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MILANO, THE NEW SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT FALL 2013

ADVANCED SEMINAR IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONSCRN 7744 NMGM 6003Mondays, August 26 through December 9, 2013Room 701 @ 66 West 12th Street, NYC

Instructor: Bonnie McEwan -- mcewanb@newschool.edu -- 917-693-0940

Course Summary

The advanced seminar is the capstone course for the master’s degree in nonprofit man-agement. Students participate in seminar discussions about current nonprofit issues and prepare a final project, usually a paper, that takes one of three basic forms:

1) Professional Decision Report (PDR), in which the student researches and ana-lyzes a particular management problem or opportunity for a client organization and makes recommendations for action.

2) Paper of Publishable Quality (PPQ), in which the student researches and writes a paper on a nonprofit issue and submits it for publication in a journal or public media forum.

3) Master’s Thesis, in which the student researches and writes a classic thesis on a topic relevant to some aspect of nonprofit study.

Topics must be approved by the instructor before the time of the first class session on August 26.

Course Format, Goals and Grading

The course is designed to provide students with two key experiences:

1) Opportunities for a genuine seminar experience where students discuss contem-porary issues in the nonprofit sector together with their colleagues

2) Time and support to plan and execute an outstanding capstone project that is portfolio worthy and will help in a student’s job search

The first five weeks of the course will feature seminar meetings where we will discuss current topics of special importance to the field. Please do the assigned readings in ad-vance so you are prepared for these freeform discussions. All readings are available free of charge online. Links are provided in the Course Schedule section below.

These discussions are intended to be fun and thought-provoking and to give you ideas for how you can make your own contribution to the sector as you move ahead in your

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career. Twenty percent (20%) of your final course grade will be based on the qual-ity of your participation in these seminar discussions.

There will be no class meetings on the four Mondays in October. The time during those sessions will be reserved for individual conference calls between a student and the in-structor.

The final 6 weeks of the course will focus on the work students are doing for their cap-stones. Each of those class sessions will feature timed presentations from three stu-dents on the status of their projects, followed by questions, comments and advice from the rest of the group.

Each student will have 30 minutes for the presentation and the feedback, with the first running from 6:10 to 6:40, the second presentation running from 6:45 to 7:15, and the third running from 7:20 to 7:50. Twenty percent (20%) of your final course grade will be based on the quality of your participation in these capstone discussions. This includes the feedback you give others, as well as your presentation on your own project.

The capstone paper is due on the final night of class, December 9, and will ac-count for the remaining 60% of the course grade.

Class Schedule

Session 1, August 26: Introductions and Paper Topics No reading. Be prepared to explain your topic.

Session 2, Sept. 9: Demographics, Culture & Disparities

Readings:

- OnEarth Blog of NRDC: June 5, 2013: Re-Made in the Shade by Jessica Camille Aguirre. www.onearth.org/blog/re-made-in-the-shade

- Student Debt and the Crushing of the American Dream by Joseph Stiglitz in the NY Times -- http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/student-debt-and-the-crushing-of-the-american-dream/?ref=forprofitschools

- Health Disparities and Health Policy - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - http://rwjf.org/en/topics/rwjf-topic-areas/health-policy/disparities.html -- Also, read a few articles on the linked pages

- The Race and Gender Wealth Gap - http://urbanhabitat.org/node/2815

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- World’s poorest will feel brunt of climate change. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jun/19/climate-change-developing-countries-world-bank

- The Unfinished March -- EPI -- EPI-The-Unfinished-March-A~1.pdf (404 KB)

- Rite Check 12 -- http://publicbooks.org/nonfiction/ritecheck-12 by Lisa Servon

- Sunday dialog: Conflicts Over Religion -- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-conflicts-over-religion.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

- Russia’s Anti-gay Law -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/russia-anti-gay-law-government-_n_3745186.html

- Tanzania: NGO Steps Up Fight Against FGM, Early Marriageshttp://allafrica.com/stories/201308120355.html

- French Town Bridges the Gap between Muslims and non-Muslims -- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/world/europe/a-french-town-bridges-the-gap-between-muslims-and-non-muslims.html?pagewanted=1&ref=muslimveiling

- Vanderbuilt University -- http://www.npr.org/2012/03/22/149141095/vanderbilt-rule-rankles-faith-based-student-groups

- All-In Nation -- www.allinnation.org (Not necessary to read the whole book, but do scan a chapter or two. This is a very good resource.)

Session 3, Sept. 16: Leadership & Sustainability

Readings:

- Economic Policy Debates: Theater of Distraction - http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17734-economic-policy-debates-theater-of-distraction

- Are you a character based leader? - http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2012/09/30/are-you-a-character-based-leader/

- What’s Worse, Sexting or Overturning Term Limits? - http://gothamist.com/2013/08/02/whats_worse_sexting_or_overturning.php

- Succession Planning and Sustainability for NPs. - http://leadingagecolorado.org/custdocs/dfwsuccession2.pdf

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- The Charitable-Industrial Complex by Peter Buffet - http://nytimes.com/2013/07/27/opinion/the-charitable-industrial-complex.html

- Redefining Consumerism: Innovations in Product Sustainability, Andy Ruben http://www.ssireview.org/podcasts/entry/redefining_consumerism_innovations_in_product_sustainability

- Stranded by Sprawl, Paul Krugman - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/opinion/krugman-stranded-by-sprawl.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp&_r=0

- The Sustainable Nonprofit -- http://www.unsectored.net/sustainable-non-profit/

- Better Together: Building Sustainability in the NP Sector -- http://www.cpefalbertacapitalregion.ca/downloads/events/may/May1_13/RTyson_Better%20Together%20-%20Building%20Sustainability%20in%20the%20Nonprofit%20Sector.pdf

Session 4, Sept. 23 Education and Technology

Readings:

- Moody’s 2013 Outlook for the US Higher Ed Sector -- http://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-2013-outlook-for-entire-US-Higher-Education-sector-changed--PR_263866

- An Open Letter to President Obama from Mary Broderick, president of the Na-tional School Boards Association -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/mr-president-public-education-in-the-us-is-on-the-wrong-track/2012/04/23/gIQA6LEAdT_blog.html

- The Education Mismatch by Joanne Weiss in HBR blog -- http://blogs.hbr.org/innovations-in-education/2011/03/the-innovation-mismatch-smart.html

- Executive Summary of Sen. Tom Harkin’s Investigation Into For-Profit Colleges - http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/for_profit_report/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

- Rebooting Online Education - Editorial from the LA Times - http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-udacity-online-education-20130723,0,3407868.story

- Online Education - Reuters http://blogs.reuters.com/reihan-salam/2013/07/26/online-education-can-be-good-or-cheap-but-not-both/

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- Takin’ It to the Streets, by Tom Friedman http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/takin-it-to-the-streets.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

- How America’s Top Tech companies Created the Surveillance State by Michael Hirsh in the National Journal -- http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/how-america-s-top-tech-companies-created-the-surveillance-state-20130725

- The Social Media Revolution by Tom Smith -- http://web.efzg.hr/dok/MAR/vskare/kolegiji/im/materijali/The_social_media_revolution.pdf

- In Post-Revolution Egypt, Social Media Shows a Dark Side by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani - http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/05/in-post-revolution-egypt-social-media-shows-dark-side/

- Social media ups the stakes for fundraising online -- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10910699

- Top 12 Online Fundraising Platforms for Nonprofits and Donors - http://mashable.com/2011/03/14/social-good-fundraising-tools/

- Measuring social media ROI for nonprofits -- http://socialphilanthropy.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/how-to-measure-social-media-roi-for-nonprofits/

Session 5, Sept. 30 Globality

Readings:

- Wikipedia -- Entry on Globality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globality

- Recession Forever? 10 Reasons American Workers Are Screwed - AlterNet - http://www.alternet.org/recession-forever-10-reasons-american-workers-are-screwed

- Is the World Too Big to Fail? by Noam Chomsky -- http://chomsky.info/articles/20110421.htm

-- How Urban Chinese Workers Helped Cause the Great Recession - http://qz.com/103981/how-urban-chinese-workers-helped-cause-the-great-recession/

2012 - the Year in Review -- http://www.globalsherpa.org/review-year-that-was

Top Global Companies Create Value and Social Impact -- http://www.globalsherpa.org/governance-corporate-culture-leadership-create-value

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The Benefits and Costs of Globalization - http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/04/the-benefits-and-costs-of-globalization

If We Could Build the NP Sector from Scratch, What Would It look like? http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/if_we_could_build_the_nonprofit_sector_from_scratch_what_would_it_look_like

Sessions 6, 7, 8, 9 October 7, 14, 21, 28 NO CLASSES; CONF CALLS

Sessions 10 thru 15 Nov 4 - Dec 2 Paper Presentations

November 4:

6:10 - 6:40 pm Amy Chasan

6:45 - 7:15 pm Ann Bickerton

7:20 - 7:50 pm Amanda Roberts

November 11:

6:10 - 6:40 pm Cassandra Alvarez

6:45 - 7:15 pm Brandy Cerny

7:20 - 7:50 pm Anne Ginsberg

November 18:

6:10 - 6:40 pm Brian Waldbillig

6:45 - 7:15 pm Joann Crandall

7:20 - 7:50 pm Mandy Sciacchitano

November 25:

6:10 - 6:40 pm Joy Gardner

6:45 - 7:15 pm Yu Wai Maung

7:20 - 7:50 pm Noel McKenzie

December 2:

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6:10 - 6:40 pm Samira Rastegar

6:45 - 7:15 pm Katarina Spasic

7:15 - 7:50 pm Provide Feedback on Course to Instructor

December 9: PAPERS DUE NO CLASS SUBMIT VIA EMAIL