Design team forming for June 28 conference

by Lucy Garrick (OSR-12), OSR Alumni Association board co-chair

Each year's Annual Conference (this is our 3rd) has included some experimentation with new themes and/or design ideas (aka renewal). Some renewals have been better than others, but that's how we learn, right?

This year's conference has the following experimental elements which should be fun and challenging:

• The conference falls on the June OSR Masters weekend and will play a role (details to be determined) in the weekend design for OSR 14.
• The cohort learning topic is Change and Ethical Interventions.
• The conference will focus on advanced issues related to those leering themes, but you will notice that is pretty broad and how that will take shape is up to the design team.
• Design work will begin in earnest in January.
• How the conference is structured, who else presents, whether there will be concurrent sessions and other details are all yet to be determined.

Volunteers needed

Alumni Association board members Dee Endleman (OSR-7) and Larry West (OSR-9) are the board co-sponsors for the conference. They would like to hear from interested parties by Mon, Dec 31, if possible and estimate a time commitment for volunteer on average of 6-10 hours a week. It will probably depend on what you decide to do. Sharing a role, like Dee and Larry can be fun and a way to control your time.

Ways to be involved include, but are not limited to one or more of the following:

• Collaboration as part of the design team (design of the event);
• Facilitating for the conference design team or other conference teams;
• Project management;
• Helping with conference logistics, marketing, registration, greeting, decorations, etc.

Interested? Email Dee Endleman or Larry West.

OSR moves to permanent classroom home

The (OSR-14) cohort met for the first time in November on the Seattle University campus in their new classroom in the Teilard de Chardin Building. Elaine Jessen, retired OSR faculty, and Stephanie Ryan were the presenters for the course on Systems: An overview of theory & perspectives. OSR core faculty Colleen Ponto (OSR-7) and Seattle U librarian Karen Gilles also taught a course on Research Literacy and Methods.

Magy Oriah Nock (OSR-14) talks with peers in OSR's new Chardin classroom.

OSR-14 students l–r: Danielle Harden, Lea McLeod, Dave Porter, Joseph Luther, Posy Gering, and James Vive with visiting presenter Stephanie Ryan.

Frank Sarigumba talks with visiting presenter Stephanie Ryan about a causal loop diagram.

Speed dating for field advisors

Update your OSR account for a Degree Committee date

Interested in being Degree Committee field advisors for current OSR-14 Masters students? OSR alumni should do the following:

1. Make sure your OSR account preferences indicate your willingness to serve.
• Go to the  OSR Community page and log-in by providing your email address and your password (first name, unless you have changed your password).
• Click on Update My Info. On the right, under Preferences, make sure there is a “Yes” next to ”Willing to be on a Degree Committee?“ If not, click the Edit button next to Preferences and make the change.
• Click Save.
2. Provide your bio or resume on the Update My Info page under the Bio/Resume section at the bottom left of the page.
3. Upload a close-up picture of yourself in the upper-right hand corner. A .jpg file is preferred.
4. Go to Degree Committees page. Review the OSR 14 student "ads" for field advisors and respond to those for whom you think you would be a good match. Students will also be using the OSR Contacts search function to seek field advisors, so that is why the first three steps above are critical. When you send students an email expressing interest in serving as a field advisor, students can immediately check out your Update My Info page.
5. Register for Speed Dating on Sat, Jan 12. Designed by Brian Mason (OSR 8) and Claire Ricci (OSR 11), speed dating introduces students and advisors in a fun and efficient manner. Register immediately as there are only a couple of openings for alumni wishing to participate in this event. (If you are unable to attend, it will not preclude you from being a field advisor).

Post-graduate certificate program debuts

A prototype certificate program, Designing and Leading Emergent Change: A practicum in sensing and shaping the future of living systems, begins in February — designed to become a model for a rich set of future offerings. For OSR Masters graduates and other interested learners, this post-graduate program will:

• Create a learning community of practice grounded in theory, design, and methodology. The purpose of the community is to develop competent and confident individual practitioners who can engage with organizational systems and design and lead emergent change.
  
• Be guided by Craig Fleck, Roger Harrison, and Mitch Saunders.
  
• Convene 4 times for Friday-Saturday sessions: February 29–March 1; April 11–12; May 16–17; June 20–21
• Provide a certificate from OSR (future offerings may provide certificates from Seattle University)
  
• Cost between $2,000-3,000 depending on type of employment and organizational support.
  

A design team of interested OSR Masters graduates — Steve Byers (OSR 13), Yolanda Christianson (OSR 13), Nick Folwer (OSR 8), Barbara Lewy (OSR 13), and Clarice Sieden (OSR 10) — have been working with the "guides" to define the particulars of the program.

Applications are now accepted through Friday, February 8. A detailed course prospectus and application with intentions, content, schedule, and format is available. Download the pdf >>

Introducing two new OSR Masters faculty

Addi Brooks and Mauricio Puerta join the OSR Masters' historical roster of faculty. Addi has lived in the Seattle area for many years; Mauricio and his family will be moving to Seattle from Cleveland in June or July. Addi, Mauricio and Bill Koenig (OSR-8) will be the core faculty for the September 2008 launch of the 15th cohort. With two overlapping cohorts for the first time, OSR will be serving 66 concurrent masters students.

Addi Brooks — An organizational development consultant who focuses on developing creative strategic solutions. She has taught in public education, worked as vice president of human resources for a Fortune 500 company, and runs her own company specializing in organizational change, leadership, and human development. Addi received her Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute where her interests in the interface between our internal awareness and external realities helps create new meanings for working and living in a more conscious, sustainable way with each other and the world. Addi serves on the Board for Opus Archive and Research Center, where the archives for Joseph Campbell, Marija Gimbutas, Marion Woodman and James Hillman are housed and accessed to assist with current and future insights.

Mauricio Puerta — An organizational development scholar and practitioner with over 15 years of experience in the areas of organizational transformation, adult education, experiential learning, group facilitation, and coaching in Latin America, the US, and Europe. Through his work, he seeks to support organizations to become life-giving systems for their members and for the world at large. Some of the organizations he has worked with include the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Peruvian Ministry of Education, Unilever, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

A search committee worked throughout September in service to the future of OSR interviewing faculty candidates:

• Larry Daloz, representing OSR-NW Board
• Brian Mason (OSR-8), representing OSR Alumni Association
• Claire Ricci (OSR-11), representing OSR Alumni Association
• Bob Woodruff (OSR-4), representing OSR faculty
• Nancy Ahern (OSR-13) , representing OSR students
• Bill Koenig (OSR-8), representing OSR administration
• Mike Bisesi, representing Seattle University
• Jodi O'Brien, representing Seattle University