Mandel Center For Nonprofit Organizations is place to go
According to New York Times article for education
in making a career change
December 5, 2005
| For more information: Susan Griffith 216-368-1004
In 1986, with his master in international management degree earned, Lee Williams
began a fast-paced and busy career on Wall Street. He spent 14 years working
for Morgan Stanley and Duetsche Bank, with a focus on helping institutional
investors enter foreign markets.
“I enjoyed living in Manhattan and working on Wall Street,” he
said. But a few years ago, Williams was ready for a change.
He moved back to Ohio, began volunteering to teach immigrants and refugees
English at the International Institute of Akron and found a new enjoyment in
the experience.
One day, he heard a radio ad for the Case Western Reserve University Mandel
Center for Nonprofit Organizations that provides leadership training for the
nonprofit sector.
“The rest is history,” says Williams, who is enrolled in the
Mandel Center’s certificate program.
Williams is among a growing number of professionals who are making career
changes and who have chosen the program, cited by the New York Times in the
recent article, “Where Career Changers Go: Five Top Choices” as
one of the leading programs in the country where individuals can receive training
to make that change to the nonprofit sector.
Susan Eagan, director of the Mandel Center, is not surprised that her program—ranked
in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report—was mentioned.
Since 2001, Eagan said she has seen a change in students coming from outside
the nonprofit sector and who form a diverse student body in terms of age and
prior academic degrees.
“In 2000-2001, 18 percent of our students came from the public and for-profit
sectors,” she said. By fall 2005, 36 percent of the Mandel Center’s
students were from the public and for-profit sectors.
“While there have been some ups and downs in these statistics in the
intervening years, the general trend is one of more career changers,” Eagan
said.
“In general, students who are career changers express a desire to have
a positive impact on their communities and to make a difference in people’s
lives as a primary reason for a change,” said Eagan. “They tend
to see the nonprofit sector as an arena where it is possible to be creative
with fewer bureaucratic and political constraints than the public sector, and
one where they can find an organization with a mission aligned with their particular
interests.”
Williams hopes to do just that. He stated that he wants to break into regional
development work in Ohio, with either a foundation or a development organization.
Networking through the Mandel Center, Williams said he plans to find professional
contacts linked to his interests.
Offering both the masters of nonprofit organization (MNO) degree and the certificate
in nonprofit management (CNM), the Mandel Center program is an option for a
person interested in making a career change to the nonprofit sector, said Eagan.
The Greater Cleveland area is home to approximately 8,000 nonprofit organizations,
including a number with national affiliations like the American Red Cross,
the American Cancer Society and the United Way. The Mandel Center program also
takes place on the Case campus in the heart of Cleveland cultural arts center
of University Circle.
The MNO degree consists of 60 credit hours of academic work taken over two
years for full-time students or 48 months for part-time students. The degree
covers a core program of 33 hours in such theme areas as strategic planning,
leadership for nonprofit organizations, laws governing nonprofits, decision
making and marketing, with an additional 27 hours in choice or elective courses.
The CNM or certificate program is designed to meet the needs of students who
wish to work and attend evening classes to gain nonprofit management skills
through the 15-credit hour, graduate-level program. The certificate program’s
curriculum explores such topics as Nonprofit Purposes, Traditions and Context;
Analytic Thinking for Nonprofit Leaders; Generating and Managing Resources
for Nonprofit Organizations; and Leading Nonprofit Organizations.
“A number of certificate students select this credential because it
offers a lot of flexibility to supplement their knowledge in a targeted way,” said
Eagan. It is also a step toward potential enrollment in the MNO program.
Along with nonprofit sector, information technology, teaching, nursing and
real estate were cited by the New York Times as other hot areas for people
to redirect their skills in making professional career moves.
“Would I recommend making a career change? Absolutely. It’s a
little intimidating to leave the known world behind, but it’s exciting
to be learning a new field,” Williams said. “I’m looking
forward to what’s next.”
About Case Western Reserve University
Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826
and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western
Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research,
service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally
recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering,
Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.
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