Apply today - accepting applications for the fall 2010 cohort

Become an instrument of innovation, renewal, health and wholeness for the world through the OSR Master's Program.

The OSR Master's Program delivers an innovative curriculum that prepares adult learners to design and lead systemic organizational change.

Apply today!  Accepting applications for the fall of 2010.

For more info contact:  Paula Brekke, brekkep@seattleu.edu

Tim Jaasko-Fisher, OSR 16 student receives Lee Ann Miller award

Tim Jaasko-Fisher, student in the Master of Arts in Organization Systems Renewal and director of the, Court Improvement Training Academy, received the Lee Ann Miller award from the  Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. The award is presented annually to an individual who has “made the greatest impact and/or contribution in furthering the goals of the Children’s Justice Act.”

Jaasko-Fisher has been the director of the Court Improvement Training Academy since 2009. The program provides interdisciplinary training for judges, lawyers and other stakeholders in the child welfare system on topics including infant mental health, substance abuse, parent-child visitation, racial disproportionality in foster care, and adolescent brain development. The training academy utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to the problems faced in child welfare law.

The Master of Arts in Organization Systems Renewal (OSR) takes a systemic, interdisciplinary approach to organizational growth, development, and change. OSR is a two-year, cohort-based program designed for leaders, executives and change agents.  Accepting applications for the 2010 cohort.

Reserve your place today for the annual conference!

Tickets are now on sale! 

The Arts and Change: Creative Frames for Organizations

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Seattle University

Plan to attend the 5th annual OSR conference featuring the theme of the arts and organizational change. Over 20 workshop presenters will represent theater, music, poetry, visual arts and more to explore the emerging field of the arts in the design and leadership of change.

Registration price of $99 includes a fabulous days of learning and a copy of Jeff Kahane's new book, Power and Love and continental breakfast and lunch.

More information

Scholarships available for OSR students to attend process workshop on Nov. 5 & 6

Scholarships are now available to OSR students to attend a Process Work workshop, Thursday and Friday, November 5-6, in Seattle at the Westin Hotel, following the Pegasus conference. The scholarships will be provided through Friends of Hitotsubashi University as part of the university’s international outreach program, for participants who have a demonstrated student status or demonstrated financial need. The workshop tuition is $500 for the two days, and scholarships range from $250 to $500 (100%) of that. If you are interested contact Tish Robinson.

A little more info includes: Julie Diamond works with Stephen Schuitevoerder as the Director of Training and Program Development at the Process Work Institute of Portland, a graduate center devoted to research and training in the Process-oriented model of individual and organizational transformation, developed by Arnold Mindell. She has been working in the field of human and organizational change for over 25 years, and consults and trains internationally and locally on leadership development, group dynamics, team development and conflict facilitation for organizations, businesses, government agencies, NGOs, non-profits, schools and universities. Past and current clients include New Zealand Health Funding Authority, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Macedonian Trade Union, Greenpeace, Portland Police Bureau, New South Wales (Australia) Department of Education and Training, Nike, Intel, Cascade AIDS Project, and Community Services Northwest.

Serve on OSR 15 Degree Committees

OSR 15 students are seeking graduates to serve as field advisors on degree committees. Graduates of cohorts 1–12 are eligible to participate.

A quick refresher about a field advisor's role. Field advisors:

• Serve on a degree committee to support, challenge and guide an OSR student in navigating the Master's program to reach academic and specific area-of-focus goals.
• Attend four formal meetings, approximately two hours in length, between now and graduation in June 2010.
• Prepare for each meeting, often investing at least two hours to read student work and formulate questions.
• Are available for informal discussions as appropriate to support a student's degree process.
• Attend the cohort's graduation brunch on Sunday, June 13, 2010.

If you have an interest in serving as a field advisor,

• Visit the OSR web site to view students' Degree Committee ads in Job opportunities. (You will need to sign in to My OSR before accessing the ads; the user name is your email address and the password is your first name unless you changed the password).
• Update your contact information and make sure your visibility preferences are set to "all."
• And update your bio/resume so that students can find a good match. 

For help or more information, contact Paula Brekke.

A family learning journey in South Africa

Li Lu-Porter, OSR-13 graduate and Dave Porter, OSR-14 student, along with their teenage son, traveled to South Africa this summer on a learning journey organized by The Berkana Institute.

Li writes: "There were many unforgettable, heart-touching and life changing moments, as we witnessed these amazing leaders at work.

"Mother Carol who came forward to care for 3 orphans from a friend dying of AIDS, and is now running the orphanage for over 1000 kids who lost their parents in similar circumstances. She also organized volunteers to teach and mentor young leaders in the community.

"Thulan in Soweto Kliptown ,who organized kids to learn and to stay away from drugs, invited us as guests to his community. The youth there welcomed us with an amazing dance performance. We experienced such joy and life celebration! Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptops were also present there to help kids learn.   

A dance expert learns new steps

Alison O'Donnell takes you inside the current OSR Master’s cohort to meet Jason Stephens, a Liaison Engineer at Boeing.

In October 2007, 33 students in the OSR 14 cohort were just strangers taking the first tentative steps into the unknown. The thrill and nervous anticipation of starting the first day of school rendered some as giddy as school children, while others tried to hide how anxious they were, and many silently questioned if they had made the right decision to attend OSR while skeptically assessing the people with whom they were going to spend the next 20 months.

In those first days together, the only thing we knew we had in common was a shared attraction to the unique OSR Master’s program at Seattle University. However, over the course of that first session, 33 strangers slowly unfolded to reveal intriguing, creative, rediscovered, broken, and passionate parts of their lives, parts that gave meaning to why each had chosen to be in OSR. The seeds of relationships that would be flowering sources of joy seven months later were planted through conversations, class work, and… swing dancing? That last evening of the October session, the group who had taken new steps to enter the OSR Master’s program also began to learn how to take new steps from an unexpected dance teacher.