DeKALB | If college prepares students to get a job and earn income in the “real world,” then the growing public service program at NIU prepares them to earn “psychic income” by making that world a better place.

The Social Entrepreneurship Certificate in the college of business and inter-disciplinary Center for Non-Governmental Organization Leadership Development (NGOLD) are two resources for students who want to gain the skills they need to get involved in the public sector, or private sector with a social emphasis after graduation.

Dennis Barsema, instructor in the department of management in the college of business, said “psychic income” is the good feeling that comes with knowing you made someone’s life better by coming into work that day.

“It’s hard to put a price tag on that,” he said.

Matt Carlin, senior communications studies major, said he is inspired by the social entrepreneurs he has studied in pursuit of the certificate and hopes to integrate their selfless attitudes into whatever work he does when he graduates from NIU.

“Even if it’s small, [consider] ‘What action can I take to make someone else’s life easier?'” Carlin said.

Barsema said he teaches two courses that count towards the certificate in social entrepreneurship and said he developed the curriculum to address a generation of students he sees as more conscious of international poverty and more interested in getting involved.

“What I’ve found is that the students today just don’t want to write a check and think, okay, I did my part,” he said. “They want to find a way to roll up their sleeves and get involved in helping the poor.”

Senior April Kort said she didn’t know if she could find a business course that applied to her sociology major, but she found the answer in Barsema’s social entrepreneurship class.

“When I read about this particular class I thought to myself, ‘Perfect! It’s combining social issue topics with regard to the business world.'” Kort said.

Barsema said he designed the certificate so that all students could be successful in pursuing it, not just business majors, and enjoys when his classes draw from different colleges and departments.

“I get a great flavor of questions and dialogue,” he said.

He said he would like to see the certificate become a minor and, eventually, a major at NIU.

Barsema said he is also collaborating with Judith Hermanson, director of the new NGOLD center, to contribute his curriculum to the center’s proposed BA or BS degree in Civic Leadership and Community Engagement (CLCE).

The CLCE major has been approved by the NIU Board of Trustees, but awaits approval by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

A significant part of the proposed major is engaged learning, or connecting experiences outside the classroom to theories learned within it, Hermanson said.

“Students are serving to learn and learning to serve,” she said.

Hermanson said students will work with non-profit businesses in the DeKalb area, many of which are interested in growing a stable relationship with the center.

The center also serves an inter-disciplinary resource for faculty of different colleges to collaborate on research pertaining to social issues and as a training resource for social sector professionals.

Hermanson said the work of the NGOLD center will hopefully put “NIU at the forefront of nonprofit studies.”

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Social Entrepreneurship Certificate

MGMT 311: Social Entrepreneurship

MGMT 411: Entrepreneurship in Microfinance Organizations

MGMT 327: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Courses offered through the NGOLD Center

POLS 395, section 1: Introduction to Public Service

POLS 395, section 2: Philanthropy and Volunteerism