Social Entrepreneurship and Enterprises in Economic and Social Development

Katharine Briar-Lawson is Professor and Dean Emeritus in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany. She has authored or edited over 14 books, including Globalization, Social Justice and the Helping Professions. Her research includes the human costs of unemployment and underemployment along with family centered practices and policies. She has been instrumental in the development of the interdisciplinary Small Enterprise Economic Development (SEED) program at the University at Albany. She has won international, national, and university awards for some of her work. Paul Miesing is Founding Director of UAlbany's Center for Advancement & Understanding of Social Enterprises (CAUSE). He conducts research and training in the School of Business in various areas of Strategic Management, including environmental sustainability, social entrepreneurship, globalization issues, and corporate governance. He has previously been Fulbright Lecturer at Fudan University in Shanghai, Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and Visiting Faculty at La Universidad Del Salvador in Buenos Aires. In 2013, he was the recipient of two of UAlbany's inaugural Exemplary Community Engagement Awards. Blanca M. Ramos is Associate Professor in the School of Social Welfare with a joint appointment in the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University at Albany. Ramos is a recognized publicly-engaged community leader and scholar. Her research interests focus on socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, particularly immigrants and Latin American subgroups in the US. She has a long history of working internationally in collaborative and research projects, especially in Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Peru.