Social Innovator David Bornstein to Speak at RIT April 2

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David Bornstein

David Bornstein, a self-described social innovator and entrepreneur, joins the list of award-winning presenters for Rochester Institute of Technology’s 2011–2012 Caroline Werner Gannett Project’s “Visionaries in Motion V” speaker series. He presents “Are We on the Verge of a New Enlightenment?” at 8 p.m. April 2 in the Carlson F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science auditorium.

Bornstein, founder of Dowser, is the author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. The book, described by The New York Times as “must reading” for “anyone who cares about building a more equitable and stable world,” chronicles and analyzes the work of social innovators who are successfully addressing social problems at scale in several countries.

His first book, The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, traced the history of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank during its first 20 years and describes the global emergence of the now-famous anti-poverty strategy known as “micro-finance.”

His current book project explores the growth and implications of social entrepreneurship in the United States and Canada, and he is developing a website that will serve as a tool for the discovery of solutions to major social problems. He writes the “Fixes” column in The New York Times, and his articles have appeared in The Atlantic and Newsday, among others. He also co-wrote the PBS documentary series To Our Credit, which focuses on anti-poverty micro-credit programs in five countries.

Founded and chaired by Mary Lynn Broe, the Caroline Werner Gannett Professor of Humanities, the Gannett Project’s “Visionaries in Motion” series explores new connections across technologies, social sciences and humanities, increasing opportunities for interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration both on campus and in the Greater Rochester community. In 2009, the series was selected by City Newspaper’s Critics’ Pick for “Best Lecture Series in Rochester.”

All Gannett Project talks are free and open to the public. For more information about the Caroline Werner Gannett Project, go to the Caroline Werner Gannett Project website.