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I N S I D EBEST DEGREES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

LEARNING THE BUSINESS OF FOOD

CAREER MOMS GET BACK ON TRACK

WHY STUDY LIBERAL ARTS?

WHY A PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM IS SMART

AND MORE...

ome study former presidents while others delve into thepoetry of John Keats or Robert Frost. Still others tackle Platoor choose to better understand Islam and Jihad. They aren’t

looking to earn degrees or advance their careers, but to fulfill a long-held desire to learn.

Older adults are increasingly filling seats at schools and collegesin programs that target students in their 50s and up. The reality ofretirement can hit hard. Suddenly, folks have a lot of time on theirhands. Some retirees have found that filling the void with educationis a rewarding trade off. They miss work, but many are enjoying pur-suing their own educational goals.

When Boston resident Paul Sullivan partially retiredseveral years ago from his job in investment sales, the61-year-old immediately signed up for classes atBeacon Hill Seminars, a school in Boston cateringto older learners. The teachers are volunteers,and are also students at the school them-selves; many are retired professors. Sullivan,an English major in college, gravitatedtoward literature classes but also signed upfor a course on Verdi’s political operas.

“I’m catching up with what I missed incollege,” he says.

Judy Blotnick, Beacon Hill Seminar’s execu-tive director, says the courses are serious and aca-demic, similar to those you would find at a universi-ty. “We leave the basket making, bingo, yoga, and taichi to somebody else,” she says.

As the oldest baby boomers turn 60 this year, directors of pro-grams for older learners predict demand for enrichment classes willskyrocket in the next few years. After all, the U.S. Census Bureauprojects that 7,918 people will turn 60 each day this year, or 330every hour.

“Baby boomers are different from the last generation withrespect to carving out time to keep learning and growing intellec-tually as their career winds down and they have more time to them-selves,” says Anne Hartman, founder of Working Differently, a con-sulting firm that focuses on helping individuals reinvent retirement.“The gestalt of the generation has always been about redefining.They have been redefining themselves all along.”

At Tufts University, students 55 and older can take courses withtheir peers through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The insti-tute started five years ago and has 250 students. Along with Tufts,Brandeis University and UMass-Boston have also established OsherInstitutes; they are all beneficiaries of a grant aimed at setting upprograms for older learners. Nationwide, Osher Lifelong LearningInstitutes operate on 73 college campuses in 30 states with anenrollment of 33,600, says Mary Bitterman, the institute’s president.

Osher students pay a fee for courses and are expected to participate actively in class. They aren’t allowed to sit back and just

listen to a lecture.“People have ideas and are willing to discuss,” saysFred Leffert, a retired engineer from Lynnfield who

takes Osher Institute classes on Tufts’s campus. “Itcan get pretty heated.”

At UMass-Boston’s Osher Institute, topicsthis semester range from the literature of theHolocaust to music appreciation to a courseon the Middle East taught by a retired pro-fessor from Iraq.

Some older students enjoy making a dayof it: They take morning classes, go to a lec-

ture and an afternoon class, and then eat oncampus among the students.

“Being in a university environment can makeyou feel younger,” says Wichian Rojanawon,

UMass-Boston Osher director.For Cambridge resident Nancy Jacobson, a retired library

director, the classes she has taken for more than 12 years atHarvard’s Institute of Learning and Retirement make her feel as if shehas returned to college—without the exams. The program, with itspeer learning and seminar format, has 500 members and a waitinglist, and is a model for other lifelong learning programs.

Over the years, Jacobson has studied the writings of VirginiaWoolf and complex topics like evolution and genetics. Jacobson, 71,says the institute is not only intellectually stimulating, but has alsohelped her build social connections and kept her focused andengaged.

“It keeps parents off the street,” she adds, “so their childrendon’t have to worry about them.”

Retirees Hit the BooksO L D E R A D U L T S E N R O L L I N G I N C O L L E G E C L A S S E S

S

M I D S U M M E R & A D V A N C E DF A L L R E G I S T R A T I O N

&Career Development Education

I N S I D EBEST DEGREES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

LEARNING THE BUSINESS OF FOOD

CAREER MOMS GET BACK ON TRACK

WHY STUDY LIBERAL ARTS?

WHY A PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM IS SMART

AND MORE...

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OLDER ADULTSARE INCREASINGLY FILLING SEATS AT

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGESIN PROGRAMS THAT TARGET STUDENTS

IN THEIR 50S AND UP.

Courtesy of UMass-Boston

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

es, Johnny, there are jobs for graduateswith liberal arts degrees.And according to the National Association

of Colleges and Employers (NACE), they are good jobs.

In a recent survey, NACE asked employersacross the country what they looked for in a jobcandidate. Results showed that employers tend tofocus on finding graduates with the right skills andvalues, rather than the right major. Employerswere confident that a new employee with theright skills could easily learn the specifics ofa particular industry.

NACE undertook the survey, in part, because many studentsdo not understand what a lib-eral arts education is, why itis appealing to employers,or how they can preparefor careers related to liberal arts.

A liberal arts education,by definition, refers to stud-ies in a college or universityintended to provide generalknowledge and develop intel-lectual capacities. Liberal artsmajors include such courses of studyas English, foreign languages, history,philosophy, psychology, social sciences, and thehumanities.

Gaining that broad perspective is exactly thereason Erin Healey, 23, of Hingham chose tomajor in history at the Massachusetts College ofLiberal Arts (MCLA) in North Adams.

“I loved being able to dabble in all areas ofstudies,” she says. “While history is my favorite, itisn’t the sole subject I’m interested in.” Healeyenjoyed taking classes in education, philosophy,psychology, and the sciences.

Unlike training for a specific field such as struc-tural engineering or physical therapy, a liberal artseducation prepares students to work in a variety ofjobs, says Sharron Zavattaro of MCLA. As directorof the Career Services Center at MCLA, Zavattarois in touch with both companies in need ofemployees and graduating seniors in need of jobs.

“Employers are aware of how the liberal artsprepare college graduates for life and workbeyond college,” she says. The very essence of aliberal arts education is to prepare graduates tothink critically, analyze situations, problem solve,and then, perhaps most important, effectivelycommunicate that solution, she says. “I call it theability to think on your feet.”

But, it’s also important to balance these intel-lectual abilities with some hands-on skills honedoutside the classroom. She advises MCLA studentsto get involved early in their academic careerswith student government, athletic teams, intern-ships, or the college newspaper.

“Students who do so, develop leadership skills,team building experience, and the ability to man-age time effectively,” Zavattaro says. These expe-riences, coupled with a liberal arts degree, makefor a well-rounded education.

Students at Massachusetts Bay Community

College in Wellesley can get this type of “well-roundedness” built right into their classes throughthe Learning Communities program, coordinatedby Nina B. Keery, professor of writing and literature.

Keery describes the program as linking cours-es and faculty together so students can experiencelearning in a more interdisciplinary way. “Studentsin a liberal arts curriculum leave their institutionwith the ability to be a critical thinker, reader, andwriter,” she says. “They have sound research and

presentation skills. They work well in groupand team settings, can tackle compli-

cated problems, and understandthat there may be different ways

to solve those problems.” Thevery nature of liberal arts,Keery says, “gives students asense of the whole pie,rather than just a piece of it."

This kind of perspectiveand intellectual rigor was

what helped Erin Healey getan internship at the law firm

of Amabile & Burkly, P.C., thesummer between her junior and

senior year. The following summer,the firm was moving its offices from

Boston to Brockton and not all its employeescould commit to the new location.

There was Healey with her newly minted liber-al arts degree in hand.

“The partners offered me a job as a paralegal,”she says. “I took it!”

Why Study Liberal Arts?E M P L O Y E R S P R E F E R W E L L - R O U N D E D G R A D U A T E S

Y

“LIBERALARTS GIVE

STUDENTS A SENSE OF THE WHOLE PIE,

RATHER THAN JUST APIECE OF IT.”

— NINA KEERY, PROFESSOR OFWRITING AND LITERATURE,

MASSBAY COMMUNITYCOLLEGE or students taking pre-college courses, the benefits are many. Here are the top six reasons to

enroll in one today, according to college experts.

1. Prepare for college-level work. “We get them ready to be writers and thinkers,” saysChris Kelly, college advisor for at UMass-Boston’s Urban Scholars program, which offers year-roundclasses to students from seven inner-city high schools. Urban Scholars students take classes on cam-pus two days a week in the afternoons. They are encouraged to apply to four-year colleges.

“My education is important, and my number one priority,” says Urban Scholar Shanell Parson,16. Parson attends Noonan Business Academy, a Dorchester high school. Through Urban Scholars,she’s taken critical thinking classes, an introduction to communications, and is enrolled in an SATprep course. She plans to apply to a four-year college and study abroad.

2. Earn college credit. Most pre-college programs offer some college credit. Juniors and sen-iors in the Urban Scholars program who take college classes earn credit that is transferable to anyaccredited college or university.

3. Save money. “If you’re a parent, the benefit is financial,” says Chuck Annal, deputy commis-sioner for New Hampshire Community Technical College System, about its pre-college programProject Running Start. Annal says students enrolled in one of its seven colleges pay $492 for a three-credit course. Through Project Running Start, high school students pay $100 per course. They takecourses in their own high schools as part of a normal class load and earn transferable college credits.

4. Experience campus life. Sudanese refugee Panther Alier, 29, moved to Boston in 2001from Kenya and started at UMass-Boston in fall 2002. Before classes began he took part inDirections for Student Potential (DSP), a six-week summer program for students provisionallyaccepted to UMass-Boston. DSP Director Polly Welsh says the program is geared to first-generationcollege students, immigrants, and students of color. It gives them “the college experience early,”Welsh says.

Alier says the program offered him a chance to get better situated at the university. “The DSPgave me a real connection with the teachers. I was able to get to know the UMass system, learnabout the resources, and make friends.” Alier will earn a bachelor’s in political science this May.

5. Increase chances of getting into college. Pre-college courses not only look great on anapplication, they really help students get accepted to their college of choice, say college admis-sions officers. “It shows that they’ve had a head start in the college process and that they’ve beenintroduced to college-level work,” says Nate Bryant, assistant dean of students at Salem StateCollege.

6. Explore options. Before committing to a particular college or major, students who attendpre-college programs get a chance to explore different interests. For instance, students who loveall things digital might consider a pre-college summer program at the Center for Digital ImagingArts at Boston University, which offers Digital Filmmaking (July 10 to 21), Making Music CDs (July10 to 21), Digital Photography (July 24 to August 4), Digital Animation (August 7 to 18), andCreate Websites with Flash (August 7 to 18).

If you think you might like to be an architect someday, try the pre-college summer program atthe Boston Architectural Center’s Summer Academy (CSA), July 5 to August 4. In five weeks, stu-dents study architecture, interior design, and building technology.

For something more cultural, try the Berkshire Institute for Music and Arts pre-college program,June 28 to July 24, for students in grades 8 through 11. Set in a pluralistic Jewish community andheld at Williams College in Williamstown, this program lets students explore the relationshipsbetween artistic expression and Jewish living and learning.

Pre-college programs of every type abound in Massachusetts. So, this year, don’t sit aroundwondering what college is going to be like. Take a pre-college course and find out for yourself.

Ready, Set, College…S I X B E N E F I T S O F P R E - C O L L E G E P R O G R A M S

F

This special advertising supplement was produced under the auspices of the Advertising Department of the Boston Globe. It did not involve the reporting or editing staff of the Boston Globe.

Editors: Spence and Sanders Communications LLC Designer: Ron Williams

Courtesy of UMass-Boston


heryl Battles of Groton knew when sheleft the workforce six years ago to stayhome with her five children that someday

she’d want to get back in. “I need the intellectual challenge of work,

plus I’ll need the income when it’s time to pay forcollege.”

She’s not alone. A recent study done at BabsonCollege’s Center for Women’s Leadership showsthat more than half the women who left their jobsplanned on returning to work.

“The study confirmed what we already knew,”says Janelle Shubert, associate director of the Centerfor Women’s Leadership. “Many women don’t havelinear career paths. They often leave their jobs forvarious reasons throughout their careers.”

On average, the women surveyed stayed homeabout 4.6 years before they returned to work. “Thatwould be right around the time a child is enteringkindergarten,” says Shubert.

But returning to work isn’t always easy. Womenwho stay home worry about losing footing on thecorporate ladder, rebuilding connections, havingrusty technical skills, and often have to face a

potentially lower salary. To add to this, the statisticsare daunting. According to a study released lastJune by the Wharton Center for Leadership andChange and the Forte Foundation, 44 percent ofmoms who returned to work accepted a lower-leveljob and 61 percent switched industries.

But, thanks to colleges and universities, there issome good news. Harvard Business School, BabsonCollege, and the Tuck School of Business atDartmouth College offer women re-entry pro-grams, seminars on business topics, and network-ing opportunities. Simmons College has evenlaunched an MBA program designed for moms.

And many alumni offices are gearing up to helpwomen step back in.

“Harvard University is trying to make it work,”says Monica Higgins, associate professor of organi-zational behavior at Harvard Business School. Sheteaches segments of Charting Your Course, a pro-gram designed to help HBS alumnae re-enter theworkforce. “We try to get women to see this not astime lost but to think about what skills they havepicked up and how they can best showcase them,”says Higgins.

Identifying those skills is part of BabsonCollege’s new program, Act Two, which launchesthis spring. Participants will work on analyzingcareer markets, networking with corporaterecruiters, negotiating, and skill building.

“The course is designed to help manage there-entry process for all women in transition,” saysShubert. But women aren’t the only ones whobenefit.

“This type of program is attractive to business-es as well as participants,” says ProfessorConstance Helfat, faculty director of the Back inBusiness program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School ofBusiness. “Companies are searching for talent.And our participants are highly educated, highlyskilled professionals who just happen to have beenout of work for a while.”

Tapping into corporations makes sense. Tuckpartnered with Citigroup Corporate andInvestment Banking to launch its re-entry programlast October. Back in Business is offered in fourmodules over the course of eleven days inHanover, N.H., and New York City.

Meanwhile at Simmons, women eagerlysigned up last fall for an MBA program designedjust for moms.

“It’s important because it’s tailored to thelifestyle of these women and offers them an attrac-tive credential to get back in at an appropriatesalary,” says Deborah Merrill-Sands, dean of theSimmons School of Management.

Alumnae of Wellesley College are increasinglytaking advantage of lifelong career counseling andworkshops on managing life’s transitions, saysFolly Patterson, associate director at alumnaecareer programs. “Moms getting back to work is agrowing issue.”

“Women who take time off are not inactive,”she says. “They’re running PTAs and fundraisers.Many companies, especially now, will recognizethat this takes valuable skills.” Patterson adviseswomen to include volunteer work on their resumes.

Career strategist Priscilla Claman agrees. Sheadvises women to think about re-entry whilethey’re away.

“Volunteer what you’re good at to an organiza-tion to showcase your skills,” Claman says. “Andnow is a good time to finish any undergraduateclasses you’ve been putting off or go for the MBA.”

That’s what Nancy Shukan of Somerville did.After her second child was born she found that herpart-time job wasn’t fulfilling enough and enrolledin a master’s in accounting with a concentration inhealthcare at UMass-Boston.

“I did it to challenge myself further and to posi-tion myself for more rewarding work,” she says.

Finding that balance between career challengeand motherhood is something HBS graduateStephanie Khurana understands. When she left herjob as a CEO to spend time with her children, shefound it difficult to find rewarding part-time work.So, instead, she created Higher Aims, a companythat matches high-level professional women withcompanies that need part-time or project-basedworkers.

“It’s about recasting how work is done andtrying to balance life with a meaningful career,”she says.

All of this progress towards helping women getback on a career track is good news for CherylBattles and other mothers as they begin to look foropportunities. But it is still not easy. “We have comea long way so far,” says Harvard’s Higgins, “but westill have a way to go.”

From Mommy Track to Back on TrackC O L L E G E S H E L P S T A Y- A T- H 0 M E M O M S R E S T A R T T H E I R C A R E E R S

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an entrepreneurship be taught? Can risktaking and originality be learned? WhenFORTUNE Small Business (FSB) asked these

questions (March 1, 2006), the magazine pointedout that Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs,three of today’s most successful entrepreneurs, arecollege drop-outs who famously deny classroom

learning had any role in their successes. FSB con-cluded that few of us can match the trio’s instincts,DNA, and luck. The odds are against joining thatlist. But that’s no reason to be discouraged.

A 2002 study by the University of Arizona,reported in FSB, found that undergraduate majorsand MBA students who concentrated in entrepre-

neurship at the school earnednearly $72,000 per year, or 27percent, more than other busi-ness majors and standard MBAgraduates. They also were threetimes more likely to launch a newcompany.

Not long ago, venture capi-talists seemed hungry to backalmost anyone whose ideas forproducts or services promisedthem a fast fortune. Times havechanged. It still takes inspiration,sweat, and ambition to start yourown business, but now savvymen and women—and fun-ders—realize it also takes knowl-edge of the basics on how tofinance, launch, market, andmanage a company.

Today, the more experiencesomeone brings to the table, themore likely they are to impressbackers and successfully grow acompany. For many, the first stepis an undergraduate or graduateprogram that focuses on entre-preneurship, with courses thathelp them develop skills, solvereal-world problems in controlledsettings, and identify resourcesthat can help them weather thestorms ahead. Some of the bestentrepreneurial studies programs

are taught at colleges and universities aroundBoston.

Harvard Business School (HBS) is among 10universities FSB cited for their innovative programsdesigned for fledgling business owners. HBS hasoffered courses in the field since 1937, longer thanany other institution, and today has more than 30professors who teach entrepreneurship. AllHarvard MBA students are required to take anentrepreneurial studies course in the first semester,including those with years of work under theirbelts. Even experienced managers have much tolearn.

“Most executives-turned-entrepreneurs don’trealize how big the gap is between making deci-sions in established corporations and making themin start-ups,” writes HBS Professor WalterKuemmerle, who studied more than 50 start-upsin 20 countries. In “A Litmus Test forEntrepreneurs,” on HBS’ “Working Knowledge”website, Kuemmerle also described an entrepre-neur who estimated he had made about 150 keydecisions before he was ready to do business—from naming his company to hiring the firstemployee. “If he hadn’t been able to trust himselfto make those decisions quickly, he might neverhave launched the company,” Kuemmerle says.

Women-owned businesses increasingly aredriving the economic health of the top 50 metro-politan areas through job creation and generatingrevenues, reports the Washington D.C.,-basedCenter for Women’s Business Research. The 2004survey for their biennial report indicates that thenumber of women-owned businesses in the top 50metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) continues togrow faster than the economy in general. The 5.1million privately held, 50 percent-or-more women-owned firms located in the top 50 MSAs employ9.5 million people and generate $1.3 trillion inannual sales.

Another report, this one by researchers inBoston, at the Simmons School of Management(SOM) in Boston, indicates that of 800 womenentrepreneurs surveyed, the top three reasonswomen start their own companies are:

1. Independence, autonomy, wanting to beown boss (67 percent)

2. Frustrated by previous work environment(52 percent)

3. Want to make money (42 percent).Simmons College identifies itself as offering the

nation’s only MBA program tailored to women.While men might agree with those goals,

many women face distinct challenges to achievingthem because of their gender. They may have dif-ficulty establishing credibility, securing financing,or negotiating the terms with clients, but they alsobring multiple instincts to the task, says Jill Kickul,Simmons’ Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor ofEntrepreneurship.

“Women have tenacity and an innovating spir-it, the drive to lead and manage change,” Kickulsays. “They have incredible passion and vision,focus, and leadership skills that emphasize rela-

tionships and results. They are partnershipbuilders.”

Simmons was also cited by FSB among its top10 colleges for entrepreneurs. Flexibile programs,offered full- or part-time, are designed for womenwho simultaneously might be juggling work, fam-ily responsibilities, and school. Simmons also offersan MBA Certificate in Entrepreneurship.

Among people ages 35 to 50, almost twice asmany women are launching businesses than men,says Kickul. “Women are starting businesses foreconomic and social reasons. They want to bringabout change by creating their own ventures forthemselves and the communities they serve.”

Male or female, both entrepreneurs are moti-vated by the potential financial benefits of owner-ship and both have aspirations to “make the worlda better place,” says Kickul. But no matter whattheir inspiration, if they really want to make theirstart-up dreams a reality, it pays to invest in a solidbusiness education.

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From Start-Up to SuccessE N T R E P R E N E U R S N E E D M O R E T H A N A B R I L L I A N T I D E A

BOSTON-AREAENTREPRENEURIAL

STUDIES PROGRAMSBabson College (www.babson.edu)

This year, U.S.News & World Reportmagazine ranked Babson the number

one MBA program for entrepreneurshipfor the 13th year in a row.

Bentley College (www.bentley.edu) offers entrepreneurship concentrations

in its MBA and undergraduate (Managerial Economics) programs.

Its Women’s Leadership Institute willhold a one-day conference, Gearing Up:Strategic Tools for Career Advancement,on June 9 for women in the first three

to 10 years of their career.

Harvard Business School(www.hbs.edu)

and its Arthur Rock Center forEntrepreneurship serve as dynamic

resources for HBS’ MBA and doctoralstudents, faculty, alumni, and others.

Northeastern University (www.northeastern.edu)

launched its Center for TechnologicalManagement and Entrepreneurship as a

hub of activity for research, outreach,and business education.

Simmons School of Management(www.simmons.edu/som)tailors programs for women.

MASTER ACCOUNTING AT SUFFOLK UNIVERSITYGRADUATES EARN HIGHEST CPA PASS RATE IN STATE

Congratulations to Suffolk University master’s in accounting students, who have

the highest pass rate in Massachusetts for candidates with advanced degrees.

Passing the CPA exam is no easy task; nationally, the average pass rate for this

group is less than 10 percent. Suffolk graduate students achieved this goal at more

than twice the average, with 21 percent earning this essential designation. Kudos

also go to Suffolk’s outstanding accounting faculty for a job well done.

Suffolk’s MSA degree couples the study of accounting concepts and practices with

the applications and theories of business management, providing students with

added value and skills to better succeed in a dynamic accounting industry.

The MSA is a 10- to 19-course program students can complete in 10 to 16

months of full-time study and 16 to 24 months of part-time study.The MSA at

Suffolk Business stresses public interest rather than short-term private interests.The

curriculum emphasizes the assessment of strategy and the identification and meas-

urement of risk in accounting.

Students tailor their program of study to their career path by choosing to special-

ize in public accounting, controllership (for-profit and not-for-profit), fraud examina-

tion, or information technology.

Courtesy of Simmons College


avid Blessing isn’t the slightest bit bashfulabout fondly recollecting one of his firstjobs in the food-service industry—at the

McDonald’s on Brighton Avenue in Portland,Maine. Nor is he sheepish about the fact that hecut his culinary teeth as a soda jerk in one of hisdad’s fish-fry joints in a tourist-trap section of that same city.

“They were great jobs for a 15-year-old,” saysBlessing, now serving his tenth year as executive chef at Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel. “Of course, Idon’t know if I worked as much as I ate.”

The 36-year-old Newbury College graduate isa bit more serious about his employment historyafter fryolated fillets o’ fish departed from his dailymenu. And of one thing Blessing is certain: There’s a good chance his career wouldn’t have advanced this far without a formal culinary education.

“In this ‘Food Network’ generation, I think theperception of the industry doesn’t reflect itsdepth,” says Blessing. “I’ve worked with unbeliev-able chefs and managers who never went toschool, but most of the people who ascend the ranks now have a good foundation of a strong, formal education. The right degree opensso many doors.”

For the record, the emphasis is on the word“many.” Steve Shipley, director of culinary servic-es at Providence’s Johnson & Wales University,reports that an East Coast casino approached himearlier this spring with a need to fill 400 substan-tive front- and back-of-the-house food-servicepositions by July.

The range of jobs opening in culinary arts, culinary nutrition, hospitality, product develop-ment, food-service management, entrepreneur-ship, and food marketing is dizzying. And it’s aseller’s market.

“We don’t have enough stu-dents for the jobs available,”says Shipley. “We can’t evensupply the Northeast. Wehave eight to ten job offersper student. If you thinkit’s all about being thenext Emeril or TylerFlorence, think again.”

Shipley notes thatabout 75 percent of theuniversity’s 10,000 studentsfocus their studies in thefields of hospitality, business,and food technology.

At every fall’s matriculation,Shipley asks for a show of hands from thosestudents hoping to become hotel managers orchefs. Most of the audience thrusts an arm sky-ward. By the time they don their mortar boards,

however, most students have changed their view-point and changed their major.

“Nobody raises their hand when I ask howmany want to wear goggles and a white

lab coat and work in research anddevelopment for McCormick

Spice or make the next Doritoschip coating,” says Schipley.“But plenty of our gradu-ates end up in jobs like that.”

“Yes, you can just goto school to be a chef, butnow most employersexpect you to be techno-

logically sound and possessbusiness savvy,” adds the Four

Seasons’ Blessing. “I think mak-ing it big after starting as a busboy

is still possible, but unrealistic.”From a purely Darwinian perspective,

aspiring chefs and restaurateurs simply can’tafford to forego the benefits of a formal culinaryeducation. At least that’s how Damon Revelas,

dean of Newbury College’s Brookline-based RogerA. Saunders School of Hotel and RestaurantManagement, views the landscape.

“Consumers are showing an evolving paletteand demanding an experience from the culinaryand hospitality industry,” says Revelas. “You haveto understand the industry’s computer programs;you have to know how to source food products—that is, how to find that spice from Jakarta or thatproduct from Thailand—and at the right price. Foryears, we’ve seen great chefs fail because theycouldn’t handle the business end.”

Bud Murray, the chef manager at the well-heeled Nichols Village Senior Living Community inGroveland, is determined to maintain a vice-grip on all the angles of an increasingly complex industry.

“Food quality is vitally important, but thedemands and expectations on the administrativeside are higher than ever,” says Murray, a CulinaryInstitute of America graduate now pursuing anAmerican Culinary Federation Chef de Cuisine cer-tification. “Service-end experience has its role, buta culinary education, when available, is a difference-maker.”

A world away from fryolator duty these days,the Four Seasons’ Blessing couldn’t agree more.

“The business side of this industry is criticallyimportant now,” he says. “You’ve got to havegood PR skills; you’ve got to know nutrition;you’ve got to manage expenses. With those skillsunder your belt, doors will open.”

D

“I THINK MAKING IT BIG

AFTER STARTING AS A BUSBOY IS STILL

POSSIBLE, BUT UNREALISTIC.”

—DAVID BLESSING, EXECUTIVECHEF AT BOSTON’S FOUR

SEASONS HOTEL

Out of the Kitchen, Into the ClassroomH O W A S P I R I N G C H E F S L E A R N T H E B U S I N E S S O F F O O D

The Grand Ballroom at the Four Seasons

David Bleesing, executive chef at Boston’s FourSeasons Hotel


hen 22-year-old Danielle Carr picks up her bachelor’sdegree in archeology from Boston University (BU)today, Mother’s Day, she won’t be the only one in the

Carr family graduating from BU. Mom, Christine, will be in thecrowd cheering her daughter on as she picks up her own degree,a master’s in urban affairs.

For the past four years, mother and daughter have beenattending classes at the school, although Christine Carr gets to liveoff-campus with her husband, Stephen, in Winthrop, whileDanielle hangs out in the dorm.

If having mom on campus every day is enough tosend shivers up some students’ spines, it doesn’tbother Danielle one bit. After all, she was practically raised at BU, where her mother isan associate director of university functions—including graduation—and dadworks in the school’s telecommunicationsdepartment.

“My friends think it’s really cool thatshe’s on campus because they know if some-thing comes up, I have someone there I canflag down,” says Danielle. Of course, havingsuch close supervision didn’t preclude somefreshman year parental worries.

“I did threaten her the first year that I knew a lot ofpolice on campus and I would have them watch out for her, butshe took it all in stride,” says Christine.

Even though their disciplines kept them from sharing the sameclasses and professors, with eight years worth of test taking andpaper writing between them, the two have developed a specialmother-daughter bond.

“Our biggest thing is complaining to each other aboutpapers,” says Danielle, noting that her mom’s lighter course loadhas made her mother more sympathetic to her own grumblingsover written projects. “She tends to understand that while I’m taking four classes and she may be taking one or two, the

courses are still pretty hard.”Mid-term exams can be exceptionally stressful, Danielle adds.

“That’s when we call each other up and talk specifically about our classes.”

But there’s no real competition between the two over grades,both mom and daughter admit. That, of course, is due toChristine, who doesn’t show her grades to her daughter, leavingDanielle to assume mom is the better student.

“I don’t let her see my grades because I don’t want her toknow if she’s doing better than me,” says Christine,

acknowledging that she and her daughter are bothgood students.

While all homework has given the 50-year-old mother a glimpse into life as an under-grad, it also has put a few social constraintson her daughter.

“My mother is very well versed in [theinstant messenger service] AIM so she cancheck up on me,” Danielle says, explainingthat her mother is also far too familiar with

the school’s “Safebook” program, whichallows students to post online information

about themselves and connect with others whohave similar interests. “Anything I put up [on the

internet], I have to be willing to explain to my mother.”That doesn’t seem to be a problem, however, since the pair

readily admits there are few secrets between them.“We have a good relationship,” says Danielle. “There really

isn’t anything she doesn’t know.”But as graduation has arrived and their days as students have

come to an end, both share the same uncertainty over the future.Danielle wonders if she’ll be able to pursue her passion for arche-ology, while Christine worries that her newly acquired master’sdegree won’t change her life too much. She plans to return to BUafter graduation, once again as an associate director, leaving herstudent days far behind.

Mother-Daughter CollegeG O I N G T O S C H O O L I S A F A M I LY A F F A I R

W

HAVING A MOM ON CAMPUS

EVERY DAY IS ENOUGHTO SEND SHIVERS UP

ANY STUDENT’S SPINE.

hen Jennifer Anderson was 18, she started college withevery intention of becoming an elementary schoolteacher. Then she took a part-time teaching job at For

Kids Only After-school, a non-profit program with five sites inRevere, Winthrop, and Peabody, and her plans changed. “I becamecompletely enthralled,” says Anderson. “It’s a totally different wayof reaching out to kids.” Anderson continued teaching part timewhile working at other jobs. When a full-time position opened atthe center, Anderson grabbed it, later becoming program director.

What attracts people to this kind of work? The personal con-nection, says Anderson, who enjoys being able to reach beyondthe merely educational and work with the whole child. And it’s agrowing profession. According to the Massachusetts After-schoolPartnership, about 205,000 children ages 5 to 14 attend someform of after-school program in the state—that’s about 25 percentof the elementary school population.

The majority of after-school jobs are part time, pay hourly, anddo not offer benefits. A 2005 survey of Massachusetts after-schoolprograms found that the average hourly pay was $12.60 per hour.The field appeals to those who want to supplement their income,such as part-time students or professionals interested in workingwith children. Retired classroom teachers or current teachers

looking for a second job can also transition easily into an after-school program.

The importance of having a stable, qualified workforce hasspawned a drive to develop a stronger career path and increasedtraining for those who work in after-school programs. Numerousclasses and workshops are available for after-school providers whowant professional development or are new to the field (see side-bar). The topics taught in these classes range from methods of integrating curricula to adolescent psychology to facilitation ofleadership. Cambridge College works with the Program inEducation, After-school & Resiliency (PEAR) to provide courses forcollege credit.

North Shore Community College offers a certificate programconsisting of six courses that students can complete at their own pace, typically attending school part time on evenings or weekends.

Advanced degrees in after-school care are also planned. In2003, Lesley University partnered with Citizen Schools, which runsover 20 after-school programs, to begin a specialized master’sdegree in Out-of-School Time for their teachers. Lesley Universityexpects to open its program to the public in fall 2007. Working inan after-school environment does require a unique set of skills, saysMichaelene Pepera Cronin, a program director at Lesley Universitywho led the development of Out-of-School Time. “After-school isnot babysitting,” says Cronin. “It is a way to form a bridgebetween in-school and community and family. It is teaching in adifferent way.”

One way to determine if a job in an after-school program isright for you is to volunteer. Before Andre Smith accepted a job atthe Greenwood Shalom After-School Program in Dorchester, hevolunteered there for a day. That experience led Smith, a collegegraduate with no teaching certificate, to accept a part-time jobteaching a small group of boys every day after school. Homeworkis the number-one priority, but Smith also focuses on social behav-iors, community responsibility, and interactions with parents,coaching the boys “how to be a man in society.” Although the payand hours are less than those of his previous job, Smith has noregrets. “I felt like I was needed here,” he says. “It is the best feeling to have.”

Caring for the Whole ChildN E W T R A I N I N G F O R A F T E R - S C H O O L T E A C H E R S

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Achieve BostonIdentifies competencies for after-schoolproviders and sites that offer trainings.

www.achieveboston.org

Boston After School & BeyondResource for research and job openings.

www.bostonbeyond.org

Bridging the GapFree training sessions for after-school providers.

Contact [email protected]

Massachusetts After-schoolPartnership

Links to job openings. www.massafter-school.org

The Program in Education, After-school & Resiliency (PEAR)

Collaborates with McLean Hospital, theChildren’s Trauma Recovery

Foundation, and Bridging the Gap tosponsor classes in after-school care.

www.paerweb.org

AFTER-SCHOOL TEACHER RESOURCES


arcela Garcia got her first taste ofmass communications whileattending college in Mexico. But it

wasn’t until she enrolled at HarvardExtension School that she satisfied herappetite for journalism.

Garcia is one of a growing number ofworking professionals who, thanks to collegecertificate programs, are entering the worldof communications and publications aftermonths, not years, of study. And communi-cations job seekers are choosing a good timeto begin their new careers. According to U.S.Bureau of Labor statistics, the availability ofcommunications positions—especially thosefocusing on internet services such as webpage management—will be “above aver-age” for the next several years.

For Garcia, the journey into the world ofjournalism started with a part-time job.

“I was hired as a news assistant for theMexico City bureau chief of the DallasMorning News to research economic issues,”recalls Garcia, who was majoring in econom-ics. Her job involved “doing a little bit ofeverything,” she says. “I attended press con-ferences, looked up statistics, researchedbanking data.” Everything, that is, exceptwriting the articles herself.

Determined to realize her dream ofbecoming a professional journalist, but reluc-tant to spend time and resources necessaryto complete another four-year degree,Garcia researched certificate programs thatcould provide her with the training for quickentry into the field. She chose the Harvard

Extension School’s Communications andPublications Certificate Program (CPC)because of its “extensive range” of trainingand education.

“The program started at a basic levelwith skills like print editing and then movedinto areas such as hypertext creation for webpages,” says Garcia, who chose a journalismconcentration for the program.

Similarly, Emerson College’s certificateofferings are among those higher educationprograms that provide working professionalswith essential skills for launching communi-cations careers. “Each program is structuredand short term,” explains Kimberly Frigon,educational planner for the college’s depart-ment of professional studies and special pro-grams. “They help provide graduates withwhat they need to qualify for employment incommunications.”

For instance, Emerson’s GraduateCertificate in Publishing enables students tochoose career tracks in book or magazinepublishing, with courses in copyediting,desktop publishing, and magazine editing.

A key strength of these programs,according to Frigon, is the focus on customerservice. “We offer one-stop shopping for stu-dents,” she says. “If they have questions,they come to me for solutions. We even fea-ture office evening hours for our workingadult students.”

As with Emerson, most students enrolledin the Harvard Extension School’s CPC pro-gram are working professionals. These stu-dents benefit significantly from two of the

program’s greatest strengths: writing coursesand internships, says Pat Bellanca, director ofwriting programs at the Harvard ExtensionSchool.

“Writing courses are small and very rigor-ous workshops taught by published writerswho are also working professionals,” saysBellanca. “For example, Christina Thompsonregularly teaches our Principles of Editingcourse; she is also editor of the HarvardReview. It is an enormous career advantagefor students to be able to work closely with afaculty member like her.”

Meanwhile, the program’s requirementthat students engage in a 200-hour intern-ship within an editorial or publication officegives them “real-life work experience to addto their resumes and provides valuable con-tacts in the field,” says Jody Clineff, adminis-trator and advisor for the program.

And, as in Garcia’s case, such internshipscan be a direct pathway to first career jobs.After completing her program internship atEl Planeta, a leading Hispanic weekly news-paper serving the Boston community, Garciaaccepted a job offer to become a reporter forthe publication. Currently, she is in charge ofEl Planeta’s local section. “I write four articlesper week on issues such as immigration andthe economy,” she says.

Finally realizing her goal of becoming ajournalist, Garcia is satisfied with her decisionto enroll in a communications certificate pro-gram. “I’m doing what I’ve always wanted todo professionally,” she says. “It was definite-ly the right choice for me.”

Shortcut to Communications CareersC E R T I F I C A T E P R O G R A M S H E L P S T U D E N T S L A N D J O B S Q U I C K LY

M

Boston Architectural CenterMetropolitan College

617-353-6000www.bu.edu/met

Design, Architecture, Preservation

Bridgewater State College508-531-1300

www.bridgew.edu/cdeGraduate, Continuing and

Distance Education

Cambridge College800-877-4723

www.cambridgecollege.eduHigher Education for Working Adults

Center for Digital Imaging Artsat Boston University

800-808-2342www.cdiabu.com

Digital Imaging, Photography

Clark University508-793-7217

www.copace.clarku.eduCollege of Professional and Continuing Studies

Clark University Computer Career Institute

800-568-1776www.clarktrain.coms

Visual Communications, Healthcare,Information Technology

Curry College617-333-2364

www.curry.edu/academics/continuing+educationDivision of Continuing & Graduate Studies

Emerson College617-824-8280

www.emerson.edu/ceCourses & Professional

Certificates in Communication & the Communication Arts

Harvard University Extension School 617-495-4024

www.extension.harvard.eduUndergraduate & Graduate Degree Programs,

Graduate Certificate Programs

The Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

617-495-8632www.arboretum.harvard.edu/landscape

Landscape Design, History,and Preservation

MassBay Community College781-239-2500

www.massbay.eduAssociate Degree, Certificate,

Non-Credit Programs

Massachusetts School of Law978-681-0800

www.mslaw.edu

Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyProfessional Education Programs

617-258-6438mitpep.mit.edu

Educational programs for professionals taught by MIT faculty

Nova Southeastern UniversityFischler School of Education & Human Services

617-399-1775www.schoolofed.com

Regis College Office of Extended Learning

781-768-7330www.regiscollege.edu

Graduate, Certificate, and AcceleratedPrograms

Suffolk University617-573-8302

www.suffolk.edu

Tufts University Summer Session617-627-3454

ase.tufts.edu/summerA Course for Everyone

University of Massachusetts–Boston617-287-7900

www.conted.umb.edu

University of Massachusetts–Lowell978-934-2474

www.continuinged.uml.eduDivision of Corporate, Continuing & Distance

Education

CAREER DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION MIDSUMMER & ADVANCED FALL REGISTRATION

To learn more about the programs detailed in this section, contact:

Visit www.bostonworks.com/careerdevelopment


MATH-PHOBES GET HELP AT CAMBRIDGE COLLEGETEACHING ABOUT MATH LEARNING DISABILITIES IS COLLEGE’S SPECIALTY

It is no secret that many adult learners have a fear of mathematics, leading to learning difficulties in the class-

room. While most teachers have some awareness of the nature of learning problems in mathematics, few are aware

of the causes of these problems, which include learning disabilities, mathematics anxiety, and dyscalculia.

Analogous to dyslexia, dyscalculia is a dysfunction of the reception, comprehension, or production of quantita-

tive and spatial information. Dyscalculia characterizes an individual’s difficulty in conceptualizing numbers, numeri-

cal relationships, outcomes of numerical operations, and estimation. In everyday life, it affects an individual’s ability

to tell time, calculate prices, handle change, and measure and estimate things like temperature and speed.

Dyscalculia is a special need and requires diagnosis, support, and special methods of teaching. In fact, recent

studies show that approximately 4 percent of students show classical symptoms of dyscalculia.

Cambridge College, under the guidance of Professor and President Mahesh Sharma, has developed unique

teacher preparation programs for mathematics specialists and educators.The support that adult learners receive at

Cambridge College gives them an understanding of this condition, and equips them with coping and learning

strategies that they can use in the classroom and transfer to their students.

ou’re at the car dealer contemplating the purchase of a newautomobile and price is foremost on your mind. The dealertells you he will give you two-and-a-half percent off the

sticker price. You panic because you are unable to translate what hesaid into dollar and cents.

An uncommon scenario? Not at all. A recent study, the NationalAssessment of Adult Literacy, by the U.S. Department of Education,showed that 55 percent of American adults scored at ‘basic’ or‘below basic’ in quantitative literacy, which the study defines as theknowledge and skills required to perform computations, using num-bers embedded in printed materials. The lack of math skills—ornumeracy—of adults often leads to extreme anxiety, says EllenFreedman, who started the website mathpower.com eight years ago.

“People are really embarrassed that they can’t do basic math,”she says. “They are afraid to admit it, thinking that they will bethought of as stupid.” Freedman’s website gets more than a million-and-a-half hits every month and her email box overflows with storiesfrom people admitting their embarrassment.

Michael Klugerman is an instructor and manager of the MathContent Training Programs at Mass Insight Education, a Boston-based independent non-profit organization focused on improvingstudent achievement in Massachusetts’s public schools. Culturally, hesays, it seems to be more acceptable in America not to be good atmath. “This is anecdotal,” warns Klugerman, “but it seems that insome countries the idea is that when you work hard at math, you willget it. While in the U.S., people hold to an idea that there is somefundamental math gene out there, which determines how well youdo at math.”

Klugerman teaches elementary and middle-school teachers howto teach math to their pupils. “Unfortunately,” he says, “inMassachusetts, teacher colleges are not requiring their students totake a lot of math courses.” And teachers who are inadequatelytrained pass on their own math problems to their students. Besidesrunning her website, Freedman teaches math at a community col-lege in Camden County, NJ, and believes that education is atthe root of adults’ math anxiety.

“Somehow or another kids make it throughschool with big holes in their math knowledge,”says Freedman. “Somewhere along the line,they have not understood an aspect, andthat hole gets skipped over. Then, whenyou are an adult, you realize that youshould be able to figure out percentages,but you don’t.”

This, in turn, leads to a reluctance ofadults to enroll in college courses, afraidthat they will flunk the math placementtests. “I see this all the time,” saysFreedman, “but I tell people, it is okay toplace in the bottom of the math scores. So youtake a basic math course, then after a semesteryou’ll be up to speed.”

That assumes, of course, that the community colleges know how to teach adults with minimal skills and greatanxiety about math. And that is not always the case, says Mary JaneSchmitt of TERC, a not-for-profit organization in Cambridge dedicat-ed to mathematics and science education for the future. Schmitt’s

work involves improving the mathematics education of adults. “In general, adult literacy and GED programs and developmental

courses in community colleges need to do a whole lot better thanthey are doing now,” says Schmitt. “These programs need to pay asmuch attention to numeracy as they do to literacy and languagedevelopment.” Schmitt emphasizes that the curriculum should befocused on understanding mathematical concepts and not on mem-

orization. “Yes, it is important that you know fractions, butwhat is it that you need to know about them now that

we have calculators?” she asks. “Community col-leges should ask: What is the math that a nurse

needs, what do people have to know in orderto plan financially for their retirement.”

TERC received a grant from the NationalScience Foundation to bring the reformideas of math education in K-12 to adulteducation. “We have to make it moreengaging,” says Schmitt. Mass InsightEducation’s Klugerman would like to seemore one-on-one teaching, like in literacy

programs. “We need to bring the anxiety level around math down, to build

a support structure where people are moreready to learn.”As math education for adults is finally receiving sus-

tained attention, new ways of dealing with math anxiety arebound to develop. In the meantime, the adult learner who is worriedabout that math placement test should just relax, says Freedman. “I tellmy students, don’t be embarrassed by what you don’t know. Guesswhat? You are not the only one out there—not by a long shot.”

Who’s Afraid of Math?P O O R S K I L L S K E E P M A N Y A D U L T S A W A Y F R O M C O L L E G E

Y

“WE NEEDTO BRING THE

ANXIETY LEVEL AROUNDMATH DOWN,TO BUILD A

SUPPORT STRUCTUREWHERE PEOPLE ARE

MORE READY TOLEARN.”

—MARY JANE SCHMITT

career development &education midsummer & advanced f...

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