Rebecca Riccio
Founder and Juffali Family Director of the Social Impact Lab and Professor of the Practice
Rebecca Riccio is a social change practitioner and educator whose work bridges more than three decades of professional experience with teaching and pedagogical innovation in higher education. She has pioneered experiential approaches to philanthropy and social change education that cultivate systems thinking, ethical community engagement, perspective taking, and self-authorship and have been adopted by universities in the U.S. and internationally. Students in programs she designed have collectively awarded more than $800,000 to nonprofit organizations. These include Giving with Purpose, an experiential philanthropy course Rebecca developed with the Learning by Giving Foundation that enrolled 20,000 students globally. Her academic work is grounded in ongoing professional practice advising organizations, foundations, donors, and philanthropists in the U.S. and abroad.
2024 John Portz Faculty Excellence Award
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Education
MA from the University of Michigan
BA from Wesleyan University
Studied at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow -
Contact
617.373.4020 [email protected] -
Address
310 Renaissance Park
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
The Nonprofit Sector, Philanthropy, and Social Change
HUSV 3570
Offers students an opportunity to explore the nonprofit sector’s multifaceted role in U.S. society and its relationship to democracy and social change. Introduces theoretical and practical frameworks for examining contemporary models of nonprofit and philanthropic practice and examines the ethical implications of engaging in and funding activities designed to effect social change. Offers students an opportunity to apply these concepts by mapping the complex systems within which social challenges emerge and by making real dollar grants to local nonprofit organizations.
