OS in University Settings - Part 1 (long)

Sun Jul 2 20:34:44 PDT 2006

Thank you, Juliane, Sebastian, and Zelle, for adding to this great list of
stories of using OS in University settings.

Zelle, you asked me to post back to the list all the responses I have
gotten.  I am happy to do so.  Sorry - I can usually put these things on my
website for you to go to but I can't post something on there right now,
soooooooooooo:  It's l-o-n-g, and I do not want to make those of you who
have trouble and expense downloading and reading long messages - so I will
put it into three parts and hope that helps you.  Get a really big cup of
tea.

________________OS in University Settings_______part 1 of 3________________ 

Lisa Heft (lisaheft at openingspace.net)

Columbia University School of International Relations and Center for
Conflict Resolution 

Graduate and undergraduate students who train for and offer services in
international conflict resolution explored what their cultural impact is on
the international communities they serve.  A number of students coming
through that program have taken my Open Space workshops to learn more about
and use the method in their work, and I have consulted with their conflict
resolution program on Open Space events in Northern Iraq and East Timor.

San Francisco State University's Institute for Holistic Healing Studies

Students and faculty explored opportunities and issues and areas of learning
they wish to include in their programs.

The 21st Century Leadership Center at St. Mary's University in San Antonio,
Texas

Students, faculty and sponsors of this learning and community leadership
capacity-building program networked to share their experiences of working in
the community and also explored how to improve their organizations,
communities and individual practices with a focus on work-life balance.

San Francisco State University's Institute for Holistic Healing Studies

This was for a meeting to help them explore opportunities and issues and
areas of learning they wish to include in their programs.

I have also facilitated different Open Space events for university and
university-aged people meeting off-campus for such things as a leadership
series on healing from and dealing with racism and a conference on issues
and opportunities for young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders.
And I facilitated Open Space plenary sessions for the National Coalition on
Dialogue and Deliberation Conference - NCDD is a movement that originated
from college campus programs formed to invite citizen engagement and
participatory decision-making.

This autumn I will be facilitating an Open Space for Sonoma State
University's Organization Development program, where current and past
students and faculty will join to network and share issues and opportunities
in their field and their learning.

I also teach and mentor facilitators in learning and using the method of
Open Space - facilitators who have been trained through my Open Space
Learning Workshops have come from and serve such institutions as the
University of Michigan, San Francisco State University, Portland State
University, University of Florida, Naropa University, Saybrook Institute,
John F. Kennedy University, Sonoma State University and as mentioned above,
Columbia University.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harrison Owen [hhowen at adelphia.net]

Columbia Business School

My favorite story from this sort of venue comes from Columbia Business
School and is the brainchild of Shrikuma Rao. Shrikuma put together a
program which could have the title (mine not his) "So you have now done
Business School -- now what about the Business of your life?" It is a
regular course with lots of challenging reading and discussion and a feature
is a weekend Open Space. When I did it, the theme was, "What are you going
to do for the rest of your life?" The Os has now become a regular part and
they do it themselves (one more thing not to do). Over the years (I think
the program is about 5 years old) it has filled out every time it is
offered. As a matter of fact the last time I talked to Shrikumar he said
they receive 4 applications for every one they accepted. In addition people
from the Law School, and the School of International Relations have come in.
The Dean apparently doesn't like it, and has tried repeatedly to shut it
down. Every time he tries a large delegation of graduates descend on his
office. So far it continues -- to the best of my knowledge.

INSEAD 

Another vignette -- A group of Business School Deans and CEOs has been
working for the past several years on "Preparing Globally Responsible
Leadership" under a grant from the EU. Their last meeting where they were
attempting to pull everything together and figure out where to go next was
in Open Space -- when they told me was the only way they could deal with the
diversity of opinion/egos/agendas and get anything done. Seemed to work.
Took place this April at INSEAD -- French Business School. Fun.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Michael M Pannwitz (mmpanne at boscop.de )

This was for  a crowd of 100 Personnel Development people from Universities
from all over Germany. 

http://www.michaelmpannwitz.de/extras/openspace/list/pictures/?event_id=108
<http://www.michaelmpannwitz.de/extras/openspace/list/pictures/?event_id=108
&event_table=os_list_veranstaltungen&event_type=2>
&event_table=os_list_veranstaltungen&event_type=2 

There is also stuff on the University Website see

http://www.uv.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/propersonal/openspace2003.htm

Its all in German but the pictures are neat; you may also discover some
colleagues in the team (Michael jr. and Marei  Kiele).

The University site also features a scientific publication (as these kinds
of events tend to do)on the conference with a very good article on open
space (again, in German).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Agneta Setterwall (agneta.setterwall at telia.com )

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

I work a lot as a consultant at one of our Uppsala universities, the Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, mostly at the Department for Urban and
Rural development, primarily at the Unit for Environmental Communication and
the Unit for Rural Development. 

. . I am not (yet?) a researcher, but I really like (most of) the academic
environment - the effort to think and talk clear and lucid, the (often) open
atmosphere. I have now for the second year had responsibility for some
twenty students and their five points (that is equivalent to five weeks
fulltime) course in "process- and project management". Most of the students
are natural-science oriented, so I have the great pleasure to introduce them
in group-process thinking... Many of them will hopefully (if they get a job)
work with planning processes, natural resource management, rural development
and similar. Of course I told them about Open Space, and of course we did
one too - a mini three hour one, this year with the theme "How do we get a
job?"

I have also some years ago facilitated four (if I remember it right) OS for
researchers seeking cross-relations and common grounds - it was all about
rural development in a global context, with a mostly social science but also
natural science agenda. Earlier this year I co-facilitated a similar OS
about finding the "right" agendas for future rural development research
programs. Participants were researchers from different backgrounds, persons
from local and governmental authorities and persons with the task to write
the research program.

And, this autumn I will facilitate two different two day long OS at the same
department, both of them with a networking aim. One is the first national
conference about environmental communication, and it is also open for
English speaking not-national persons - so I will do it in English. It is
open for researchers and practitioners. The other is a cross-scientific
networking scientific one about water, and also in English: "Integrated &
Transboundary Water Resource Research - A network creating conference".
Some info can be found at www.sol.slu.se <http://www.sol.slu.se/> , in
English - and Swedish.

Thank you all,

Lisa

___________________________

L i s a   H e f t

Consultant, Facilitator, Educator

O p e n i n g  S p a c e

 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net

 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

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