[Okgrantsmanship] New Nonprofit Management Certificate at TU

[Mason, Linda]

May grads first to complete TU's nonprofit management certification
program

By Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World 4/23/2011

 

Victoria Hui contemplated a career in nursing but realized that science
wasn't really what she loved. She grew up taking piano and art lessons
and wanted to figure out how she could have a career in the arts. So she
decided to study arts management at the University of Tulsa and complete
additional course work for a certificate in nonprofit management. "It
just kind of made sense," she said. "I knew there was a possibility to
go into another field and make more than I would in the arts, but I knew
it wouldn't be something that would make me happy." 

 

A career in the nonprofit world might sound like a tough sell for
students looking to get out of college and make money. But those who
want career fulfillment in a job that allows them to give back are
gravitating toward a new program at TU. Students can opt to add a
certificate in nonprofit management to their degree through coursework
and volunteer requirements. They study how business concepts apply in a
nonprofit context and learn the basics of building and operating
nonprofit organizations. 

 

Hui will graduate in 2012. This summer, she's headed to London to gain
hands-on experience helping manage a theater. "Part of it is just
opening your eyes to see that nonprofits really have a place within the
business world," she said. "A lot of the business practices that are
important in for-profit industries, those same business principles are
important to success in both worlds." Studies have shown that students
in Hui's generation want more than a job when they graduate - many want
careers with value beyond dollars.

 

"What we're seeing is a change in terms of the meaning of work and where
people find fulfillment and such," said Ralph Jackson, chairman of TU's
managing and marketing department, who oversees the nonprofit management
certificate program. "There for a while, you worked to be able to play
and make money. Now people want to be able to do self-fulfillment
through their work." The George Kaiser Family Foundation partnered with
TU to launch the program a few years ago, to stimulate volunteerism and
interest in social service. The first students to complete the
certificate will graduate next month. Students in the program learn to
appreciate the growing role of nonprofit organizations as well as their
importance to the health of society, Jackson said. Earning a certificate
in nonprofit management could give graduates an extra edge in the
workforce. The nonprofit sector has experienced growth, even during the
economic downturn, Jackson said.

 

Melody Tangyunyong will graduate in May with the nonprofit certificate
added to her business management degree. She won't have to look for a
job, though. She already has one lined up with a local event-planning
and public relations firm. Studying the business principles and law
related to running nonprofit groups has helped her learn how they work,
an experience that's helpful in a job where she's worked on events and
fundraisers for hospices and hearing assistance groups.

 

"They still want to bring in money, but that money is going toward a
different cause," she said. Nationally, more companies are finding ways
to incorporate volunteering and philanthropy into their employees' work
life, Jackson said. "It's a real motivator for employees," he said.
"They want to make a living, but they want to make a contribution and
want to do a job that's meaningful." It's especially popular among
millennials, or "generation Y," in the workforce, if for no other reason
than the fact that most had to spend a significant number of hours
volunteering to get into college, Jackson said. They've built Habitat
for Humanity houses, collected shoes for the poor, worked in soup
kitchens - and they want to continue giving back as they enter the
workforce, he said. "The kids that seem to be buying into this are some
of our brightest students," he said. "If they have an opportunity to go
work for a company that is doing something special and extra, they want
to do that - even the kids going to work at for-profit businesses."

 

Public service efforts. 

University of Tulsa students produced an award-winning series of public
service announcements to call attention to Oklahoma's No. 1 ranking in
female incarceration per capita. Students visited the Eddie Warrior
Correctional Center during a Girl Scout meeting and interviewed inmates
for the project, which recently won a Tulsa Addy award in the student
division. Blake Marfechuk, a TU marketing and film student, and Studio
Blue, the student agency in the Collins College of Business, received
the awards.

 

Charlie Wood, a professor in the Collins College of Business, said many
students are combining their work in the nonprofit certificate program
with projects at Studio Blue in the interest of public service and
philanthropy.

 

 

 

Linda Mason, Ed.D.

Coordinator for Grant Writing Assistance

Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

655 Research Parkway, Suite 200

Oklahoma City OK 73104

405-225-9486 voice

405-225-9230 fax

lmason at osrhe.edu

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/okgrantsmanship/attachments/20110425/09256c85/attachment.html