Planning your course schedule for the summer and fall 2015? You should consider Professor Stan Altman is leading a nonprofit internship course in the summer session and teaching a special topics course in the fall semester. The instructional material for each course will be offered online. Professor Altman is the campus liaison to the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.
Obtain permission to register for either course from SPA’s academic advisor Jennifer Harrington at [email protected].
PAF 5452: Nonprofit Internship, offered in Summer 1 and 2.
The focus of the summer nonprofit internship course is to gain real world experience through a 150-hour internship at a nonprofit organization. Earn 3 credits for completing the internship in summer 1; earn 6 credits for completing 300-hour internship by enrolling in the PAF 5452 each of the two-summer sessions. The internship is designed to provide students interested in careers in the nonprofit sector professional experience and provide opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge associated with competencies in nonprofit management and leadership. On-line lectures covering topics ranging from what is the nonprofit sector to staring your own nonprofit organization, governance, executive leadership, and management skills supplement the field experience provided by the internship. Completing 300-hours of internship experience is a requirement for receiving professional certification as a nonprofit professional (“CNP”) from the Nonprofit leadership Alliance. Students who register for this course will receive a free copy of Peter Drucker‘s classic “The Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders”.
PAF 4199: Special Topics: Cognitive Technology and Social Challenge, offered in the Fall
This 3-credit course is focused on using IBM Watson cognitive computer capability to help decision-makers improve the delivery of public services. Working with the staff of a New York City Government agency, students will build a Watson application applied to meeting a challenge facing the agency. Student will have access to Watson and will be responsible for developing a curated database by uploading relevant documents into Watson, training Watson to understand and interpret the information these documents contain and then complete the development cycle by bring the Watson application live. Students will learn about cognitive computing and the rapidly emerging cloud-based technologies driving the US and global economies. Students from a variety of disciplines are encouraged to register. The class is limited 25 students.
