She is former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank. At SAIS, Professor Dornsife held several senior positions in the International Development Program over the past 15 years, including Acting Director, Senior Associate Director and Senior Advisor. She currently teaches courses on the international financial institutions and social entrepreneurship. Her research interests include reforming global governance and livable cities. She also leads the social entrepreneurship leadership activities at SAIS, including serving as Faculty Director for the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator Fund. Dornsife has served in many high profile roles, including US Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank. She spent more than a decade serving the Asia Foundation in several senior positions at headquarters, heading the Washington, D.C. office and in the field office in Indonesia. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Abt Associates and the American Bird Conservancy, and on the Board of Advisors, United Nations Association of the National Capital Area and Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University. Dornsife holds a B.A. in Chemistry and Mathematics from Emory University and an M.A. in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Social Entrepreneurship: Driving Innovation in Development is focused on understanding social entrepreneurship and the challenges of building sustainable, impactful businesses that address critical underserved needs in emerging global marketplaces.
The course aims to create in each student an appreciation of the qualities, values and skills of social entrepreneurs and also entrepreneurial opportunities in critical sectors of human need in complex, resource-constrained markets that are plagued by fragmented infrastructure, inadequate institutions and other governance challenges. Students will learn first-hand how businesses serving the needs of the poor contribute to community development and “do well by doing good”. The capstone project in the course is a group presentation based on a partnership with an existing social enterprise, or a newly conceptualized social enterprise based on student ideas.
Through the use of case studies and simulations, a new four credit version of this course examines selected policies and programs of the major multilateral international financial institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and three major regional development banks (RDBs) : Asian Development Bank (AsDB), African Development Bank (AfDB), and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB), as well as the two newest MDBs – the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Topics to be covered include: role of the IFIs in private sector led growth and development; financial and operational innovations at the MDBs; reforming global governance: assessing the IMF governance reform agenda; analysis of the operational plans for the BRICs NDB and AIIB; the role of the IFIs in addressing climate change including the Green Climate Fund; measuring development impact: evaluations at the MDBs. Students work in teams on operational case studies, participate in a Board meeting simulation, deliver one individual and one group oral presentation and write a major paper on a topic based on individual student interests. Students with career interests that include working at or in partnership with the World Bank or the RDBs after graduation will find this course especially helpful.