Where were you on September 11, 2001?

On September 11, 2001, I was at my desk on the 9th floor of a building in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, 27th Street and 7th Avenue, where I was provost of an academic institution with 12,000 students.

As I worked in my quiet office, I became aware of a lot of commotion in the hallway and asked my assistant what was going on. She told me she had heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

With other members of the staff, I walked out onto our 9th floor terrace and saw smoke rising from the twin towers, 30 blocks away. We went inside and turned on the television, watching with the rest of the world as another plane hit the twin towers. It was clear that this was no accident.

As Chief Academic Officer of this university, my immediate task was to establish a crisis management protocol to ensure the security of our college community. I asked the staff to turn on all the TVs in our large auditorium, where our students and staff gathered to witness the events of the day together in relative safety.

Outside, there were hundreds of people walking like zombies through our stricken city. Bridges and tunnels had been closed down. Manhattan was like a military zone.

Because cell phones were not working, we offered our landlines to students and staff so they could let their families know they were all right. It was about midnight when my staff and I determined that our work for the day was done and that we could safely go home.

The lessons of that day will last a lifetime. From an administrative perspective, we have learned to do things much better in the area of crisis management. I have learned to meet crisis with calmness, logic, planning and pragmatism.

And personally, I have learned how important it is to let our families know how much they mean to us, and to understand, as well, how important we are to them. As we mark the 10th anniversary of this life-changing event, please share your stories of September 11, 2001.

Cordially,

Dario A. Cortes, PhD
President
Berkeley College

"How has the Uncertainty in the Economy Affected You?"

As I reflect back on the financial economic news of the past few weeks, I recognize that the state of the economy has an impact on all of us. How we spend our money in these uncertain times takes on a whole new dimension when we are making lifestyle decisions.

On Friday, August 5, one of the nation’s largest credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, took the unprecedented step of downgrading the credit rating of the United States government from AAA to AA-plus.

The action dealt a significant blow to what has long been the world’s largest and most stable economy. Wall Street reacted to the news with a roller coaster ride of ups and downs that mirrored the moods of investors shaken by fears of another recession.

The truth is that the state of our national economy affects us all. As we are anxiously waiting for the economy to recover, I am very interested to hear from you about how you are changing your lifestyle to ride out the storm.

Please add your comments in the space below.

LinkedIn

Have you been asked “to join my professional network” recently? If you have, you must be a registered LinkedIn network user. At Berkeley College - our alumni, associates, faculty and students are actively participating in the LinkedIn network looking for internships, job opportunities, corporate partnerships, and overall opportunities to connect with individuals. The popularity of the site is growing.

When LinkedIn blasted on to the stock market on May 19, the shock waves resounded around the world and across cyberspace.

After issuing its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at $45 a share, stock in LinkedIn (trading as LNKD) catapulted to the top of the market, ending its first day as a publicly traded company at $94 per share.

In the space of a single day, the value of LinkedIn more than doubled, skyrocketing from $4.3 billion to $8.9 billion -- pretty good for a company that was born not in a board room but in the living room of company co-founder and former Yahoo executive Reid Hoffman, in 2002.

Today, new members join LinkedIn at the rate of more than one per second, and the social networking site for professionals now has 100 million members worldwide, including CEO's of Fortune 500 companies, recent college graduates, entrepreneurs, mid-career professionals, human resources managers and executive "headhunters."

What makes LinkedIn so attractive?

Unlike Facebook, where the emphasis is more on the social aspect of social networking, the emphasis is on networking at LinkedIn. You don’t make “friends,” but you may just find the job of your dreams or make a critical connection.

That doesn't mean you can't find friends on LinkedIn or enjoy the lighter moments that we all need in our working lives. The power of LinkedIn lies in its ability to help its users build or enhance their professional identities by taking the old-fashioned business of networking from horse and carriage to warp speed.

LinkedIn users have access to a worldwide pool of employers, career candidates, business colleagues and professional resources that simply exists in no other place.

As a member of the Berkeley College community, please let us know your experience with LinkedIn so that others can learn the benefits of utilizing this social network. Please add your comments in the space below.