Becker College (USA)

Becker College is a private college in Worcester, Massachusetts. It traces its history from two Massachusetts educational institutions – one founded in 1784 and the other in 1887 – that merged to better serve the surrounding community.

Through its “Global Citizenship Attribute Statement,” Becker strives for its graduates to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable them to understand world cultures, events, and global systems; appreciate cultural differences; and apply this knowledge and appreciation to their lives as citizens and workers so that they may thrive, contribute to, and lead in a global society.

Becker students apply the ethos of the agile mindset, an approach that values learning over knowing and adaptability to complement planning and process with competencies in:

• EMPATHY to uncover insights and human needs in times of ambiguity
• DIVERGENT THINKING to find, frame, and address problems not yet known
• ENTREPRENEURIAL OUTLOOK to create value in all that they do
• SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE skills to collaborate with others to create solutions.  The agile mindset drives the vision and mission of Becker and  is integrated in to the core curriculum.

Local Impact

Students’ ongoing efforts in the local community include the Community Harvest Project, Friendly House, Worcester Refugee Assistance Program (WRAP), African Community Education (ACE), Boston Urban Outreach, Habitat for Humanity – Greater Worcester Metro, Elm Park Community School, Chandler Magnet Elementary School, St. Francis & St. Therese Catholic Worker House, LGBT Asylum Support Task Force (Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC),  and Chartwells Food Recovery Program

Global Influence

The university’s commitment to making an impact across boundaries is highlighted by its partnership with the Be Like Brit Orphanage in Grand Goave, Haiti. This initiatives includes annual service-learning trips for students. In addition, Dr. Pallatto-Fontaine provides training to teachers/caregivers four times per year. Other service-learning trips take students to Jamaica, Sierra Leone, and Guatemala – thanks to a partnership with Amizade and Seven Hills Global Outreach. Each October, Becker College takes time to celebrate the United Nations through speaker events, film screenings, and after school activities on campus for local school children. Other celebrations on campus honor the Annual International Peace Day, International Women’s Day, and Earth Day.

Academics

Becker College students are able to choose a major, concentration, or minor in Global Citizenship. Each semester, the “Global Citizenship and Community Engagement” course gives students the opportunity to enter the field of global civic engagement. Students organize civic porjects in local neighborhoods and speaker events through the“We Are Global” student club. The Center for Global Citizenship at Becker College hosts the biannual “Global Voices of Change Speaker Series,” carries out volunteer and service-learning opportunities;  and provides faculty resources for civic and global engagement.

Yunus Social Business Centre

The Yunus Social Business Centre @ Becker College empowers individuals to identify world problems and create self-sustaining business solutions that have social impact, while generating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities that drive economic development regionally and around the world. It seeks to educate communities in addressing world problems by developing and deploying sustainable, scalable, and profitable business solutions.