Nima Farshchi

It’s difficult to figure out where to start when it comes to addressing the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But these Maryland Smith students have an idea.

On March 6, Maryland Smith MBA students – Ashlee Albertson, Daylin Russo, Morgan Daly and Sara Bartczak – placed fourth out of 80 teams internationally in the 3rd annual Net Impact Case Competition on Social Responsibility at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.

Maryland Smith’s Center for Social Value Creation recently concluded its second Impact Consulting Fellowship, a program that puts students to work in cross-functional teams to provide pro bono consulting services to impact-driven organizations. And as with every ICF term, this one ended with an ICF Huddle, and a chance to present their final deliverables and compete for awards.

Amidst a pandemic, the Center for Social Value Creation has created an unlikely source of commonality between universities: a guidebook.

Despite pandemic-induced social distancing, nearly 150 students are driving a Maryland Smith project this summer supporting value-driven organizations. With Zoom the primary platform, the Center for Social Value Creation at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has launched a two-month Impact Consulting Fellowship program in the vein of its earlier, signature Change the World Consulting program. Under way as of June 2020, the Impact Consulting Fellowship involves full- and part-time MBAs managing undergrads and other master’s students in providing consulting services – for example, to the blended learning school College Park Academy, a blended learning school; Black Girl Ventures, which supports founders; MLevel, a digital learning development platform; and Great Dwellings, a D.C.-based company that helps homeowners maximize their Airbnb and short-term vacation rentals.