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Increasing Access to Nonprofit Management and Leadership Education

Principal Investigator:

Yvonne Harrison, University at Albany

The Certificate of Nonprofit Management and Leadership (CNML) jointly sponsored by Rockefeller College’s Department of Public Administration and Policy and the School of Social Welfare, is dedicated to increasing access to education that meets the needs of the nonprofit sector. Designed for students and working professionals who wish to develop leadership competency or become more effective in their leadership roles, the CMNL offers five courses jointly delivered between the two schools. While the courses and program have received positive evaluations, enrolment is down and numerous requests have come from the local nonprofit community to increase access to University at Albany, SUNY nonprofit academic programming, research and professional learning initiatives. We believe that open learning is one way to increase enrollment and meet sector demand. The funding requested through the IITG tier 1 program will:

  1. Reduce barriers to nonprofit education and research by increasing access to those who need it through a Massive Open Online Course, specialty course publication (Open Textbook), and research/development initiative.
  2. Increase enrolment in University at Albany, SUNY CNML courses by targeting a new supply of students looking for accessible professional learning opportunities (i.e. within the professional nonprofit community such as managers and board members).
  3. Facilitate research on the impact of online teaching and learning effectiveness in the CNML program through the Nonprofit Governance course (e.g. Coursera MOOC, blended learning environment, flipped classroom, integration of Nonprofit Governance Open Textbook and Sponsored Research).
  4. Engage in meaningful nonprofit sector activities which will lead to improvements in the human condition, at the local and state, nationally and global levels.

Co-PI’s and Key Partners:

Vic Murray, Adjunct Professor and Professor Emeritus, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Cyril Oberlander, Director, Milne Library, Geneseo

Reports and Resources: