I work with and study a lot of business schools and no doubt this article on M.B.A.’s and social change identifies a real trend toward students wanting to explore issues of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, “green” enterprises and other social entrepreneurship concepts. These are, not surprisingly, subjects with tremendous natural appeal in today’s environment. One [...]
When Princeton University announced in 2001 that it would replace all student loans with grants, a chain reaction was set in action, slowly but surely. Students weren’t so much being enticed to choose Princeton—an attractive enough option on its own—as they were being lured away from Princeton’s nearest competitors. It wasn’t just that Princeton had [...]
Does NBC have a hit on its hands with “Community“? It appears it might. The new sitcom about students at a community college was the second-highest rated show of the night. But as I blogged earlier this year, the question for higher ed is, “What impact will the program have on the image of the [...]
I attended the launch yesterday of “Get Schooled,” a new, five-year public engagement effort funded by the Gates Foundation in partnership with Viacom and several other corporate partners. Viacom committed an extremely rare 30-minute “roadblock” on all of their properties to broadcast a short film to officially launch the initiative. The film showed how the [...]
“We’re walking, we’re walking…”: Anyone who has been through the rigors of a multi-college campus tour knows that Bonnie Hunt must have modeled her character in the movie Dave by shadowing a college campus tour guide. The backwards-walking, über-perky tour guide that can rattle off anecdotes that date to the 1800s has reached the level [...]
Years ago, NBC had a slogan that went, “Let’s All Be There.” Many fans of community colleges have already decided the network’s new fall show, titled Community, is the last thing they want to be there to see. They’re worried that it’ll be a retread of tired, negative stereotypes about community college students and teachers. [...]
There is a big hubbub right now on an Inside Higher Ed piece by Dennis Jones and Jane Wellman called “Bucking Conventional Wisdom on College Costs.” Judging by the commentary, they have clearly gored a small herd of sacred cows by attempting to debunk the conventional wisdom that budgets will (should) only rise, that spending [...]
Scott Pansky’s story in this week’s Philanthropy Journal makes a strong case for nonprofits to build mindshare as they struggle to raise dollars in an economic recession. Pansky’s point is valid—but it’s not enough. Last week, we hosted a group of Chicago-area development officers who shared their opinions on the challenges of raising money during [...]
Bring up social media in a group of nonprofit leaders, and the conversation stops. There’s often a long silence — the kind that makes presenters wince — and then someone raises a hand and asks, “How?” Not how to do it, not how to figure out what to say, but how can we possibly do [...]
Late last week Masha Alexander and I were at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. Among other cool stuff, I had the chance to hold a hefty Aplysia californica – a.k.a. a common sea slug. Aplysia are bred in quantity at Rosenstiel because their neurons are large and [...]