Making a Difference through Social Entrepreneurship

About the Lecturer

Morris has worked to bring entrepreneurship empowerment to those operating under conditions of adversity, and this commitment is reflected in his research, teaching, and community engagement efforts. At Notre Dame he has launched the Global Partnership for Poverty and Entrepreneurship, a resource-sharing consortium for scholars, educators, and community leaders, and the Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, which helps low-income members of urban communities develop their own businesses. Morris also coordinates the Entrepreneurship Empowerment in South Africa Program, which enables students to work with historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2023, Morris was honored with a mayoral proclamation from South Bend Mayor James Mueller and the City of South Bend for his work leading the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program, which has graduated more than 200 participants. Morris is a past president of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). He has been awarded the Edwin & Gloria Appel Prize for contributions to entrepreneurship and also the Academy of Management’s Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award. A former Fulbright Scholar, Morris was named a Top 20 entrepreneurship professor by Fortune Small Business and received the Leavey Award from the Freedoms Foundation for impacting private enterprise education. He received the 2021 Legacy Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers and was recognized by the USASBE as Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year in 2012. He earned a PhD in marketing from Virginia Tech in 1983.