Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management
SPRING 2005

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What's New in the CSS Program

A Message from Dean Comeau

Dean Raymond Comeau

Greetings from Cambridge, where the spring has finally arrived after a long and hard winter. I am very pleased to be in contact with you once again through this online issue of CSS News. I think you will find some food for thought in the articles by and interviews with CSS instructors Thomas Raymond, Stephen Greyser, David Kuechle, Paul Olean, and Paul Tumolo. Topics include business communication, branding, negotiations, and customer relationship management. I also hope you find some interesting news about your fellow CSS graduates in Alumni News.

The 2004-05 academic year has brought a number of changes to the CSS Program, including a name change. Beginning in 2005-06 the program will become the Certificate in Management (CM). The CM will be awarded beginning in November 2005 but will not be issued retroactively. All other CSS Program requirements will remain the same.

Candidates may notice another change: beginning in September 2005, CM courses will be broken into the following subject categories in the courses section of the catalogue and website: accounting, communication in business, finance, information systems management, management and operations, marketing, and organizational behavior, and human resources. You may recall that previously all CSS courses were listed together in the catalogue. We think this change will highlight more dramatically the Extension School's rich assortment of management courses.

The program has continued its tradition of offering fall and spring receptions for CSS candidates in the Harvard Faculty Club. The featured speaker on Friday, December 10, 2004, was Mitzi S. White, a research associate in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and instructor of CSS E-205 Organizational Behavior and CSS E-207 Managing Workplace Performance. She spoke about the five keys to success in the workplace. Our spring reception on Friday, April 8, 2005, featured David A. Shore, associate dean and executive director of the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Harvard School of Public Health. His speech was "What do Coca-Cola, Nike, and Harvard Have in Common?" Both receptions attracted approximately 80 enthusiastic candidates and guests.

The 2004 Certificate Commencement on June 10 took place under raindrops (it never rains on a Harvard Commencement, remember?), and Lowell Hall was again filled to capacity with 238 certificate graduates and their relatives and guests. The CSS class of 2004 numbered 176, including 106 international graduates representing 42 countries. The five leading countries were Brazil (17 graduates); Mexico and Turkey (nine each); Spain (eight); and India (five).

The Katie Yang Prize recognizing "the initiative, character, and outstanding academic achievement of an international student in the CSS Program" was awarded to Onur Birsen from Turkey and Martina Colombo from Colombia. The Phyllis Strimling Award, which recognizes "the character and achievement of a CSS graduate who has used or is preparing to use the CSS experience for the advancement of women and society," was awarded to Isabelle Anguelovski of France, who has founded her own NGO, Chacha Warmi, to foster the empowerment of women in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Our newest student award, inaugurated in 2002, the Harold V. Langlois Outstanding Student Award, was given to Kerri Johnson. Robert Brown, professor of communication at Salem State College and instructor in CSS E-535 Writing for Public Relations and Marketing, was the 2004 recipient of the Joanne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes exceptional teaching in the CSS Program. Professor Brown has been on the CSS faculty for 14 years.

We were honored to have David Spina, president and chairman of State Street Bank, the world's leading provider of financial services to institutional investors, as our featured Commencement speaker. He delivered a speech titled "Leadership as a Learning Experience."

In closing, I want to remind you that CSS News appears online only. If you change your e-mail address, please be sure to send your updated address immediately to css@hudce7.harvard.edu so we can notify you when the new issue is online next year. I also invite you to send us your current professional news so we can include it in Alumni News. Finally, I join the CSS Office staff, Delia Gerraughty and Donna Clark, in wishing you much success and happiness in 2005. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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