
Engaged Learning and Service
'17, Global Social Benefit Fellow, Valedictorian, Fulbright Scholar, Rhodes Scholar Finalist
Erika Francks
“How would I describe the Santa Clara University experience? Rigorous. Composed of more than academics. And because of our Jesuit, Catholic ethos, it is undoubtedly values-based. The experience puts us one step ahead of graduates of any other university.
“Starting in my junior year, I participated in Miller Center’s award-winning, nine-month Global Social Benefit Fellowship. The Fellowship provides a comprehensive program of mentored, field-based study and action research with social enterprises that have participated in Miller Center’s Global Social Benefit Institute accelerator programs. I was exposed to a worldwide network of social entrepreneurs resolute in addressing energy poverty and climate change.
“As part of my eight-week summer field experience—combined with two quarters of academically demanding research—I worked with an interdisciplinary team to develop marketing and fundraising materials for ONergy Solar, a social enterprise that provides rooftop solar home installations, irrigation pumps, lighting, and microgrids in Kolkata, India.
“My passion to end global poverty and protect the planet through entrepreneurship is unyielding. I was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and will take a 10-month leave from my job as a management consulting analyst for Accenture to measure the economic impact of solar microgrids for rural electrification in remote communities of Lesotho.”