|
|
Congratulations to our 2010-2011 graduates! On May 27, Presidio Graduate School celebrated the graduation of 87 MBA and 10 MPA students. The ceremony included acceptance of Presidio's Pioneer Award by journalist, Belva Davis, and a commencement address from EPA Administrator, Jared Blumenfeld. Kari Kiser spoke on behalf of the first MPA graduating class, while Ryan Cabinte represented the MBA graduates. The day was filled with celebration and excitement as family members and friends came from all over to share their support. Our graduates now bring their Presidio skills and knowledge to many diverse fields including social impact investing, international development, renewable energy and NGOs, and are contributing to many companies and non-profit organizations including: Google, PG&E, The Stuart Foundation, and Avery Dennison. While we will miss the graduating class, we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors and can’t wait to hear from them as alumni!
|
|
|
| |
|
We want to acknowledge some of the student body’s accomplishments and share a few of the highlights:
-
140 students completed 46 EL projects with 33 companies.
-
Students are participating in summer internships with organizations and companies all over the world including: JP Morgan Chase (Climate Corps), Environmental Defense Fund, Blue Shield, Rentcycle, Sambazon, Walt Disney Co., Build it Green, E3 Innovation Fund, Lagunitas, and Think Impact.
-
109 alumni attended the inaugural alumni event including class visits, guest speakers, and an evening reception.
-
Guest speakers including: Holmes Hummel, Bob Willard, and John Marshall Roberts
-
A hard-working and dedicated group of student representatives who worked on many important projects and initiatives including: standards of engagement, student rep. charter, career services, and Presidio CAN. We thank Robert Coombs, Kate Drane, Chelsea Souter, and Zach Worthington for their service and leadership and are delighted to welcome the new representatives: Karin Meyer, Arif Hasyim, Fergus McGrath, and Sara Brown.
-
A vibrant and enthusiastic student club presence, including: PreSTO’s Local Food and Drink night, PACE’s Quickfire Consulting events, Green Building’s Sustainability Bike Tour, and MediaLab/ISC’s Wikipedia Workshop-just to name a few.
|
|
|
|
It is our pleasure to announce the three winners of the 2011 Richard M. Gray Scholarship. The award is a $5,000 tuition scholarship for selected new or continuing MBA and/or MPA students for proposing a “Big Idea” sustainable product or service.
The scholarships are awarded to the following students and projects:
-
Adrian Assassi: "HydraSol: A Water Purifying Device Invented by a Presidio Student”
-
Amber Bieg: “SEEDS: Children’s Products and Mama’s Business Development Services"
-
Tim McLaughlin: “New Models on the Horizon: Reinventing the Urban Cycling Experience”
The three finalists were ranked by a faculty judging panel who took into account factors such as: compelling value proposition; feasibility of product/service; sustainable design; product plan; and professionalism of essay. Applicants submitted a proposal for a sustainable product or service which the winners may, or may not, seek to develop during their academic work.
The award was established this year to honor one of Presidio Graduate School's founders, Dr. Gray, who is an honorary life member of the Presidio Board. |
MBA Capstone Venture Showcase |
|
On May 21, graduating MBA students presented their New Venture Plans, outlining a diverse, dynamic, and engaging set of New Ventures to our Presidio network and outside community. Born out of the Integrative Capstone Course, students developed their plans representing new businesses which promise to transform the landscape of existing business models. Some of the plans represented that night included The Can Van (Jacob Blackshear, Heath Cox, Jennifer Coyle, Kate Drane, and Lindsey Herrema), a mobile beer canning service for the craft brewing industry, and Catalyst Financial (Rudi Anthony, Jenny Huang and Shereen Johnson), which harnesses the power of online communities and group savings to mobilize capital for the financially underserved. |
|
|
|
 To showcase their accomplishments, the first MPA graduating class hosted a MPA Symposium on Sustainability in Public Administration. The event, held on May 22, included key note speaker Phil Tang, Mayoral Candidate for San Francisco, who spoke on “The Importance of Sustainability in Government and Public Administration."
Following his speech, the graduating MPA students led small group table discussions in relation to their capstone work. Two capstone topics included:
-
Citizen Inclusion for Urban Portals and Urban Watershed (Kari Kiser and Tessa Rudnick): how public administrators can find the balance between digital life, civic life, and the natural environment.
-
Smart Growth and Sustainable Urbanism (Nathan Dahl and Porsha Jones): how to integrate sustainable development strategies into municipalities' planning codes development polices and a study of progress, failures, and new trends in Smart Growth Development as they relate to sustainable governance.
|
Executive Certificate Program |
 The sixth cohort of the Executive Certificate program at Presidio began in late April and is now in full swing. Participants are in the thick of developing their initiatives, which range from increasing energy efficiency at data co-location centers and creating a plastics disclosure project, to repurposing hospital waste streams and addressing the social impacts of the apparel industry’s supply chain.
Presidio and the Executive Alumni group are organizing a gathering for the program’s current and past participants in late June.
Presidio is currently accepting applications for the fall program, which will begin August 4. If you are interested or know of someone who is interested in the executive certificate program, please contact certificate@presidioedu.org.
|
|
Presidians in the Community |
 This spring the PACE Club (Presidio and Community Engagement) participated in two consulting “quickfire-style” engagements; the first with the XS Project and the second with MakeSense. The quickfire sessions offer the sustainability smarts of the Presidio community to a non-profit organization during a four-hour, deep dive consultation. At the end of each session, PACE delivers a report to the client, offering concrete solutions and tools to tackle specific problems (strategy, marketing, and finance).
Given their success this Spring semester, PACE will be working with the Biomimicry Institute as their next quickfire engagement this summer.
If you know of a non-profit that would benefit from PACE’s assistance, please contact Chelsea Souter chelsea.souter@presidioedu.org
|
|
|
|
 Hali'imaile Pineapple Company is a Maui-based agricultural business that produces the sweetest pineapple in the world, the Maui Gold pineapple. Presidio's Maui Gold MBA team developed an Operations Plan to quantify the extensive intellectual capital of the company’s six owners, identify production inefficiencies, analyze the company’s current sales mix, and perform a sustainability analysis around their operations.
Maui-based Presidians Tia Ferguson and Kainoa Casco initially approached the HPC because of their interest in creating a more sustainable Maui. Cyndie Hoffman, Dustin Haggett, and Katie Grote then joined them to form Team Maui Gold. In February, the team embarked on a trip to Maui and was able to tour the pineapple fields and packaging facility, meet the owners and field workers, and gain first-hand insight into the sustainability challenges currently facing the island.
Their analysis developed a potential optimal product mix, investigated renewable energy options to reduce energy costs, and suggested employee engagement strategies to increase productivity. Their sustainability research also involved a life cycle analysis of packaging alternatives and uncovered significant opportunity in the organic market. |
|
|
|
 On April 29, Presidio's Net Impact chapter and Student Representatives hosted a Sustainability Career Tour, bringing together current students, faculty, board members, staff, and business partners. The idea behind the tour was to expose students to different career paths at organizations involved in sustainability issues. They visited four local sustainability companies: Clif Bar, PG&E, BSR, and New Resource Bank. At each company visit, they heard about the company's background, mission, and involvement in the sustainability world. Additionally, each company invited employees from varying departments within their organization to touch on each of their own career paths and how students should position themselves when looking for a career in the sustainability sector.
If you are interested in participating in this event as a host company, feel free to contact Student Services for more information. |
|
|
|
 New Light Energy Design (NLED) was founded by Presidio graduates Mark Williams (C7) and Bret Walburg (C7) upon their completion of the MBA program in the Spring of 2009.
As a true shoestring venture the company started with personal credit cards and a couple of laptops around Mark’s kitchen table. The company has steadily grown through a difficult market environment and now has 16 full-time employees and 6 independent contractor auditors. NLED has completed 250 energy efficient lighting retrofits for commercial facilities in the Bay Area, saving their customers close to a million dollars and avoiding three million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Mark and Bret are committed to a triple-bottom line business and to simply ‘do well by doing good.’ The Presidio experience was instrumental in providing the wherewithal and confidence to make a foray into the local energy efficiency market. |
|
|
|
 Dr. Deniz Leuenberger, PhD
MPA Program Chair
Dr. Deniz Zeynep Leuenberger is a leading sustainability expert in public administration. She is the co-author of the book Sustainable Development in Public Administration and has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on sustainability. She has presented papers at over fifty conferences across the world and is an advocate for sustainability practice in public and non-profit agencies. Deniz joined the Presidio team 3 years ago to help create the first MPA program fully integrated in sustainability.
Spring 2011 Student Achievements:
-
Ben Horowitz recently had his paper accepted to the AASHE conference.
-
Eric Pollard accepted an internship with the Oklahoma City Planning Department.
Speakers and Mentors:
-
Arietta Chakos - Chief of Staff of the Office of the Mayor- Berkeley
-
David Lewis - Executive Director of Save the Bay
-
Dina Tasini - City Planner and Principal at Tasini and Associates
-
Eric Stover - Faculty Director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California - Berkeley
|
|
|
|
 Dr. Marsha Willard, PhD
Implementation of Sustainable Business Practices
(MBA, MPA, Executive Certificate)
Marsha is co-founder and CEO of AXIS Performance Advisors, Inc. a 20-year-old Northwest-based consulting firm specializing in helping organizations implement sustainable business practices. She has worked with organizations in both the public and private sector providing training, consulting, facilitation, assessment, and planning services. She has authored half a dozen books including the award-winning Business Guide to Sustainability and the Step By Step Guide to Sustainability Planning. In addition to her consulting practice, Marsha also serves as the Executive Director of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals. |
| |
|
Here are some top-line updates from our faculty member, Nils Moe:
-
While staffing Mayor Bates in his role as chair of the Joint Policy Commission, Nils is helping to create a Bay Area-wide climate adaption agenda that ties environmental action to economic development.
-
Following his attendance at the Garrison Institutes' Cities and Behavior Change Symposium, Nils is co-chairing a national subcommittee of sustainability directors working on scalable behavior change initiatives at the city level. He is also working with Melanie Nutter at SF Environment to create a west coast behavior change stakeholder working group to work on residential energy issues.
-
Nils is working on the City of Berkeley's single use shopping bag ban.
|
|
|
|
 We are pleased to announce that we have hired Sara Taylor as the new Academic Program Coordinator. Sara will be managing the registration process for all Presidio students, and she is the new contact for all registration needs. In addition, she will be developing the course schedule and providing general academic support. Sara is delighted to join Presidio’s team, building on her background in teaching and educational administration. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Sara taught English and herbal therapies near Washington, DC; beginning in 2008, she served as registrar at AIMC Berkeley, a graduate school for acupuncture and traditional Asian medicine. Her interests include poetry, horticulture, and math, and she is deeply excited to support Presidio’s programs and its commitment to sustainability. She looks forward to getting to know the school and its community better! |
| |
|
 Jean Santullo informed us that she will be leaving Presidio effective August 5. We are losing a valued friend and colleague. In Jean’s three years at Presidio, she has done wonderful and important work. Her creativity, insight, organizational skills, energy, ability to implement, and her style will all be missed. However, we are excited for her and the opportunities that await her.
This past year, in recognition of Jean’s excellent work, she was promoted from Director of Student Services to Dean of Student Services and Alumni Affairs. Among her contributions to the school:
-
Working with the Student Representatives to formalize their relationship with the Administration
-
Developing career services
-
Working to integrate Student Services and Career Services with the Academic Program
-
Developing and enhancing the EL process and experience
-
Developing and implementing Orientation
-
Collecting important institutional data
-
And, of course, engaging in one-on-one counseling and support of students
While we are so sad to see Jean go, the programs and policies she has created and implemented will leave the student services office in an excellent stead. Jean, we wish you well.
|
| |
Interested in Presidio's MBA, MPA, or Executive Certificate Program? Visit our website or email info@presidioedu.org.
Are you a business or organization that would like to connect with Presidio talent for employment, internship, or Experiential Learning projects? Contact careerservices@presidioedu.org.
Do you have a Presidio experience you would like to share? Email studentservices@presidioedu.org.
Presidio Graduate School is an affiliate of Alliant International University. By virtue of this affiliation, Presidio's degree programs are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Editorial Team: Frances Kleven, Laura Hobson, Lauren Ramsey and Arif Hasyim
|
| |
Hello Fellow Presidians,
