn more about them.

Learn about our programs

DEI

In alignment with, and in support of, Georgia Tech’s and Scheller’s strategic plans, ILSI is providing leadership by engaging in actions that mobilize the DEI strategies and promote the culture change required for moving forward an Equity Blueprint at Tech. We believe that we cannot create meaningful and sustainable social impact without having DE&I at the core of our practices and programming.

Mission

We are an interdisciplinary institute that promotes servant leadership and organizational practices that contribute to a more just, caring, and equitable world.

Partnerships

We thrive on collaboration and believe that many other departments at Georgia Tech and organizations in the community have been advancing the principles we subscribe to. Collaborating with these partners increases our impact, and we hope to strengthen the outcome of their work. Please visit our partnerships page to learn more about our collaborative work.

Learn about our partnerships

Visit

The Institute of Leadership and Social Impact is on the fourth floor of the Scheller College of Business at Technology Square. If you are not familiar with Technology Square, directions to the Technology Square Deck can be found on the Scheller College of Business's Directions and Parking page.

View Directions and Parking