Summer Reading

July 2010

Among the opportunities that summer often brings is the chance to open a book (or power up an e-book) and catch up on our reading. For me, reading has been a lifelong pleasure, one that has enriched every stage of my life, from my earliest years in elementary school to my present role as president of Berkeley College.

Reading has helped to explain mysteries, to expand my knowledge of critical subjects and to broaden my understanding of our ever-changing world. It has demonstrated to me that no matter how much we read in connection with our formal classroom instruction, there is always much more to learn about virtually any subject on the face of the earth.

In such a rapidly changing environment, reading helps us stay abreast of the latest innovations. It offers the opportunity to hear from the experts in particular fields; and to consider fresh perspectives, while in the process, fully examining our own.

In virtually every career field, advances in theory and practice are being developed every day. What we knew yesterday is often not what we will need to know tomorrow. Reading can help us bridge that divide.

Time spent in reading keeps our brains at their peak as well. So while I’m enjoying the many outdoor activities that summer offers, I will also set aside time to read.

As you can see below, my personal summer reading list reflects my interest in Latin American literature, history, sports, leadership, technology, globalization and the environment. Having these choices at hand means that I can take advantage of the free hours that summer brings in a way that will stay with me when the winter inevitably returns.

Whether it’s a day at the beach, a weekend getaway or that long-awaited annual vacation, a book makes a great companion for the journey.

Let me know what books you’re recommending this summer by posting a comment below– or join me in reading one of the choices on my own “to-read” list for Summer 2010:

Making the Move to E Learning: Putting Your Course Online; Kay Lehmann and Lisa Chamberlin

The Stories of Eva Luna, By Chilean writer Isabel Allende

Leaders in the Crossroads: Success and Failure in the College Presidency, by Stephen J. Nelson

For-Profit Colleges and Universities: Their Markets, Regulations, Performance, and Place in Higher Education; Guilbert C. Hentschke, Vicente M. Lechuga, William G. Tierney, and Marc Tucker

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow

Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslin Spain, by Matthew Carr

The World is Flat: A brief History of the 21st. Century by Thomas L. Freidman

Hot, Flat and Crowded: why we need a Green Revolution - and How it Can Renew America, by Thomas L. Freidman

How Soccer Explains the World: An unlikely theory of globalization, by Franklin Foer

I hope you’ll share some of your summer reading choices by posting a comment below.

Enjoy the summer!

Dario A. Cortes, PhD
President

Berkeley College Community Service Day

June 2010

Friday, June 11 was an exciting day for the faculty and staff at Berkeley College.

On that day, 530 members of our staff traveled to 46 sites throughout New York and New Jersey to volunteer with agencies that work to improve our quality of life or lend a helping hand to those in need.

The work our volunteers did during the first annual Berkeley College Community Service Day included delivering meals to the homebound, bowling with senior citizens, raking and planting and cleaning beaches at Sandy Hook.

At the Boys and Girls Club in Wayne, volunteers from Berkeley College created some new opportunities for kids to get fit and have fun by painting brightly-colored hopscotch, box ball courts, tic tac toe and twister spots on a back parking lot -- not to mention a baseball diamond.

While our contributions certainly had value to the agencies that invited us last Friday, our Berkeley College community also reaped significant rewards from the experience.

With several other members of our faculty and staff, I spent a few hours serving lunch at The Hoboken Shelter, a nonprofit social service organization that provides hot meals to more than 300 people each day as well as a wide array of social services that includes overnight shelter for 50 individuals each night.

Like the majority of institutions we visited on June 11, The Hoboken Shelter is dedicated to forging a community partnership that changes lives.

That is also our mission here at Berkeley College. In the 21st century, college education no longer takes place in an “ivory tower."

It is our responsibility to prepare our students to function successfully in an increasingly complex world, a world that requires not only class work, but teamwork; a world that values not only electronic connection, but connection to community.

Our commitment to this goal is demonstrated by our participation in the New York State Campus Compact and the newly formed New Jersey State Campus Compact, agreements that promote active citizenship as an aim of higher education.

Berkeley College is also participating in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Service Initiative. Based on the principle that "everybody's got something to offer”, the initiative seeks to engage all citizens in addressing the city's most pressing problems through a myriad of volunteer opportunities.

All of these efforts reflect our ongoing commitment to making a difference in the lives of others as well as in ourselves.

The Berkeley College Community Service Day will remain with us during the year ahead as we share with our students the impact of partnering with the greater community to help those in need.

It gives me great pride to know that through their teamwork and dedication to volunteerism, our faculty and staff serve as powerful role models for the students of Berkeley College, both in and out of the classroom.

Dario A. Cortes, PhD
President

Photo Above: Berkeley Associates on June 11, 2010, Community Service Day, serving lunch at The Hoboken Shelter.

Pictured from left to right: Katherine Wu, President Dario A.Cortes PhD, Gerald Iacullo, Greg Lincoln, Romel Espinel, Sheila Vaughan, Laura Jewell, Marquise Martin, George Martinez, and Lynn D'Amario.

Click here to view images taken on-site during Community Service Day on Flickr.



President Dario A. Cortes, PhD and the Executive Director of The
Hoboken Shelter discuss their Community Service Day experience.