The University of St. Thomas celebrated becoming a Changemaker Campus today with a speech from President Sullivan, informational booths and food trucks.

St. Thomas is now part of an international consortium with other universities that have been identified as providing exemplary opportunities for students to make positive social change. The recognition comes from Ashoka U, a program that describes itself as the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs.

“I want to congratulate everyone who is here today,” President Julie Sullivan said. “I want you to know that this celebrates what each and everyone of you stand for.”

Professor Adam Kay of the biology department has been spearheading the project. The team has been working with Ashoka U for the past two years.

“To get the Ashoka designation, St. Thomas had to form a team of 12 people at the university of faculty, staff and students,” Kay said.

That team then had to argue a case showing that St. Thomas is a center for social innovation.

“We pointed to things like our history of service, our volunteer work and then our unique interdisciplinary programs,” Kay said. “We emphasized our student commitment, our enthusiasm for this and our support from senior administration.”

St. Thomas’ partnership with BrightSide is an example of social innovation on campus. BrightSide provides fruits and vegetables to corner stores with low access to fresh produce.

“For decades our faculty, staff and students have been involved in volunteer activities, community service learning and community partnerships,” Sullivan said. “They have been out in communities, making this a better place.”

St. Thomas was notified at the beginning of March about the designation.

“The designation will help us get on the same page with all vocabulary,” Cynthia Sarver, assistant director of the Social Innovation Collaboratory, said. “Everyone that’s doing something will be able to kind of work together so we can provide students with a pathway from the beginning of their journey at St. Thomas to graduation and beyond to be making change in the world.”

Being a Changemaker institution, St. Thomas can now collaborate with 40 other universities including Ivy League universities such as Cornell, Brown, Duke. These universities are all also awarded Changemaker Campuses.

“We can teach them and they can teach us, and that’s a really great company,” Sarver said. “It will help us be stronger and more effective.”

Sarver noted she did not think St. Thomas would be doing this if it weren’t for the students.

“My experience here has taught me a lot about what an education means to me,” senior MacKenzie Burke said. “What I have taken away from that is this is a place for me to foster my sense of like who I am, how I connect to the world around me and how that influences how I’m working to change the world.”

Sullivan ended the event thanking everyone who made this possible and thanked the students saying they are the energy behind all of it.

“I’m looking forward to building on the roof of what we are celebrating today and to continue our commitment to change toward our common good,” Sullivan said.