Monthly Archive for August, 2006

Helping Baruch Students Become “Polished Professionals”

Published
by
Kate
on August 30, 2006
in Baruch College, Interpersonal Communication and Symposium
. 2 Comments

There was an item on NPR on Monday about the new $2 million grant Baruch has received from the Star Foundation, to help students become “polished professionals”. The 60 second interview was on NPR’s Marketplace report, and you can listen to it here. The new initiative may help meet some of the concerns expressed by business people who were at my table during the BLSCI symposium in the spring. Our table’s members were very concerned about students needing more exposure to business people and their communication practices and needs, before they went on the job market.

One of our group’s recommendations, at the time, was to have Baruch classroom’s adopt a business person, who could serve as a resource for them–visiting class, giving feedback on course projects or presentations. Serving as a mentor, but not to individuals so much as to the class. This would mean students had more exposure, early and often, to “real” business people, who might give them feedback in a non-threatening setting (in other words, before they were in an internship or job). We were thinking it could supplement the mentor partnership programs Baruch already has in place.
This is not currently in the works, of course, and I’m not sure specifically how this latest grant will be used, but it sounds like it is aimed at meeting similar needs of students.
The transcript on the NPR website reads:

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Tomorrow, new freshmen will pour into colleges across the country. When it’s time to look for work they might need some help. Amelia Templeton says one New York City College is ready to provide it.

AMELIA TEMPLETON: CUNY New York’s business school got a $2 million grant from Star Foundation, a group that promotes access to higher education.The money will be used to turn the students into polished professionals.Eighty percent of Baruch College’s students are first-generation Americans, most come from lower-income backgroundsIf they want to land a job at JP Morgan they’ll need more than a college diploma, says Ben Corpus. He runs student affairs at Baruch.

BEN CORPUS: “Those doing the hiring are strongly influenced by how you shake hands and how you walk into the room and how you present yourself. Because if you don’t have that presence, that swagger, that could be a factor when you’re down to the finalists.”

The school will use the money to place students in internships, and also offer workshops in dining etiquette, accent reduction and networking skills.

Bloggers and Writing Skill

Published
by
James Drogan
on August 24, 2006
in Blogs and Blogging
. 0 Comments

This is an interesting piece by Bob Sutton of Stanford. It’s not all doom and gloom out there.

Cross-Cultural Communications

Published
by
James Drogan
on August 19, 2006
in Cross-Cultural Communication
. 0 Comments

I received an e-mail from Presentation Excellence, Inc. (20 West 33 Street (9th Floor), New York, NY 10001,P: 646-827-0009 F: 646-827-9009) this morning saying, in part;

‘Think of all the miscommunications you experience in an average week - and realize that most are with people who share your culture. You can then appreciate how much more complex it is to be an effective communicator in a world where we interact with people in China, India, Latin America, Russia Mideast, etc. who don’t share your cultural norms and business traditions.

…
Different cultural values, beliefs and norms

Every culture has its own set of shared values, beliefs and behavioral norms. For instance, while Americans generally value individualism/independence, focus on time to control the future, tend to be direct, open, honest and practical, other cultures are more concerned with the group’s welfare, respecting the past, people’s rank and status, indirectness and ritual. People’s value of time, deadline, accountability, etiquette when engaging others of differing ages and characteristics, all impact on direct and indirect communications, relationships, decision making, motivation, leadership and organizational structures. Most of us develop our personality and communication styles as we grow up within our culture. But when we interact with people from different cultures, conflicts can occur unless each party is sensitive to the cultural discrepancies and language differences, and adjusts to them. For instance, when doing business with people in India, it’s advisable to be properly attired (wearing non- leather products), avoid beckoning with the palm up, wagging a finger, whistling, winking or pointing one’s feet at a person, and know when and how to use words like “no” and “thank you”.’

It prompts to ask for suggestions as to how we should address these issues in our education and in our businesses.

BLSCI as a Center

Published
by
James Drogan
on August 18, 2006
in Baruch College and Communication Intensive Courses (CICs)
. 0 Comments

You will recognize “The Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute’s mission is to infuse oral, written and computer-mediated communication into the curriculum at Baruch College.” from the Center’s home page. BLSCI is at least one of perhaps several centers at Baruch that focuses on excellence in communication.

BLSCI, it seems to me, is a center for members of the Institute, and Baruch faculty and students. The Institute’s BAC (Business Advisory Council) and the Annual Symposium attracts limited involvement from the business community, but certainly the claim cannot be made that BLSCI is a center for the business community.

My sense is that BLSCI and the business community are missing out on a relationship of potentially significant mutual value. This is, of course, a hypothesis. One might argue that the somewhat low level of business involvement disproves the hypothesis.

I’m not so easily persuaded.

I’ve been noodling on this notion for some time and want to raise it as a discussion topic.

One laptop per child

Published
by
Kate
on August 3, 2006
in Asides, Interpersonal Communication, Literacy, Resources, Technology and What if . . .
. 0 Comments

one laptop per child laptop prototype

This may not seem immediately relevant to us, as college educators, but with any luck it will be. And sooner than you think.

Many of you have heard about Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child idea.

This is their Wiki.

This is the FAQ. This is a link to recent press stories (via the Wiki).

The non-profit group is trying to get 100 million brand-new $100 laptops in the hands of the world’s children soon. Very soon–with shipping to begin as early as the end of this year. The crank-powered computers will be networked together, so they will be able to communicate even in areas where there’s no good internet access. (Thank goodness they run on cranks and not our dwindling power supplies, eh?)

Why is this so revolutionary? Well, think of the world in 5-10 years, when those kids are ready to work. Think of the exponential rise in literacy–both text literacies and tech literacies. Think of 100 million kids who can program in the code the computers will be using. Think of 100 million kids who can type and get their messages out. This could change the world more quickly than any other educational development ever. It’s exciting.

Now, besides and beyond the issues surrounding the actual laptops getting into the actual kids’ hands… what needs to happen to make this wonderful new world happen? What pitfalls do you see?