Originally posted on HudsonValley360 on June 15, 2020
Michael Caslin III
PURCHASE — The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board has awarded Manhattanville College alumnus Michael Caslin III ’80, founder and president of the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship (GCSEN) in Kingston, NY, a fellowship to be a visiting Fulbright Professor in Ireland. It is one of the first Fulbright awards offered in recognition for a distinguished career in thought leadership and social venture activation related to social entrepreneurship.
As a Fulbright Fellow, Caslin was invited to the Letterkenny School of Technology’s School of Business in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland, where he will lecture on innovation and leadership in social entrepreneurship; research and publication of case studies of social ventures; revitalizing social entrepreneurship curricula; and contributing to the development of the Regional Social Entrepreneurship Centre for County Donegal.
“I am humbled, grateful and inspired by the opportunity provided by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to return to Ireland and give back to the land of my ancestors,” Caslin said upon receiving the award. “As an entrepreneur, business and non-profit leader, and as founder of GCSEN, I’ve helped develop academically rigorous, field-tested methods and best practices in social entrepreneurship, to help people make meaning, make money and move the world to a better place. Going back to Ireland to help impart these practices on a university level is a dream come true, especially within an institution that is excited about the possibilities for its students and the local economy.”
Reflecting on his time as an undergraduate at Manhattanville, Caslin said that College’s mission of “economic and social justice through action” was his “North Star,” guiding him toward his future involvement with social entrepreneurship. He added the school’s supportive approach to liberal arts education allowed him to create his own double major, rarely done at the time, of economics and political science, which he finished in three years. All the while, Caslin said, he was asked to explore “why you are” as opposed to simply “what to do.” “That helped me make significant ‘fork-in-the-road’ life choices later on,” Caslin said.
For his Fulbright lectures and research in Ireland, Caslin said that he will build upon GCSEN’s “4P” global initiative—for People, Profit, Planet and Place—which includes Social Venture boot camps for college students and adult learners, online blended-learning courses with personalized coaching, and fellowships for certification for college administrators, faculty and business leaders in Social Entrepreneurship. Caslin also gave a special thanks to the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, a philanthropic organization, in Bethesda, MD, for its ongoing “support and counsel” that helped to make the Fulbright award possible.
Caslin currently lectures at SUNY New Paltz School of Business and Saint Peter’s University Business School in New Jersey. He is a featured speaker, educator, and mentor at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, and past faculty member of Babson College, CUNY-Baruch College Zicklin School of Business, Marist College School of Business and Manhattanville College.
As co-founder and CEO for 20 years of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Caslin was instrumental in propelling that organization’s engagement of over 1.8 million students and over 4,000 teachers, while raising over $100 million in funding. Caslin has also been a subject matter expert presenting before the U.N., U.S. Congress and The White House.