Dr. Kristin Joys is the Coordinator of the Social Impact & Sustainability (SIS) Initiative in the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Warrington College of Business. She also directs the Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership & Sustainability High School Summer Program at UF, the only summer program in existence where college bound high school students learn and practice the skills of successful business and community leaders, while being inspired to solve social, environmental, and economic problems.
She first learned of Social Entrepreneurship in 2000 when attending a conference for an international NGO for which she was volunteering, and met an Ashoka Fellow. At the time, she was completing her dissertation, studying high achieving teenagers who aspired to make a difference in their communities and change the world. From then on, she was committed to dedicating her professional career to educating, inspiring, and empowering students to become changemakers.
In 2005, she brought Social Entrepreneurship to UF and co-founded the SIS Initiative in the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Her research and applied interests center around social entrepreneurship, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, experiential learning & service learning, and creating positive social change. Kristin is passionate about teaching and empowering students to use the skills & strategies of business to create innovative & sustainable solutions to social, environmental, and economic problems locally and around the world.
In 2006 Kristin was named Service Learning Professor of the Year at UF, because of the community service completed by her students. In fact, each year her students complete more than 1⁄4 of President Machen’s Goal of 1 Million minutes of service for all UF students. She is the author of Don’t Just Count Your Hours, Make Your Hours Count: The Essential Guide to Volunteering & Community Service. In 2012 Kristin served as a Sustainability Fellow at UF and in 2013 was presented with the UF Champions for Change Sustainable Solutions in Academics Award (aka Sustainability Professor of the Year). In Spring 2015 her “Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship” ENT3503 course won the UF Online Education Excellence Award.
Kristin regularly partners with Ashoka Youth Venture, the Echoing Green Foundation’s Work on Purpose project, the Unreasonable Institute, and B-Labs, the organization behind B-Corporations to create opportunities for students. She also works closely with local ventures to support Gainesville-area startups (both for-profit + non-profit). In November 2012, Kristin was one of 36 students from 22 countries selected to participate in the International Social Entrepreneurship Programme at INSEAD. In July 2013 she graduated from the AACSB PostDoc Bridge Program and was awarded Academic Scholar status. In March 2014 she was awarded a 75% scholarship to attend the Stanford Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship along with 50 other students from 23 countries around the world. In May 2014 she earned a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship, sponsored by USASBE and the Kauffman Foundation.
When not busy with work, Kristin delights in living in a historic home built in 1912. She finds happiness in checking items off her never-ending to-do lists, practicing yoga, reading The Sun Magazine, supporting local farmers, learning to standup paddle board & climb trees, and collecting quotable cards.
More info, including an abbreviated CV is available here.