Jeff Allar Discusses How to Sustain Our Values In Business

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Friday February 10, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

There will be a networking reception from 5:00 to 5:30, with the talk beginning at 5:30.

This event is hosted by the Marlboro Net Impact chapter.

A $5 donation is suggested to help support future Net Impact events but is not required for attendance.

Jeff Allar, Vice President of Human Resources at Stonyfield Farm, will offer insight on Stonyfield’s experience, including the role of a CEO, retaining long-term independence, and the moral obligation to disclose.

In addition to its natural and organic dairy products, Stonyfield Farm is known for doing well by doing good.  Jeff Allar, Vice President of Human Resources, leads the team with a track record of being good to its workforce by providing a healthful, productive work place offering opportunities to grow.  This commitment coupled with the company’s mission has has led to Stonyfield being recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work for in New Hampshire for the last two years in a row. Jeff and his team have introduced enhanced wellness programs and a smoke-free workplace. Jeff also serves as the executive champion for Stonyfield’s Walking Our Talk (SWOT) Team.

Jeff joined Stonyfield Farm in 2008 after 13 years in many roles, most recently as the head of Supply Chain Human Resources for Good Humor – Breyers / Unilever Ice Cream in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Jeff’s specialties are workforce learning and development, and organizational performance. He has served as a Senior Examiner and Judge for Wisconsin’s Forward Award and as an examiner for the nationally recognized Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  Jeff is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors for Bridges, the domestic violence and sexual assault organization serving the Nashua community, and he serves on the Board of Directors for New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility.

 

 

Kids and Computers: Careful literate use vs. alone screentime.

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Technology Grade Expectations of vermontPeter Dresher, head of EdTech at the Department of Education here in Vermont, sent me two links that got me thinking about kids and technology.  I see the concerns around young children using computers coming from the negative effects of too much alone screen time.

But what about the literate, social, collaborative, careful use of technology as a teaching tool?

The NETS-S is a national standard for technology use by students, and here in Vermont educators are doing some great work with those standards guiding technology being employed as a positive teaching tool. Specifically:

I see, and more research supports, the value of the careful and thoughtful use of very group oriented, interactive, project-based technology tools from age 3-4 on. This is NOT TV or staring at a screen alone for hours. It’s social, collaborative, and only a small part of a student’s week.

I believe we must teach literacy of media and technology to young children precisely because they are being exposed to so much of it with no literacy training. If you teach a group of kids to make a video together it not only teaches social collaboration but also changes how they watch other videos. They understand first-hand that videos are made by people – often with agendas. If our kids never make a video, it’s like teaching reading without ever talking about the intent of the author.

Unfortunately, because most parents are not made aware of the proper place in a student’s education, they either ban certain technology or media or let kids use it as entertainment.

The following suggests there is a better way.

Some research:

  1. Computers and Young Children, ERIC Digest
  2. Ban computers from schools until children reach age 9, says expert. “In the US a number of studies show that age-appropriate software can bring benefits in areas like language development. Other research suggests that prolonged television and computer viewing stunts brain development.”  Notice the distinction between positive effects of the careful use of interactive social applications and negative effects of “TV and Computer Viewing”.
  3. The Effective Use of Computers with Young Children

The impact of computer use on children’s and adolescents’ development

Free Google+ for Nonprofits Seminar

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A Google seminar providing local nonprofits (nonprofits must be a registered 501c 3) with information on the tools and resources to help their organizations grow and succeed online will be hosted here next Wednesday, February 1st.

This is a free seminar for local nonprofits run by Google employees.

The seminar will be held in room 2 East, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

At the seminar, local nonprofits will learn about:
- Google Grants
- Google Analytics
- The value of a branded YouTube Channel
- Google Plus for Nonprofits
- Google Apps

What you will need to bring:
- Laptop (If you do not have one, Google will provide one for you–no Ipads or tablets please!)
- Images of your organization (ex: your nonprofit’s logo)
- Information about your organization (ex: “About Us” section)

This workshop is limited to 20 participants.  Register today.

Special Planned Giving Workshop This Weekend

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Marlboro College Graduate School is pleased to offer a special, advanced course in planned giving this weekend, January 28th and 29th.

Planned Giving programs enable individuals to make larger gifts than they could from their annual income. They are an effective way to strengthen the long-term sustainability of your nonprofit, and yet few organizations know how to take advantage of these benefits.

The course will be taught by fundraising consultant Christine Graham of CPG Enterprises and planned giving specialist Tom Smith of the Vermont Community Foundation

This workshop will range from technical understanding of planned giving vehicles, to the emotional, philanthropic and visionary choices people make as they think about estate planning.  The course will look at people and organizations, and the ways they can plan for and benefit from bequests, annuities, charitable trusts, retirement funding gifts and gifts of life insurance. Case studies that consider different life situations and gift ideas will combine an interactive approach with critical information. Attention will also be given to the nonprofit organization’s approach to marketing, soliciting and managing planned gifts.

The workshop will be held here at the Graduate School in Brattleboro.

Hours: Saturday: 9:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Sunday: 8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

The cost for both days of training is $200. Also, there are reduced rates for groups and students. Scholarships are available (email nonprofit@marlboro.edu for details). Click here to register now.

If you have questions, please contact Kate Jellema, Nonprofit Program Director at either kjellema@gradschool.marlboro.edu or 802-451-7510.

 

Donors Want to Track Effectiveness

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Money for Good II, a study by Hope Consulting and GuideStar, finds that funders want more information to inform their philanthropic choices. Donors identify “impact and effectiveness data” as the greatest unmet need. Marlboro Grad School is taking positive steps to help nonprofits meet this challenge. The College serves as lead agency for a federally-funded consortium called Benchmarks for a Better Vermont, which is working to strengthen performance measurement systems across the state. Also this spring, the Graduate School will offer a 3-credit class in “Outcomes and Evaluation” in our MS in Managing Mission-Driven Organizations.
Kate Jellema
Program Director, Nonprofit Management

Get Productive With Your New Year’s Resolutions

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How many of us usher in the New Year with a set of best intended resolutions? We plan to lose that ten pounds, spend more time with family and friends, or become a regular at the gym. Admirable goals, to be sure, but aren’t they more or less the same every year? This year, I’m going to shoot for something a little different. I’m going to look at my personal productivity and, hopefully, make some much needed behavior changes.

This Inc. article by Ilya Pozin is a great place to start. It provides a list of seven tactical assaults on the craziness that is our work days. Check it out and see what you think. And best wishes for a happy, healthy, and productive 2012.

Scott Lawrence, Program Director, BSMIS

Clip art © by Dixie Allan, 
http://webclipart.about.com

 

 

Capstone Assists Academy’s iPad Center

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iPad implementation by Wendy Windle At Academy SchoolFor her capstone project, MA in Teaching with Technology candidate Wendy Windle has been working on the following at our local Academy School’s iPad Center.

It should come as no surprise to any of us that technology continues to impact almost every aspect of our culture. At Academy School we are finding ways to incorporate technology to engage young learners. By using iPads to propel student inquiry and learning, teachers have a new pedagogical tool with infinite possibilities.

I created a website that serves as an iPad kiosk and a Professional Learning Community. This site is designed to serve not only as an informational center for All Things iPad–from initial use to lesson sharing– but even more so to provide teachers a venue to share valuable insights. The discussion forums allow staff to share information on various apps that will be effective in building literacy and math skills.

 

Program Development and Business Planning for Educational Camp

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Eunju Halvorsen, MBA candidate, summarizes her capstone project: Dharmalife English Camp Program.

 My capstone project is to develop “The Dharma Life Camp (DLC)” program as a business. DLC is an educational camp program for children in the age of 13 to 15 designed to support the growth and personal development of teens by nurturing their individual personalities, strengths and interests. DLC integrates individual development coaching with the English skills building curriculum of a current English education camp that has been marketed in South Korea for last ten years. This 4-week-camp program would consist of English language class, cultural exposure, wilderness experience, mindfulness practices such as yoga and meditation, and individual coaching.

This capstone project will be focused on the feasibility research for the DLC as a business model. The feasibility research would include the research on the potential market, which is English camp market in South Korea, and on the customers’ needs & behavior. A business plan will be the final product of this project.

Stress and Change Management: a Feasibility Study

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Following is the summary for the capstone project by Toivo Halvorsen, MBA candidate. 

 My Capstone project is mainly a feasibility study of a new venture called Life Design. This is a company merging out of the existing company Pepp, a Norwegian consultancy working with stress & change management that has been operational for 15 years. Pepp wants to separate the corporate assignments from the private market clients. Therefore Life Design is currently building a new type of sales organization based on direct sales of self help products that Life Design itself has produced. Will anyone buy the products? Will the new venture be profitable? These are the main questions I will attempt to answer.

   If demand for the self-help products pick up, Life Design might need to further develop their business model in order to really succeed and satisfy their customers. Because only if they manage to really help people, can this new venture become a sustainable business concept!

Jeremy Grantham Discusses Investing, Resource Limitations & Global Warming

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Friday December 2, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Jeremy Grantham, founder of GMO, a global investment management firm responsible for over Jeremy Grantham, GMO founder$93 billion in client assets, will speak at Marlboro College Graduate School on  “Irrational Avoidance of the Unpleasant: Perspectives on Investing, Resource Limitations & Global Warming”.

A recent New York Times profile of Grantham says his quarterly letters “command a cult following of readers within and beyond the financial industry, (because they) inspire even the most short-term profit-minded investors to do a little fate-of-the-world-scale thinking.”

Grantham is an impassioned environmentalist who channels his wealth to The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, which tries to raise public awareness of environmental issues and to promote collaboration within the environmental movement. He also supports the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting, which awards the $75,000 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Environmental Journalism.

Grantham has been featured in Forbes, Barron’s and Business Week and is routinely quoted by the financial press. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Sheffield (U.K.) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Reading Grantham’s latest quarterly letter, you get a glimpse of his ability to intertwine compelling storytelling with well documented research. He includes a tale of “The Devil and the Farmer” which highlights his interest in soil erosion and sustainable agriculture. Jeremy Grantham’s son, Rupert, who is a MBA candidate in the Marlboro MBA in Managing for Sustainability, is completing his Capstone on “Promoting Sustainable Agriculture“, a project sponsored by the Grantham Foundation.