[Donna Van Dusen, Ph.d., Assistant Dean & Professor, School of Management] The School of Management at Regis University, in addition to our accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, has begun the accreditation process with the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

We have chosen to pursue this accreditation because it aligns with our focus on:

• Continuous improvement in order to better achieve student learning outcomes, and
• Our model of adult education, which entails the blending of academic theory and practice, and the design and delivery of courses by both academically qualified and professionally qualified faculty.

The Core Values of IACBE Accreditation:

• Collegiality – A culture of collaboration and cooperation in advancing academic quality in business education
• Developmental Philosophy – An emphasis on continuous improvement and a shared journey towards excellence in business education
• Responsiveness – An unwavering focus on service to our members

Our goal is to obtain candidacy by fall of 2012. Upon achieving candidacy, we will begin the self-study, which will take approximately two years.

http://iacbe.org/accreditation.asp

Donna Van Dusen, Ph.d., Assistant Dean & Professor, School of Management
A graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donna Van Dusen, Ph.D., is an experienced educator, mediator, executive coach, and corporate trainer. Her area of expertise is human communication with specialization in organizational and interpersonal communication, and qualitative methods (ethnography and discourse analysis). During her esteemed career, she held the position as a corporate trainer and curriculum developer for Communication Research Associates where she conducted workshops on team effectiveness, interpersonal communication, gender and diversity, and conflict resolution with clients from organizations such as Merrill Lynch, Shared Medical Systems (SMS), and the Franklin Mint. “Education often is viewed as the transfer of information from professor to student; however, the root meaning of educate is ‘to draw out.’ Just as important is how that knowledge creates meaning and leads to the development of the individual.”

Regis University College for Professional Studies (CPS) is proud to learn that one of our Master of Science in Accounting graduates, Michael Hoffer, is one of the winners of the esteemed Elijah Watt Sells Award. Originally from New Jersey, Hoffer is also a graduate of Business University in Vienna and is currently employed with Skidata AG in Austria.

The award was presented to candidates who obtained a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, completed testing during the previous calendar year and passed all four sections of the Examination on their first attempt.

Hoffer is one of only 37 people out of 90,000 CPAs to receive the Watt Sells Award. An impressive honor indeed!

The Sells award was created by the AICPA in 1923 in honor of Elijah Watt Sells, who passed away in 1924 as one of the country’s first CPAs under the provision of a New York State law enacted in 1896 and a leader in advancing professional education. He was active in the establishment of the AICPA and was a founder of New York University’s School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance.

The complete list of Sells Award Winners:

http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/education-careers/aicpa-2011-elijah-watt-sells-award-winners-announced

Anyone out there wish they earned more? For all the lame jokes about nonprofit compensation being ridiculously low and in spite of the “scarcity mentality” that too many nonprofit professionals still embrace, it is actually possible for you to explore–yes, even negotiate–a better salary.

First, let’s look at some considerations if you are currently working in a position at a nonprofit.

1 — Know specifically what you want out of the negotiation. Do you want a particular promotion that includes more job responsibilities, or do you simply want more money and/or greater decision-making power for what you are already doing?

2 — If you think you should be paid more, you need to prove it. Determine your specific value to the organization by doing an in-depth personal job inventory. This is an objective analysis of your contribution to the organization as well as a realistic appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses.

3 — Compare your salary to what other people are paid in your industry and in other organizations like yours. Talk to friends and acquaintances who work for like-minded nonprofits of a similar size–i.e., your competitors.

4 — Consider your employer’s wants, needs, and concerns. Visualize a giant backboard with a line down the middle – your needs on one side and the organization’s needs on the other. Consider how you can better meet their specific needs and the organization’s mission.

5 — Focus on your value, not your need. Don’t discuss why you need the raise (high house payment, kids in college, etc.) You get a raise because you are worth it, not because you need the money.

6 — Regard asking for a raise as a measure of self-respect. Most bosses are not offended that you feel you should be better paid, and some give you points for it.

7 — Have a fallback plan. Define some secondary goals if your primary goal can’t be met. For example, if a raise just isn’t possible, negotiate for what you consider the next best thing that would make you more satisfied with your job, such as flex time or a one-time bonus.

Meanwhile, if you’re a final candidate for a new position rather than an existing employee asking for an increase, here are some thoughts.

1 — Don’t be too specific about how much money you want. Consider salary negotiations to be like a poker game. You would prefer that the other party make the first move. If you do have to state a figure, give a range that reflects market value. That gives both sides a little leeway for compromise.

2 – The most telling and confining aspect is the culture and current salary levels of the current employees at the nonprofit, and their established budget. Research what they are offering for other positions they are recruiting for, and consider their overall culture, before you decide on what to ask for.

3 – There are many salary surveys of the nonprofit sector, but in the end these numbers give us little guidance because they are a rough outline and cannot take into consideration the life cycle, health and history of a given nonprofit.

4 – It is OK to ask what the salary range is, but do not ask this question until they bring up the topic of what salary you are seeking. Asking this too early is a big turn off for a prospective employer that may not yet know if they are interested in you.

5 – Remember that your offer is probably going to be more about the nonprofit than it is about you. Most finalists for jobs concentrate too much on their own experience level and on the market. Though both of these items are most important to us as the job seeker, they are not the most influential aspect controlling nonprofit job salaries and offers.

6 – Never ask for more than 15% over your most recent salary unless the position carries significantly more responsibilities and you can justify it.

7 – Organizations are always trying balance the responsibilities of the position and the pay offered, but many times feel that they cannot offer what is required because to do so would also require them to increase salaries for everyone in the department or organization, which would put a large dent in their established budget.

8 – Too often, when it comes to the salary that a nonprofit organization decides to offer, they base it on their fixed budget and the other staff they already have in place. If the organization is currently paying under market for their current staff members, you should also expect your offer to be the same unless you bring significant additional established value or expertise.

Why wait for a salary negotiation to prepare a candid SWOT of yourself? List your professional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats — and see if this exercise in reflection doesn’t give you some valuable insights. We predict you’ll be glad you did.

Richard Male is an Affiliate Faculty member of the Global Leadership in Nonprofit program at Regis University with over 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector as a leader and teacher. He founded Richard Male Associates in 2001 to work with nonprofits throughout the United States and internationally, helping small to mid-sized organizations with organizational development, leadership and management issues, fundraising and financial management and public policy opportunities.

In the previous articles of this series, (insert previous links) we discussed how one can incorporate multiple theoretical, psychological, and philosophical approaches taught in a Master’s in Counseling program into practical application while working with disconnected youth populations.

In addition to understanding the impact of these various perspectives, one must also look at other approaches in order to have a holistic approach to working with and understanding how to impact young people from various theoretical approaches.  While we have discussed the psychological approaches, this article in the series will look into the combination of psychological and sociological factors.

One of the primary long-term goals of The Youth Connection (TYC) is to have a direct impact on breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

In 2006, Bridges out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities (Payne, R., DeVol, P., Smith, T.), was published.  This approach discusses the importance of professionals understanding the dynamic and multifaceted issues regarding the sociological and psychological impacts of the cycle of generational poverty.  To address generational poverty, the authors researched and discussed the vast differences, perspectives and approaches to life within each class system.  Research suggests that within each class are unspoken rules that either hinder or encourage growth, expansion and exploration for each individual.

One such approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty is career mentorship.

Many times, young people have not had the opportunity to have a positive adult teach and demonstrate appropriate mannerisms, dress and even conflict resolution in the work place; all of which are hidden rules within the professional environment.  To create an opportunity for success, one must teach young people the hidden rules of such an environment.

If you think back into your own life journey from a career development perspective, we have all had a supervisor, co-worker, mentor or family member whom took the time out to teach us appropriate ways to address and approach situations within the work environment.  For disconnected youth, such individuals are few and far between.

Research suggests that individuals who have career mentorship early on in their perspective careers experienced higher rates of career development and satisfaction then those whom did not (2006, p.84).

There is far more to discuss regarding generational poverty and alas, I’m running out of space.  I highly encourage you to look further into the book and the research regarding this approach to working with communities across class and culture.

We have spent much time discussing theory over the last few months.  The next articles will discuss how we incorporate all these theories into our direct work and approach with disconnected youth through our cycle of engagement model and approach, as well as how each step of engagement builds off the next.

Heidi Grove began her work in the advocacy field in 1998 when she worked at a local not-for-profit agency in Denver, which provides affordable services for Substance Abuse Treatment. From 2001 to 2008, Grove worked with Gang, Urban and Homeless youth; has presented research findings on youth populations at Local, State, National and International Conferences and her findings have been published in academic journals. In September of 2008, Mrs. Grove independently published her first book, which is a curriculum based intervention for Gang Involved youth. She received a Master of Arts in Counseling from Regis University and was nominated and awarded Regis University’s most prestigious Social Justice Award. Since graduation, Heidi Grove became the co-found of the nonprofit, The Youth Connection (TYC), supporting and caring for at-risk youth in Denver. She is currently a member of Chi Sigma Iota International Honors Society, and is a participant of multiple state and local committees that address: Juvenile justice, policy reform, and research. Follow TYC on Facebook and Twitter.

So here we are at Part 3 of our Personal Branding Series, which focuses mainly on the “why” aspect of your career strategy along with some final recommendations.

If you’re in a job search or looking to further advance your career, you should in a sense, look at yourself as a product. You need to make employers “buy” into you. Most employers, like today’s consumer, shop for their staff online. Instead of going to Amazon.com or eBay, they shop for their staff via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Referring to a recent Jobvite study:

89% of US companies report that they will use social networks for recruiting in 2012

78% of job seekers credited their current job to Facebook

When you combine the best practices and tips from Part 1 and Part 2 of Personal Branding via Social Media, adding these final recommendations should set you well on your way to enhancing your professional online presence:

• Be compelling – separate yourself from competition, just as a company would.
• Elevate employer perception of yourself.
• Establish a lasting image – update your content regularly and make sure to update your profile with relevant accolades and recommendations.
• Communicate your strengths, which are relevant to your industry.

For the second year in a row, Regis University has been honored with the Honor Roll with Distinction category for the U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Last year, Regis University was the only university in Colorado to receive this award. This could not be achieved without the stellar efforts of submission contributors and individuals who tirelessly work in community service and service learning at Regis University.

Thank you to Tom Reynolds, Melissa Nix, Jeremy Lee, Sharif  Abdelhamid, Amy Sheber Howard, and Victoria McCabe, as well as the many additional individuals who contributed towards this effort.

The following five institutions were selected as Presidential Award Winners:

Special Focus Area Presidential Award Winners
Seattle University (WA)
Miami University (OH)
University of Pennsylvania (PA)
General Community Service Presidential Award Winners
North Carolina State University (NC)
Carson‐Newman College (TN)

This year CNCS also recognizes the following institutions as Special Focus Area Finalists:

Special Focus Area Finalists
Central College (IA)
Millsaps College (MS)
Nazareth College (NY)
Raritan Valley Community College (NJ)
Rhodes College (TN)

In the General Community Service category, the following institutions are recognized as Finalists:

General Community Service Finalists
California State University, Monterey Bay (CA)
Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IN)
Lake Area Technical Institute (SD)
Loyola University of Chicago (IL)
North Carolina Central University (NC)
Otterbein University (OH)
Tulane University (LA)nity College, (ME)
University of Massachusetts ‐ Dartmouth (MA)

[By Richard Male, Regis Nonprofit Affiliate Faculty member.] I had an opportunity this past week to work with a room of supervisors, all public sector employees, in a workshop-style review of leadership versus management. Most of them–indeed, most all of us–are called upon to fulfill both roles in the course of a day. What happens when you fail to appreciate the critical difference between the two, or you confuse one role for the other? How do you know which approach is the fit in a given moment, and what are the characteristics of each mode?

As much as I love to teach leadership and strategic organizational development, I also appreciate the essential value of strong, focused management. Although I often decry that our sector has too many tactitions and too few visionaries, I know that no organization can survive without deep assets in both realms. I have also come to respect that most people operate naturally in one mode, so that learning to move swiftly and appropriately between modes when the situation warrants it is often a lifelong journey.

Here’s a quick refresher that may help you check in on your balance between the dual roles:

1.  Management produces order and consistency. It is the skill of exercising executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of a group, managing resources and monitoring essential systems, all within the established culture of the organization. Leadership is the art of inspiring and motivating people forward; done well, it produces change and movement, all focused on creating or changing culture rather than living within it.

2. A manager makes the rules. An effective leader sometimes breaks them in the name of a broader mission.

3. A manager seeks to avoid conflict so that process and productivity are not interrupted. A leader sees conflict as an opportunity to solve problems.

4. Managers are skilled at reacting to circumstances and applying known systems toward a solution; they seek to minimize risk. Leaders are inherently more proactive, with an eye on the horizon, and setting a new course when possible; they are more willing to take risk for a broader purpose of improvement and innovation.

5. Managers act from the head, using data and logic, and exercise formal authority. They ask and answer the questions of “How” and “When.” Leaders act from the heart, more likely to exhibit charisma and articulate a vision. They ask, “Why?” (and “Why not?”).

6. A manager is typically transactional in style, and tell-assertive. A leader seeks to be transformational in style, and ask-assertive.

7. A manager values control and results. A leader values passion and achievement.

8. Managers give us the critical tools of planning and budgeting, setting agendas, setting timetables, fostering accountability, and allocating resources. Leaders clarify the big picture, setting strategies and establishing direction.

9. In times of crisis, a manager seeks to identify cause or blame, and a leader is more likely to take the blame. A manager may be needed to take corrective/negative action, and a leader moves to motivate and inspire toward future positive action.

10. A strong manager is efficient, effective and generally focused from the center of the organization, while a strong leader is usually operating on the “edge” or on the ledge.

Which mode is your default, and which is your growth challenge? What signals in your life and work help you identify how and when to shift between modes–and are you truly watching for these signals? Please comment below and share your thoughts.

Richard Male is an Affiliate Faculty member of the Global Leadership in Nonprofit program at Regis University with over 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector as a leader and teacher. He founded Richard Male Associates in 2001 to work with nonprofits throughout the United States and internationally, helping small to mid-sized organizations with organizational development, leadership and management issues, fundraising and financial management and public policy opportunities.

[By Dr. Kelli Woodrow, assistant professor at Regis University School of Education.] Some of the most important skills for new teachers to develop are those related to Differentiated Instruction. Differentiated Instruction, a simple concept, is a real challenge in practice—it refers to providing instruction that meets the needs of all learners.

Carol Ann Tomlinson, professor at University of Virginia and leading researcher on differentiation notes, “curriculum tells us what to teach. Differentiation tells us how to teach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes” (2001, p. 6).

For me, as an Assistant Professor in the CPS Master of Education Teacher Licensure Program, I have observed that many of our teacher candidates struggle with both the significance of differentiating instruction, as well as, the actual practice of developing lessons with meaningful differentiation. Recently, in a threaded conversation with our newly licensed teachers, elementary teacher and Regis student, Nicole Atkins, offered the following thoughts from the field:

After a semester of student teaching, I see more than ever how important it is to differentiate in the classroom. I underestimated how much of a challenge it would be to differentiate across the curriculum. My greatest take-away is the need to quickly identify the students who need additional support or challenging and consider them in all of my planning. I struggled with consistency in this area at first. It soon became apparent that there were significant gaps in the understandings of certain students. Knowing my students and their individual needs was the key component to closing these gaps. I was then able to try various approaches within my instruction to meet the many styles of learners.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) (as cited in Shalaway, 2005) has identified the following as best practices in an effectively differentiated learning environment for all students:

1. Teachers and students accept and respect one another’s similarities and differences.
2. Assessment is an ongoing diagnostic activity, and learning tasks are planned and adjusted based on assessment data.
3. All students participate in work that is challenging, meaningful, interesting, and  engaging.
4. The teacher is primarily a coordinator of time, space, and activities rather than a provider of information.
5. Students and teachers collaborate in setting class and individual goals.
6. Students work in a variety of flexible group configurations, as well as independently.
7. Students often have choices about topics, activities, and assessment.
8. Teachers use various instructional strategies to target instruction to student needs.
9. Students are assessed in multiple ways, and each student’s progress is measured at least in part form where that student began (p. 106).

I can see the validity of each one of these best practices. My theory on differentiation rests upon the belief that each student deserves an education that is equally challenging, regardless of his or her performance level. It is my role to ensure this, which means that I need to be thinking daily of how to differentiate for all students.

The following are some of the most effective strategies that I have discovered thus far: (a) the use of hands-on activities with a choice of manipulatives, (b) teaching varying problem-solving strategies, (c) scaffolding as much as needed, (d) offering opportunities for additional instruction and support, such as Math Club, (e) allowing choice within student practice, and (f) creating Choice Time Centers for students who complete work early. I plan to incorporate each one of these strategies in my classroom and then modify to the needs of each particular class. (Nicole Atkins, Regis Master’s of Education, 2012)

Nicole poignantly discusses how she underestimated both the importance and complexity of differentiating instruction. She also offers both research-based best practices, as well as, her own practical theories regarding differentiation. The way Nicole dialogues between her own practical theories and the dominant literature in the field is a crucial process in new teacher’s ability to understand and engage best practice in their work and it is my goal to facilitate this in my students.

References:

Shalaway, L. (2005). Learning to teach (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Scholastic.

Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd ed.).

Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Kelli Woodrow, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Regis University. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the University of Colorado, Boulder with an emphasis on Anthropology and Education. At Regis, Dr. Woodrow is a program coordinator for the Masters in Education with Licensure program and the liaison to the Regis Dual Language Education program in Thornton. She created and directs the new capstone in Reflective Teaching and recently began research on the kinds of reflection that students are doing in the course. Previous to her position at Regis, she was research faculty and the director of an NIH health science program, CardioHEADS, at CU Boulder.

Last week in Part 1 of Personal Branding via Social Media, three steps were provided to get you started: 1) Create an online presence, 2) Determine your voice, and 3) Making your website or blog interesting and engaging through the use of media.

In Part 2 of this three-part series, it’s all about tapping into social media to drive people back to your online presence, whether it’s a blog or microblogging profile like Tumblr, using social media and basic best practice tips.

When it comes to getting readers of your blog, don’t rely on the “if I write it people will come” right off the bat. Yes, after a time your articles will appear in search engine results. But you need to drive traffic from the get go. Plus, it enhances your presence on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as you deliver original content from your blog, along with other articles from external websites you believe would be of interest to your audience.

The more you write and promote your content via social media, the more you’ll be able to grow your reputation as an “industry expert.”

Guidelines for using social media for your personal and professional branding:

• If you believe your target audience is on Facebook, create a Facebook Page versus driving people to your personal Facebook profile. You don’t want to mix business with pleasure by having an article for your blog on managing your finance appear next to photos of your home bar-b-que.
• There are a number of 3-party applications available to manage your social media accounts, including Hootsuite and Tweetdeck (which was purchased by Twitter).  They are both free, fairly intuitive, and make managing your profiles much easier (including the ability to schedule your tweets and posts). But use these only for Twitter and Linkedin, even though Facebook is supported. Facebook will lower your “reach” (how many people are seeing your posts) if a 3rd-party application is used for posts. While it is not as convenient to post to Facebook in realtime, the benefits will pay off.
• On Twitter, pay special attention Connect, which will show you who has followed you, replied to one of your tweets, mentioned your Twitter handle in a tweet, or has retweeted (RT) one of your tweets. Show your gratitude for RTs and mentions by simply saying “Thanks” to those people. Follow those who follow you, when it makes sense, avoiding obvious spammers.
• Use LinkedIn to grow your reputation and migrate Connections to your website/blog. Seek out discussions within your LinkedIn groups. This will showcase your expertise and enable you to make new connections. When applicable (don’t spam), include a link to a related article from your blog that is of value to the discussion.
• As an extra tidbit, for anyone wanting to show off your graphic design or artistic aptitudes you can use Instagram (recently purchased by Facebook for $1 billion dollars), a smartphone photo sharing application that has over 30 million users, all obsessed with sharing photography and visually appealing images.  The free application was only available for iPhone users up until last month, and is now available for Android users.

Next week we’ll finish up this Personal Branding via Social Media series with a focus on how recruiters and employers use social media to find potential employees, and how you can use this tactic to your advantage.

And remember, if you are a current Regis University student or alum, free career services are available to you.
http://www.regis.edu/career.htm