Walden University Alumni Association Blog

Walden University Global Day of Service 2009

The Walden University community will support several good causes during the fourth annual Global Day of Service, sponsored by the Walden University Alumni Association, on Saturday, Oct. 3. Last year, volunteers worked on 20 projects in 19 cities across the U.S. and Mexico. This year we’ve changed the name to reflect the worldwide impact Walden students, alumni, staff, and faculty are having as agents of social change. Our objective is to put people and action behind Walden’s social change mission.  

Volunteers are needed to organize or participate in projects in their areas. To lead or register for a project in your local community, please visit the Walden Global Day of Service registration site. Projects are being added everyday. Connect with other Global Day of Service volunteers on facebook.

2008 projects included:

• Working at schools in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Jacksonville, Fla.
• Landscaping public spaces in Minneapolis and San Francisco
• Working in food banks and serving food to those in need in Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.
• Participating in fundraisers to help fight breast cancer in Boston and Houston
• Working at a fashion show to benefit developmentally disabled adults, children, and their families in Chicago
• Collecting batteries for recycling in Queretaro and winter clothing for those in
  need in San Luis Potosi

Read more about the 2008 Walden Day of Service in the Ponder and in the Walden Alumni Magazine.

Walden Think+Up: Hughes Communications Inc. on Core Businesses

Pradman Kaul, President and CEO Hughes Communications, Inc., speaks about core businesses.

Visit Think+Up to view other management and technology related videos.

Walden launches Business Admin degree in Spanish

Walden University has launched an online B.S. in Business Administration degree taught in Spanish with the option to learn English. The curriculum is fully delivered in Spanish, and is supported by a full suite of Spanish-language services. Walden’s program is designed to serve those for whom the English-language barrier is an obstacle to a degree from an accredited U.S. university.

“The segment of the Latino population that prefers learning and communicating in Spanish has not been well served by U.S. higher education institutions,” said Dr. Ivonne Chirino-Klevans, director of the Spanish-language B.S. in Business Administration program at Walden University. “Walden’s degree program removes the language obstacles preventing many eligible Hispanics from earning a degree. College ready, Spanish-dominant individuals now have a greater opportunity to improve their lives and advance their careers.”

To help provide an opportunity for all eligible students to pursue a degree, Walden has announced it will offer a Walden University Academic Success Award. Open to all students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program (taught in Spanish with the option to learn English), this award can provide a 15% tuition reduction, which equates to between $6,000 and $6,750 over the life of the program.

Walden's bachelor’s program provides a full suite of Spanish-language support services, including enrollment and academic advising, writing assistance, tutoring, library resources, technical support, financial and personal counseling, and career services. For those students who want to become English-proficient, Walden offers an optional English-language component (ESL). With the ESL component, students can learn English while earning their degree, and eventually may become eligible to transfer into Walden’s English-language B.S. in Business Administration program. Regardless of the path students choose, upon graduation and with demonstrated proficiency, they may be able to enter Walden’s M.B.A. program.

The program combines academic theory with practical application, preparing students for real-world jobs in a global economy. For example, students will learn how to apply basic business principles to solve problems and leverage domestic and global opportunities; how to use critical thinking and business application skills to make strategic business decisions; how to evaluate the use of technology in a competitive global economy; and how to work effectively across cultures.

Students in the program will communicate in Spanish with other students and faculty members to exchange ideas; discuss key concepts, theories, and issues; practice new skills and strategies; and apply new knowledge to prior experiences.

The program, targeted to meet the specific and unique needs of the Latino community, is based in Walden’s College of Management and Technology.

Lifelong Learner: Jill Watson Riley, '07 MSED, now Ed.D. student

Jill Watson Riley had a simple goal in mind when she first began her M.S. in Education program: earn a higher salary. But the thought of returning to school wasn’t easy at first. Not only did the 44-year-old elementary school teacher from South Carolina have a full plate with one child in college, one in high school, and one in middle school, Riley’s undergraduate experience had its ups and downs. (“I wasn’t the best student,” she admits.) So whenever she would feel intimidated at the thought of pursuing an advanced degree, Riley would think of her mother, Dolores Watson, who returned to college when Riley was 14 and who eventually earned a master’s degree.
 
“My mother had three children, and to be able to balance all that with her studies was something impressive,” Riley says. “Whenever I started to think it was too difficult to keep it all going, knowing that my mom had succeeded kept me focused on my goal.”
 
Riley specialized in Elementary Reading and Literacy (PreK–6) and notes that after her first class, money was no longer what motivated her. “I loved learning, being exposed to new ideas, and being challenged to improve my teaching,” she says. Riley also was inspired by the fact that she could immediately apply the information she was learning in her master’s program at Walden to her own classroom. “For a Walden class, I was able to create a Reader’s Theater Lesson in which students practice scripts to develop fluency,” she says. “I then used it for my kindergarten students. They really enjoyed acting out the characters of Mrs.Wishy-Washy’s Tub by Joy Cowley while practicing fluent reading strategies.”
 
In the process of learning new strategies for teaching children, Riley began to think about her own educational journey. Motivated by how Walden had enriched her life and enhanced her professional skills, Riley became intrigued with the idea of reaching out to other learners like her—adults, perhaps a bit older than traditional college students, but with plenty of life experience under their belts.
 
The self-confidence she’d gained from earning a master’s degree, coupled with the urging of Walden professor Dr. Mike Trapani, helped propel her into Walden’s Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program. “I called him several times and he convinced me that I could do it,” she said. “I would have never had the nerve to attempt this without his endorsement. I immediately enrolled and started before I could talk myself out of it.”
 
Not only has Riley achieved her initial goal of increasing her salary, she now brings a new set of teaching tools to her students, thanks to her master’s degree, and her leadership skills are improving, thanks to the Ed.D. program. “The doctorate program has helped me have the confidence to ask questions at the school level and district level, such as why I am required to teach a certain concept or why one program is better than the other.”
 
With the fresh course she has charted in new professional waters, Riley hopes to continue to set a positive example for her own children, as well as her students of all ages—youngsters and adults alike. “I want them to know you are never too old to learn,” she says. “I would like them to see firsthand how being organized and motivated helps a person to succeed. And I am also hoping they will learn that hard work pays off.” Above all, she said, she wants to convey “the most precious gift of all, a love of learning, that Walden has given me.”

Walden blog takes a little R&R

The Walden University Alumni Association Blog is taking a few days off for some R&R. The blog will commence on Thursday, July 30. 

Walden and Social Change: 5 ways you can improve People’s Lives Internationally (pt. 5)

The Doctoral Difference
When it comes to affecting policy on an international level, there’s no substitute for the knowledge and credibility conferred by a Ph.D. “Degrees really matter,” says Lord Malloch-Brown. “For example, in the U.N. or the World Bank, you can’t be hired at the professional level anymore without a second degree—preferably a Ph.D.”

And Dr. Mark Gordon adds, “One thing that has happened with the professionalization of the sector is that, as the sector matures, so do the expectations of the skills required. As that happens, degrees become more important to get those leadership jobs and make big changes.”

“Getting a Ph.D. really gives you legitimacy,” says Kenneth Davis, who is completing his dissertation for his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration. “Obviously, there are financial benefits, but to play at a senior level, you really need a Ph.D. to be taken seriously, and it also gives you a seat at the table with some bigger players.” Davis, a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, has balanced philanthropic and relief work with the Marines with his personal interest in addressing the global effects of deindustrialization.

Davis, who is currently the academics officer at the Financial Management School in Jacksonville, N.C., has been deployed throughout Asia, where his work with the Marines included building schools and homes, assisting with free democratic elections, and promoting free medical care in developing nations. In emergency situations, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes, “the collective group needs to take care of each other” with humanitarian relief, he says.

At the same time, Davis looks forward to using the skills in policy analysis he has been developing in his doctoral program to address more systemic international challenges. The industrialized world, he explains, tends to look at “symptoms, rather than on what’s really going on globally.”

Also completing his dissertation in Public Policy and Administration is James Kollie. Kollie grew up “very, very poor” in Liberia, but through “a combination of luck and determination,” he was able to change his circumstances: he had the opportunity to go to public school, did well, and ultimately earned a scholarship to college.

A job as an accountant for a nonprofit in his country’s capital city of Monrovia gave him extensive experience with international development programs, and he saw that while “the nonprofit community has good intentions,” it’s not always effective. Often, he explains, “no one does program evaluation to see if the program is actually meeting the development needs of the people in Africa. The international development community continues to spend billions of dollars, and the people in Africa still live in abject poverty.”

After several years, Kollie obtained a visa to come to the U.S., where he has been working as an accountant and pursuing graduate education; he earned an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas before beginning the doctoral program at Walden. His focus of study has been on Public Policy Analysis and Evaluation, and he intends to return to Liberia to set up a think tank to evaluate development work there.

“We need to step back and find out exactly what the problems are and address the problems on a case-by-case basis,” he says. For instance, microfinance— loaning small amounts of capital to individuals or small groups—has lately become a popular tool for development. But, says Kollie, “capital is for people with entrepreneurial skills. If they don’t have the skills, then they will squander the capital. There has to be a way for government to work with NGOs to ensure that policies will add value.”


The Right Honorable Lord Mark Malloch-Brown
Mark Malloch-Brown’s career in development has spanned the public and governmental sectors, and has encompassed everything from helping Cambodian refugees escape the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge to serving as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has also worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was the lead international partner for the Sawyer Miller Group (a political consulting firm), and served in a number of significant roles at the World Bank. In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Walden and Social Change: 5 ways you can improve people’s lives internationally (pt. 4)

A Different Kind of Vacation
A philanthropic sabbatical or extended working vacation is a way to make an impact without actually switching careers. A. Marlene Klingeman, an M.S. in Psychology graduate who received Walden’s 2006 Outstanding Thesis Award for her work on bipolar disorder, was recovering from brain surgery after a stroke when an earthquake hit El Salvador in January 2001. Klingeman, who lives with her husband in the country’s capital, San Salvador, took advantage of her necessary “sabbatical” to begin a long-term aid project in a small mountain village. “I just felt grateful to be alive,” she says, “and I wanted to give back, but I wanted to do it in a tangible way, where I could see where my money was going and get my hands dirty.”

Klingeman began searching for a project that called to her, and found one in San Juan Buenavista, a pueblo of 5,000 people—most of them illiterate—whose clinic was destroyed in the quake. She decided to devote her own time and funds to rebuild the clinic, and spent six months just locating skilled labor and adequate transportation for the project. (Although the town would normally be a half-hour trip from San Salvador, the roads were so damaged that each trip could take as long as three hours.)

It then took another year to get the clinic functional again. Klingeman went to the village every day, taking workers and supplies, and was completely hands-on. “I was not working at the time,” she explains. “The project required that kind of flexibility because of how difficult it was to put it together.” Many times during the process she felt so discouraged by the challenges— such as lack of electricity and running water—that she was tempted to quit. But her experience with Walden (where she had begun to study) inspired her to keep going, to “take charge and make sure things were getting done.” She also raised funds from family, friends, and her family’s church.

Today, the clinic is functional and Klingeman has a practice as a life coach, but she is still actively involved in the community, where it’s still a struggle to get consistent running water. She says, “The reward is when I go up there and see the little kids standing in line and getting the medical services, like vaccines and antibiotics, that other people take for granted, and knowing I made it possible.”

Walden's Enid Schwartz '06: How to lighten life's problems with laughter

From working with critically ill children to helping cancer patients in the battle of their lives, Enid Schwartz has held a variety of demanding positions in her 35-plus-year nursing career. While studying for her master’s degree in nursing, Schwartz discovered research pointing to the benefits of laughter. “That’s when I realized that I needed to explore my lighter side and learn to laugh a little more often,” says Schwartz.
 
She continued to use humor to reduce stress and tension as she pursued a second master’s degree: this one in counseling. When she developed breast cancer in 1993, she knew humor would help get her through the recovery. She documented that experience in her dissertation, The Use of Humor to Cope With Breast Cancer, as part of her Ph.D. in Psychology program at Walden University, which she completed in 2006.
 
Schwartz now serves as a Certified Laughter Leader, encouraging others to find their lighter side. She shares how we can all realize the benefits of incorporating laughter into our daily lives.
 
Use Laughter to Improve Your Perspective. When the going gets tough, it is difficult to see the end of your troubles. You tend to focus on everything that is wrong with your life. If you can find one element of your situation to which you can apply humor, it can lighten the moment and give you a totally new perspective. One cancer survivor recalled how she used to dance up and down the hospital hallways with the pole carrying her chemotherapy to the delight of other patients. Another recalled inflating latex gloves and writing notes to her doctor, then placing them in unexpected places in the doctor’s office to surprise him.
 
Acknowledge Character Flaws. In a classroom situation, a student may perceive that a teacher is displaying favoritism to another student. This perception on the student’s part may tarnish how the teacher’s character is viewed, which can hinder the student’s involvement and performance in the class. To redeem the relationship, the teacher must respond to student concerns and acknowledge any wrong behavior. For instance, when a teacher begins class by saying, “I need to apologize for confusing messages,” students may better understand the teacher’s commitment to the class. That increased understanding improves the learning process because the teacher’s words become redemptive.
 
Change Your Thought Patterns. Watch children or animals at play. Turn on a funny movie or read a collection of your favorite cartoons. When I was recovering from breast cancer and I felt down, I would either watch Pretty Woman or When Harry Met Sally. Those two movies constantly cheered me up. You need to make a conscious effort to find ways to break the pattern of negative thinking.
 
Know the Difference Between a Need and a Want. Students may perceive they absolutely need certain tools to be successful in the classroom, when, in fact, they only want them. For instance, students may complain that they are unable to score high on tests because the teacher does not use outlines or PowerPoint presentations. They may feel they need material presented in this format to succeed. A five-minute lesson from the teacher on good note-taking skills and how they are linked to class activities and lectures can help students see that PowerPoint slides were a want, not a need. Once students gain that understanding, they may pursue learning with a renewed motivation.
 
Learn to Be Playful. Adults, just like children, need time to play. At some point in our childhoods we are conditioned to control our laughter and our smiles. Just because we get older, we do not have to stop playing. When I taught nursing students, I used to go to class on test days and sprinkle students with good luck sparkles. My supervisor told me I should stop because students might think that all you had to do was wave a magic wand to get good grades. She was someone who had lost the ability to be playful.
 
Know How to Make Yourself Laugh. Identify what makes you laugh and surround yourself with whatever that may be. Start a collection of cartoons or wacky childhood toys that will make you smile or laugh. When my husband died, a friend sent me a small toy that stuck its tongue out whenever it was squeezed. That toy became my constant companion. I carried it around in my purse and it never failed to make me smile.
 
Smile and Laugh as Much as Possible. There is scientific and medical research on the ability of laughter to reduce stress and positively affect hypertension and cardiac problems. Research has shown that simply moving your face muscles to form a smile may make you physically feel better. In my work as a Laughter Leader, people have told me they feel better, they feel more natural, and they notice a difference when they smile.

This article first appeared in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Walden Alumni Magazine. Listen to Dr. Schwartz's alumni lecture presentation, "The Use of Humor in Coping with Breast Cancer: the Laughter Prescription."

Walden and Social Change: 5 ways you can improve people’s lives internationally (pt. 3)

This week, read about members of the Walden community as they share their experiences of creating positive social change in the international arena, in the context of different avenues one can pursue to make a difference at the global level.

Called to Give
A career in philanthropy is often seen as the province of the rich and powerful. But the main criterion is having the drive to make a difference. Magdalena LaVerdiere, who received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Walden in 2005, is evidence of what can happen when one ordinary person dedicates herself or himself to philanthropy. LaVerdiere didn’t plan to close her practice in order to work as a full-time volunteer for a nonprofit development organization. But, four years ago, when she and her husband learned about the work being done by Miracles in Action, an American group interested in improving Mayan life in Guatemala, they felt compelled to get involved.

LaVerdiere and her husband started by donating a water system to a rural village. But after watching a video made by Miracles in Action, her focused changed. “In the video, they asked the villagers in the town of Canton San Antonio what was their most pressing need; they said constructing a school was more important than having running water,” LaVerdiere recalls. This realization led her and her husband to sponsor the construction of a five-room school in the village of Canton San Antonio.

“We donated the funds to buy the materials, the villagers did the building, and a professor who operates a nonprofit in Guatemala oversaw the construction,” she says. In January 2008, LaVerdiere presided over the opening of the school, where the 180 students include both boys and girls; a condition for LaVerdiere’s sponsorship was that the parents would commit to sending their daughters to school as well as their sons.

“Providing them with the opportunity to read and write improves their lives by allowing them to learn a trade,” LaVerdiere explains. “And improving their quality of life helps them to stay where they are. They love their country and want to stay there; they just want the basics—running water, safe homes, schools for their kids.” In addition, because most of the homes in the village don’t have stoves—and the open fire pits in unventilated rooms cause respiratory problems for the children, who are also often accidentally burned—LaVerdiere donated more than 80 safe, ventilated stoves to the villagers.

Stateside, LaVerdiere now serves as director on the Board of Directors for Miracles in Action, which has no paid employees (100% of donor funds go directly toward the projects). She says, “Sustainable development is what I’m interested in doing. We’re not giving people handouts, we’re giving them a hand up.”

LaVerdiere notes that working together with your community to raise funds for a project is a great way to make a larger impact than you could make on your own. “There are so many opportunities to volunteer,” she emphasizes. “It’s incredible to see what people can do when it tugs at their heart, if they just take that step of contacting an organization.”

Walden's Riley College of Education and Leadership has a new Dean

Dr. Kate Steffens has been named dean of The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University. In her role as dean, Dr. Steffens will be responsible for accreditation and program review as well as academic oversight of 10 programs and 43 specializations and concentrations in the college.

“With her extensive expertise and background in education, Dr. Steffens is uniquely qualified to advance the mission of The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership,” said Jonathan Kaplan, president of Walden University. “We look forward to the insight and leadership she will bring to the college’s students, alumni and faculty.”

Dr. Steffens, formerly dean of the College of Education at St. Cloud State University, also served as assessment director, interim associate vice president for academic affairs, special education faculty member, and associate dean at the college before being named dean. She spearheaded the nation's first online National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation self-study processes. She was also co-leader of the self-study and team visit that updated the university's accreditation by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. 

Previously, she served on the faculty of Bemidji State University as assistant professor, associate professor and professor of special education, and in several roles at the University of Minnesota, including assistant to the director and federal grants director.

Dr. Steffens has served as a member and chair of the NCATE Board of Examiners, a member of the Minnesota Board of Teaching Examiners and as a national consultant on assessment and accreditation. She holds her Ph.D. in educational psychology, M.Ed. in special education and B.S. in physical education from the University of Minnesota.

Walden and Social Change: 5 ways you can improve people’s lives internationally (pt. 2)

This week, read about members of the Walden community as they share their experiences of creating positive social change in the international arena, in the context of different avenues one can pursue to make a difference at the global level.

Fundraising for a Cause
Fundraising is important for long-term projects, such as the decade- plus work of Dr. Larry Flegle, a faculty member in Walden’s College of Management and Technology. Flegle was a pastor’s son brought up in a home of public service, he says. In 1994, Flegle’s church hosted a presentation by a doctor who was volunteering in Thailand. Soon after, “I woke up one morning and felt very compelled to call him,” Flegle says, “and I told him that my wife, daughter, and I would go to Thailand and help him with a conference.”

Once there, Flegle fell in love with the country. In Nan, Thailand, he met the headmaster of the Love Thy Neighbor Dormitory, a home for children whose parents were too poor to raise them— children who might otherwise end up in prostitution or drug trafficking. The dormitory was having trouble finding the $24 a month per child needed to continue. So on Flegle’s return to the U.S., he incorporated a foundation to support the dormitory, and since 1995, he has raised $1.4 million—50% of the total funds needed for the children in that time. (Another agency provides the other 50%.)

Flegle raises the funds primarily at church-related events. “I just make people aware of the need,” he says. “It’s not a high-pressure thing.” He also goes to Christian conferences and gives slide shows about the dormitory to generate donations, and he sells crafts, such as needlework pillowcases, made by the girls in the dormitory. Flegle’s church committed to covering the administrative costs for the foundation, “so 100% of the donor money goes directly to the children,” he explains.

Funds are sent to an American oversight person in Thailand, who distributes the money as needed. “You have to do due diligence when dealing with people of other cultures,” he notes, “so establishing a relationship with someone like a professor or fellow Walden student who has a connection to the country that interests you would be a positive way to proceed.”

Thanks to the donations, the dormitory’s 100 children—from Hmong or Mien Yao tribes—are fed, clothed, housed, sent to public school, and taught English (“Just by teaching them English, we ensure their economic future,” Flegle explains). As the children get older (they live in the dormitory until they are 19), they are taught a trade.

Flegle doesn’t second-guess his call to serve: “God impressed Thailand on my heart, and I said, ‘OK.’”

Walden students eligible for TEACH Grants

Beginning in September 2009, students in select programs in the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University may be eligible for the federal TEACH (Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education) Grants program.

The non-needs-based TEACH Grant Program provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to graduate students who intend to teach full-time in high-need subject areas for at least four years at schools that serve students from low-income families. The teaching service requirement must be met within eight years of completing the program for which the TEACH Grant was awarded. Graduate students may receive up to two years of grant funding for a total of $8,000.

“We are pleased to be able to offer our students another way to fund their education,” said Victoria Reid, vice president of the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership. “Helping students who are dedicated to teaching children from low-income families is just another example of our commitment to making a difference.”

TEACH Grants are available only for students in certain programs, click here to learn more about the eligibility requirements.

Walden and Social Change: 5 Ways You can Improve People’s Lives Internationally

“I know the difference between being in a job where you feel a sense of anticipation and fulfillment every day, and want to get to work and make a difference, and the job where you’re just marking time,”says the Right Honorable Lord Malloch-Brown, Britain’s Minister for Africa, Asia, and the UN. Lord Malloch-Brown received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, at Walden’s summer 2008 commencement, in recognition of how his career has aligned with Walden University’s mission of applying knowledge to solve critical societal challenges around the world.

Lord Malloch-Brown began his career as a journalist with The Economist. He then made a transition to humanitarian and development work because “the story just looked too exciting from the other side—I was more of a doer than an observer.” Like him, many feel called to make a difference on the international level, either by addressing a specific need in a foreign country or by working on global issues. This feeling is particularly true within the Walden community, which attracts students, faculty, and staff who are driven to improve the lives of others.

The most direct ways to improve people’s lives internationally include working in development or for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. These avenues, traditionally somewhat separate, are becoming increasingly connected and interdependent. Lord Malloch-Brown explains that the success of large, intergovernmental development organizations, such as the World Bank or the United Nations, “depends on a network of partners who are much smaller—not-for-profit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),” some international and some local, such as church groups and community groups.

His wife, Lady Malloch-Brown, a philanthropist and board member of Refugees International, agrees that “the lines are much more blurred now than they used to be” between philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, corporations, and governmental organizations.

“Bringing all the sectors—corporate, nonprofit, government—together is the way to go to make real changes,” says Dr. Mark Gordon, a recipient of the 2006 Extraordinary Faculty Award for Walden’s School of Public Policy and Administration. He describes the challenge of making a difference internationally as taking “a holistic approach—not just treating one problem, but a whole system.” He hopes that his students will be inspired to effect systemic change by “leading the conversation, creating the agenda, bringing people into the process. When people come together, they can accomplish anything.”

Opportunities to Make a Difference

For those who want to make a difference internationally, Lord Malloch-Brown sees tremendous opportunities: “We have a host of ways, these days, of changing the world around us,” he says. “Just about every theater of action is no longer in the hands just of government—the means of making a difference through activism and involvement in the community, in one’s country, in the world, have never been so many as they are today.

“Walden alums are natural leaders,” he says. “If they put themselves behind the goal of international development—whether they do it by going to a developing country or whether they do it from back home—they can make a real difference.” As an example, he cites Walden graduate Dr. Lydia Apori-Nkansah and her work in international peace-building through restorative justice, “The fact that she has done her Ph.D. in this area and is herself a practitioner involved in management and government in West Africa is a real tribute to Walden as well as to her.”

This week, read about members of the Walden community as they share their experiences of creating positive social change in the international arena, in the context of different avenues one can pursue to make a difference at the global level.

The Power of a Nonprofit
In the international development arena, says Lord Malloch-Brown, “There’s a huge premium placed on experience.” He notes that one common career path is to “start in the not-for-profit, NGO sector, and then use that experience as the credential to get a job in one of these bigger international public organizations.” And Lady Malloch-Brown predicts that the wave of the future will include more “partnerships between NGOs and big companies or consultancies” and that “small organizations are now working in what would be traditional development activities,” where they can have a big impact.

Uchenna Ekwo, a journalist and doctoral candidate in Walden’s Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration program, has been an effective advocate for positive social change in the arenas of peace-building, freedom of the press, and human rights through his work as a journalist and teacher, both in his native Nigeria and now in New York, where he is the director of the nonprofit Center for Media and Peace Initiative.

“The media, in my assessment, should be the last line of defense for the agents of change,” Ekwo says. Professionally and academically, he is focused on “what the media can do to improve civilization and cross-cultural understanding.” In Nigeria, he has played a leading role in championing freedom of the press from the control of the (then) military government and fighting against corruption in the media; his many accomplishments there included securing the release of two reporters from jail and helping to form the National Association of Women Journalists.

While he accepts that the constraints of needing to make a profit will influence media content, he feels that “media owes society the objective truth” and that an international embrace of basic journalistic ethics will help bring a more balanced view of global issues. He is particularly concerned with the influence of the Western media in terms of promulgating stereotypes about Africa and concerned that, because of media convergence and the domination of major media by just a few owners, “one person really can have the power to truncate democracy.”

The media, Ekwo explains, thrive “on controversy and conflict.” But, he says, in any conflict between two parties, there’s always a third party whose perspective should be included, “because that’s the party that’s interested in bringing about peace.”

The Right Honorable Lord Mark Malloch-Brown
Mark Malloch-Brown’s career in development has spanned the public and governmental sectors, and has encompassed everything from helping Cambodian refugees escape the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge to serving as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has also worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was the lead international partner for the Sawyer Miller Group (a political consulting firm), and served in a number of significant roles at the World Bank. In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Lady Trish Malloch-Brown
Trish Malloch-Brown began her career working in international political consulting at the Sawyer Miller Group, then earned her master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University. In addition to her work with Refugees International (where she served as vice chairman before becoming a board member), she also served as a program director at the Open Society Institute, addressing technology, media, and educational initiatives in Eastern Europe. She is co-founder of The Washington Circle, a group dedicated to educating women about international affairs and facilitating their involvement in making a difference.

Walden Think+Up: Hughes Communications Inc. on Core Values

Pradman Kaul, President and CEO Hughes Communications, Inc., speaks about the importance of corporate core values.

Visit Think+Up to view other management and technology related videos.

Walden alumnus gives tips for marketing yourself

As the vice president for marketing and corporate communications for a bank in Bridgeport, Conn., Peter Maresco, '98, was responsible for creating and implementing marketing initiatives for the bank’s 24 branches. When his bank was acquired in 1991, Maresco became a middle school teacher, eventually earning a Ph.D. in Education. Today, he works as a clinical associate professor at the John F. Welch College of Business at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut and has successfully marketed a number of research studies. A respected author and consultant, Maresco offers tips on marketing yourself, your products, or services.
 
Conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis. The best organizations constantly conduct SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analyses to identify their strengths so they can revise their marketing strategies accordingly. A personal SWOT analysis can help you effectively market yourself or your products. You need to take a good look at yourself and outline your greatest strengths and weaknesses that could benefit from improvement. Be »honest in assessing your own position. By matching your strengths to opportunities in the environment, you can create a competitive advantage for yourself. At the same time, identify the threats—or obstacles and challenges—you need to overcome to reach your marketing goal.
 
Find Your Niche. Look at yourself, your product, or your service from a new and different angle. Identify some feature or characteristic that is out of the ordinary. Examine how you or your product can make a positive difference for your community or for individuals. You may have a common theme, but you can put a different spin on it. For instance, my interest in marketing led me to study marketing in religion, and that led to a book on the topic.
 
Start Networking. Contact friends, neighbors, family members, colleagues, and even former college roommates. You never know when you will meet someone who can advance your efforts. Do not leave any stone unturned. It is so easy and nonthreatening to contact people via email. I recently sent 75 emails to authors as part of market research I was conducting, and I received responses from almost all of them. People generally get great pleasure from helping others.
 
Join Associations and Make Presentations. Identify associations or affiliate groups that are related to your profession or topic. This is a great way to take your message to new audiences and to meet new people. Make your presence known and pursue opportunities to participate in presentations, workshops, or panels at regional and national conferences. It may sound intimidating, but the time it takes to give a presentation is often short and the audience is typically small.
 
Speak Out. From informal talks at local libraries and churches to presentations at national conferences, get your word out and build awareness. At the local level, these groups are always looking for speakers and they often promote the events and get coverage from the local media. Recently, I was quoted briefly in The New York Times about the business of Christianity. That one quote led to more newspaper interviews and radio coverage. Before you know it, you become an expert and are gaining growing recognition and visibility, which enables you to reach more people with your message.
 
Write. Use your writing abilities to your advantage and emphasize how you or your product contribute to the public good. Hundreds of journals and magazines publish articles on virtually every topic. There are unlimited opportunities to publish and share knowledge. Use the Internet to research an appropriate publication. Consider building a Web site to give readers access to your résumé and a sample of your product offerings. Create a blog to encourage virtual correspondence with readers and to serve as a venue for sharing and exchanging information with your audience.

Walden Extraordinary Faculty: Dr. Steven Little

Dr. Steven Little, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

What is the most important issue people are not talking about in your field?

In psychology, people are not looking enough at the environmental determinants of behavior; they’re trying too much to look for genetic determinants of behavior. But even if there is a genetic factor, we don’t have control over that.

What are the most important factors in becoming successful in your field?

Hard work—it’s always hard work. To succeed, you have to put the time in, put the effort in to try to understand what the research is telling you. And you have to have the passion to do that. A lot of times, psychologists practice based on what makes sense to them, as opposed to what the research says works. They don’t make the effort to adequately evaluate the research. You need to know what is empirically validated. And just because something is empirically validated, that doesn’t mean it works for everybody.

What is the main thing you hope your students take away from your classes?

In the movie The Paper Chase, the law professor says to his students, “You will teach yourselves the law. I will teach you to think like a lawyer.” I want my students to think like psychologists. I try to teach critical-thinking skills. Most people take things at face value—I like people to think as objective scientists.

The Extraordinary Faculty Award is conferred annually on Walden University faculty members who demonstrate the university’s core values of quality, integrity, and student-centered instruction. In 2008, Walden chose four faculty members for the recognition. We asked each of the recipients the same three questions, relative to their own experience and areas of expertise and the answers those be shared during this week. This is the fourth one.

Walden Extraordinary Faculty: Dr. Carol S. Kleinman

Dr. Carol S. Kleinman, College of Health Sciences

What is the most important issue people are not talking about in your field?

We’re not talking enough about educational level for entry to practice—about how one becomes a nurse. There are thousands of programs that educate nurses, but research has demonstrated that patient outcomes are improved when they are cared for by nurses who have bachelor’s degrees. If entry-level nursing required a bachelor’s degree, that would solve the whole problem. Nurses have become the least-educated members of the health care team.

What are the most important factors in becoming successful in your field?

It depends on the definition of success. Is success being a happy nurse and giving good care? Is it moving up the career ladder? I think education is part of becoming successful, but what’s also important is the ability to do whatever is necessary for the nurse to sustain the caring and compassion that brought her or him into the field in the first place.

What is the main thing you hope your students take away from your classes?

I believe the most important element of teaching is the personal connection between teacher and learner. That relationship validates students’ hopes, alleviates their fears, accommodates their life commitments, and allows them to know they can succeed—that’s what I hope to provide. I want them to take away the knowledge that I care.

The Extraordinary Faculty Award is conferred annually on Walden University faculty members who demonstrate the university’s core values of quality, integrity, and student-centered instruction. In 2008, Walden chose four faculty members for the recognition. We asked each of the recipients the same three questions, relative to their own experience and areas of expertise and the answers those be shared during this week. This is the third one.

Walden Awards Commitment to Social Change Scholarships

In spring 2009, Walden University awarded its Commitment to Social Change Scholarship to five incoming graduate students who have achieved positive social change in their fields and possess clear visions to do more of the same in the future.

Recipient: Caron Jacobson
Title: Instructor at Governors State University (Ill.)
Program: Ph.D. in Human Services
Social Change Achievement: Founded Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness, the first sexual assault prevention and education program in Michigan; served as executive director for Women ARISE, an agency that provides services for women in the criminal justice system
Social Change Goal: To support women in the criminal justice system and eliminate the cycle of incarceration
Award: $5,000

Recipient: Sarah E. Forrest
Program: M.S. in Psychology
Social Change Achievement: Medical mission with a nongovernmental organization in Peru, as well as several previous academic and volunteer experiences in East Africa
Social Change Goal: To establish a nonprofit organization that promotes accessible mental health care services to Africans in culturally sensitive and appropriate ways
Award: $2,500

Recipient: Natanya Jennings, Pharm.D.
Title: Research pharmacist
Program: Master of Public Health
Social Change Achievement: Conducted a research study on African-American women infected with HIV; guest researcher for HIV-prevention methods with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Social Change Goal: To serve the HIV-prevention movement beyond the role of a traditional pharmacist
Award: $2,500

Recipient: Dr. Lisa R. Norman
Title: Associate professor of the public health program, Ponce School of Medicine (Puerto Rico)
Program: Master of Public Health
Social Change Achievements: Works with impoverished women in public housing in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to increase HIV/STI testing and educate them about the risk of contracting HIV
Social Change Goal: To decrease HIV infection among impoverished women
Award: $2,500

The next application deadline is Oct. 1. Read the application criteria.

Walden Extraordinary Faculty: Dr. Christina M. Dawson

Dr. Christina M. Dawson, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership

What is the most important issue people are not talking about in your field?

Standards do not equal standardization. Standardization takes away from dealing with learners as individuals. We are not focusing on learning—on the social, emotional, and academic needs that learners have. Only the things that are measured/measurable are deemed important. It’s not “How can we explore, discover, understand?” but “How can we test?”

What are the most important factors in becoming successful in your field?

Education is all about relationships—interpersonal relationships, cognitive relationships. Being a successful educator takes time, takes connecting to people, takes learning about people.

What is the main thing you hope your students take away from your classes?

I’m trying to help them see that “research” in itself is not scary—it’s actually fun. Learning and discovering new things—and being as clear and concise and open as possible to understanding—is what life’s all about, and research is something that they do in different ways every day. They just have to learn how to translate their understandings into the way research is defined in formal academic settings.

The Extraordinary Faculty Award is conferred annually on Walden University faculty members who demonstrate the university’s core values of quality, integrity, and student-centered instruction. In 2008, Walden chose four faculty members for the recognition. We asked each of the recipients the same three questions, relative to their own experience and areas of expertise and the answers those be shared during this week. This is the second.

Walden Extraordinary Faculty: Dr. Aqueil Ahmed

The Extraordinary Faculty Award is conferred annually on Walden University faculty members who demonstrate the university’s core values of quality, integrity, and student-centered instruction. In 2008, Walden chose four faculty members for the recognition. We asked each of the recipients the same three questions, relative to their own experience and areas of expertise and the answers those be shared during this week. This is the first one.

Dr. Aqueil Ahmed, College of Management and Technology

What is the most important issue people are not talking about in your field?

In management, we need to understand the nuances and impact of globalization, particularly the global economy and global political issues and their implications on our own economic and political well-being. What’s happening outside U.S. borders and what it might mean to us as a society is not getting as much attention as it should.

What are the most important factors in becoming successful in your field?

Master’s degrees are becoming at least a must for future professional growth in the business sector. And in the academic world, forget about it if you don’t have a Ph.D. The other thing that’s required right now is a greater emphasis on cross-cultural understanding and foreign-language proficiency. You cannot succeed in the global economy without having an adequate understanding of other cultures, and the window to other cultures is their language.

What is the main thing you hope your students take away from your classes?

I try to communicate that getting degrees is one thing—it is important—but at the same time there is a more important aspect of education, which is gaining knowledge and developing the right perspectives and attitudes in the context of our fastchanging world. If I can give them something that would stay with them for the rest of their lives, it’s that learning can be both fun and a lifelong rewarding experience.