A New (academic) Year and New Leadership

For those who have never visit our blog before, I would like to take a moment to introduce the Nonprofit Leadership Student Association (NSLA), and myself, our new president. NLSA was established in 2008 by students of the Nonprofit Masters Degree program to provide a support network for all the students of the Helen Bader Institute (HBI). Here is our mission:

NLSA seeks to offer the current Nonprofit Management and Leadership students and alumni an opportunity to network and foster both professional and social relationships. NLSA also seeks to deepen the value of the Nonprofit Management and Leadership degree and promote continuing education opportunities for alumni.

In keeping with that mission, the organization has evolved to host academic and professional forums, in conjunction with HBI, on issues specific to the nonprofit sector. We have also expanded our reach across UW – Milwaukee and the Milwaukee community welcoming students from other programs, alumni, and community members to participate in our events. Finally, we have successfully written grants and secured the additional funding to send 13 students to three conferences over the past three semesters at little or no cost.

Continuing in these traditions:

• NLSA will be co-sponsoring an event with HBI to bring John Brudney to campus on the evening of October 21.

• We have grant funding to send four students to the ARNOVA conference in Washington D.C. ARNOVA is a leading interdisciplinary community of people dedicated to fostering through research and education, the creation, application and dissemination of knowledge on nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, civil society and voluntary action (www.arnova.org) More information about the conference can be found here


• We will also be hosting our second annual Nonprofit Networking Fair on December 6th. Last years event was a success and we are looking forward to building on that momentum. The event brings together representatives from organizations across the nonprofit sector in Milwaukee to network with the students and alumni of HBI.

Personally, I am exited to be the new President of NLSA. I am in my third and final year of the nonprofit management masters degree program, and I have been with NLSA since its inception. I have watched it flourish under our previous leadership committees, and I would like to thank our past presidents, Jenny Steinman Heyden and Annie Reifsnyder, for their hard work in establishing this great organization. I am eager to work with this year’s leadership committee and I am positive we will accomplish some great things in the coming year.

Please join us for our first general membership meeting on October 11, 2010. The meeting will be held at 8pm in Union 344 at UW - Milwaukee.

Also, please consider attending ARNOVA. The “early-bird” registration deadline is October 17 so we would like to identify and register this year’s participants shortly after our first meeting. If you are interested, and a student, email us at nlsauwm@gmail.com. We will also be applying for second semester grants soon so please come to the meeting with ideas about what you think NLSA should be funding.

I look forward to meeting you next Monday.

Thank you,
Justin R Shoman
President
Nonprofit Leadership Student Association