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The NGOLD Center: Towards a New Model

The NGOLD Center: Towards a New Model. Annual Report to University Stakeholders Judith Hermanson, Director. The NGOLD Center: PART 1 Our Framework. Independent Center, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Northern Illinois University Structure follows recommended practice

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The NGOLD Center: Towards a New Model

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  1. The NGOLD Center: Towards a New Model Annual Report to University Stakeholders Judith Hermanson, Director May 11, 2011

  2. The NGOLD Center: PART 1Our Framework • Independent Center, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Northern Illinois University • Structure follows recommended practice • Strategic Planning Initiative • Established 2010 • Purposefully not linked to a department

  3. The NGOLD Center:Purpose • To strengthen the nonprofit sector and civil society in Northern Illinois, the United States and globally • To become recognized as a distinctive area of excellence for NIU • In so doing, to help to create a better world for us all

  4. The NGOLD Center:Vision and Aspirations NGOLD will set the standard of excellence for the education, training and inspiration of generations of community leaders and nonprofit professionals from Northern Illinois, the US and around the world working to address issues that affect us all. The NGOLD Standard!

  5. The NGOLD Center:Characteristics • A Global Center for Nonprofit Excellence and Civic Engagement • A Place where Theory and Practice Meet • An Inter-disciplinary Space for Researchand Exchange of Ideas • A meeting place for Local, US and International Nonprofits and Civil Society Actors • A resource for Local and Regional Nonprofits

  6. The NGOLD Center:Our Stakeholders • Students • Undergraduate • Graduate • Researchers • Faculty • Graduate Students • Other Scholars • Nonprofit Leaders -- Worldwide, Northern Illinois, DeKalb • Board Members • Executives • Key Managers • Professional Staff

  7. The NGOLD Center:Our Assumptions A Perhaps US-centric View? • Nonprofits help us to get priorities right • Nonprofits are an equal partner with Government and Private Sector • Nonprofits are the “3rd leg of the stool” • Civil Society is strongly anchored in nonprofits Government Private Sector Civil Society

  8. The NGOLD Center: Our Assumptions • Inter-connected world • Complex, multi-faceted issues • Few single solution problems • Theoretical and empirical bases for understanding and knowledge creation • Application deepens understanding • In certain areas • For certain (increasing?) students

  9. The NGOLD Center:Conceptual Overview STUDENTS FACULTY SCHOLARS NGOLD COMMUNITY LEADERS NONPROFITS Society

  10. The NGOLD Center:Key Characteristics • An Academic Center administering its own degree programs • Cross-disciplinary and Inter-disciplinary • Undergraduate degree as starting point • Community Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE) • Includes nonprofit issues and management as a central focus • Crosses (currently) 6 disciplines in core and additional 11 in 5 emphasis areas • Develops skills and understanding about the “spaces in between” • Equips students with broadly applicable skills, knowledge and understanding • Is “cohered” by service learning and other forms of engagement

  11. The NGOLD Center: PART 2What have we done?

  12. The NGOLD Center:Our Execution Strategy • Working through Faculty-led NGOLD Committees • Curriculum • By-laws • Strategy and Events • Establishing Infrastructure • Listening to Stakeholders • Engaging with Students

  13. The NGOLD Center:Our Execution Strategy • Initial Priority Focus has been on Academic – • Undergraduate CLCE degree • Certificate of Undergraduate Studies in Civic Engagement • Four Mutually Reinforcing Components: • Teaching • Research • Application • Engagement • All Components have been advanced

  14. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – One Example to Visualize the Strategy

  15. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being • Infrastructure • Internal and External Relationships • Semester 1: Basics • Semester 2: Raising our profile • Recruiting, Hiring Team building • Office manager recruited and hired • Graduate Assistants identified and hired • Program Coordinator search completed • Joint Faculty Appointment Agreement reached

  16. TheNGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being • Positioning • Research • NACC • InterAction • Collaboration • Branding: The NGOLD Center • Identifier • Website • Events

  17. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – Academic Component • Very few undergraduate inter-disciplinary models for CLCE -- NIU and NGOLD on leading edge • Service learning and other engagement strategies with local nonprofits part of core explicitly informing classroom experience • Curricular challenges: Really Interesting Questions • How to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts? • Theoretical focus – Social change? Organizational behavior?

  18. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being • Academic • Proposal to IBHE • New service learning course successfully piloted • Certificate of Undergraduate Studies in Civic Engagement • Assessment Plan to UAP • UAP grant award to develop rubric and survey instruments • Students interested in major!

  19. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – The Research Component • Issue oriented (varying stages)through NGO and civil society lens: • Government funding and civil society • Urban poverty • Conflict • Humanitarian response • Global Warming (tbd with Center for Environmental Studies) • Public Service Motivation

  20. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – The Research Component • Practice and Sector oriented • Volunteer strategies, management and effectiveness • Communications and social media • Management and Leadership • New business models and efficiencies

  21. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – The Civic Engagement Component CURRENT EXAMPLES • Local nonprofit CEO Breakfast Speaker Series”: 4 seminars around theme of Resource Development • Symposium for Northern Illinois Nonprofits: “Growing the Pie” • Service Learning Relationships • Topical “teach-ins” • On-line book club (forthcoming) • Blog • DeKalb County Nonprofit Partnership • DeKalb Nonprofit Community Calendar • Special events (e.g., screening of “Saving Philanthropy” planned for Fall 2011)

  22. The NGOLD Center:Bringing it into Being – The Application Component FUTURE EXAMPLES • Tailored courses for practitioners • Seminars and Symposia • Executive Certificate Program • International Issue-oriented Roundtables (practitioners and scholars)

  23. The NGOLD Center:What is the Model? • Ambitious in scope and potential scale • Bridges from local to global • Bridges from theory to practice • Broadly gauged inter-disciplinary degrees incorporating nonprofit role and operations • Initial undergraduate emphasis • Four components consciously designed to be mutually strengthening

  24. The NGOLD Center • Challenges • Enormous possibilities • Lots of experiences and lessons learned on which to draw! • Lots of potential for cross-departmental and cross-college collaboration

  25. The NGOLD Center: 2010 - 2011

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