1. Career counseling

Linda Spencer talking with a student

The Extension School offers career counseling for all registered students. Linda Spencer, assistant director of the Office of Career Services (OCS), holds drop-in counseling hours. You can get advice and constructive tips on searching for jobs, cover letters, resumes, or any other career-related inquiry. Appointments are about 15 minutes long and are available Mondays from 1 to 4 pm, September 12 through May 7. For distance students, Linda can have an audio-only meeting with you via Skype. You can call the undergraduate office at (617) 495-9413 or stop by the office (located at 51 Brattle Street, Room 501) to book an appointment.

If you’re a degree candidate or alumna or alumnus, you can make an appointment with Linda for 30 minutes, and she can help you explore your career options even further. Degree candidates and alumni can make appointments with Linda through Crimson Careers.

2. Workshops

The Career and Academic Resource Center (CARC) offers workshops, many of which focus on job searching, interview skills, networking, writing your resume, and specific career panels. Some of the workshops are held on campus, but many are also available as webinars.

There are also career guides available on the CARC’s Career Services webpage. “The guides are a great resource to use in tandem with the respective workshop,” said Worth. If there’s a career workshop you would like to see that is not already offered, contact Sarah McNeeley (smcneeley@fas.harvard.edu), our career events and employer relations manager at the OCS.

3. Reference library

The Grossman Library  houses over 400 CARC texts, many focusing on the job search process and various careers. The books and guides do not circulate, but you are welcome to copy pages that you find useful. The books are regularly updated and are a great resource if you want to explore a career option further.

4. Harvard Extension Student Association (HESA)

HESA (link) can be a great resource for networking and staying up to date on the Extension and Harvard communities. Worth says, “HESA students are more likely to be in the know about how you can connect to the Harvard community. The president is also making it very accessible to distance students.” Along with networking, HESA also has various student clubs like the Harvard Extension Business Society and the Harvard Extension Environmental Club.

5. Spring Employer Networking Night (degree candidates only)

On March 29 at 5 pm degree candidates can network with employers across an array of industries, and learn about internship and job opportunities. If you are a degree candidate bring your resume and be ready to network. Another great job search resource for degree candidates is the OCS-DCE listserv.

Whether you’re a registered student, alumna or alumnus, or a degree candidate at the Extension School there are plenty of helpful tools accessible to you to aid your career search. “Our career services offerings, as well as our relationship with the Harvard OCS, has greatly expanded over the past 5 years, and indeed continues to expand each academic year,” says Worth.

Be sure to check out all the career resources available. You can e-mail carc@dcemail.harvard.edu with any questions about the services.

A core part of strategy is responding to opportunities and threats. Many organizations operating in the higher education industry are finding themselves on high alert, bombarded with opportunities and threats from all sides.

Michael B. Horn

As we thought about which threats are most powerful, we spoke with Michael B. Horn, co-founder and executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a not-for-profit think tank devoted to applying the theories of disruptive innovation to problems in the social sector.

Horn is no stranger to strategy and education. He co-authored Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen and Curtis W. Johnson, president of the Citistates Group. The book won a slew of prestigious awards.

We asked Michael, Of all the threats to higher education, which is the most interesting to you and why?

Michael’s response: “I suspect many would look at some of the emerging disruptive innovations in higher education and think of them at first as a threat, but I think they are a big opportunity for making higher education significantly more affordable and for serving significantly more people with programs tailored to their needs.

In that sense I am quite bullish about the future. For existing institutions of higher education of course, these disruptors may constitute a significant threat, but for the sector as a whole, I think they are, on balance, good news.

I think the biggest threat is more subtle, and it comes in the form of regulations or metrics for higher education loaded with great intentions—intended to benefit students but that will actually exacerbate our current struggles or cause institutions to aim for the wrong goals for students.

One example is student-loan programs that are intended to make higher education more accessible and appear to be more affordable, but that are constructed in such a way as to instead allow the true cost of higher education to continue to soar without regard for student outcomes.

Another example is goals centered around degree attainment or certain learning outcomes as the principal measures of success that may miss the true reasons why students are attending institutions or what employers are looking for from their recruits.  Things like these lead us to optimize our system of higher education around the wrong metrics and could actually decrease access and outcomes and negatively impact the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness.”

So there’s one perspective on the future of higher education: optimism around disruptive innovation, but concern with respect to the unintended consequences of regulation and metrics.

We’d love to hear your perspective.  What do you think is the most powerful or interesting threat to higher education?

Explore topics like these, and hear Michael as a guest speaker on the topic of innovation this spring in Strategy and Competition in Higher Education. Registration is open through January 22.

Local news is thriving

Despite talk about the demise of the press, community journalism is thriving. And it will continue to do so because, in the words of veteran journalist Ken Byerly, “a dogfight on Main Street is more important than a revolution in Bulgaria.” People are more interested in what hits home: They want to know about what their children are learning at school, which neighborhoods have more crime than others, and who was promoted, who got married, and who died.

A hyper-connected revolution has occurred

With the social media revolution, a local journalism revolution has also taken place. Over the past few years, hundreds of local news sites around the country have emerged, some launched by local residents, and others by big newspapers, startups or corporations such as AOL. In Massachusetts, The Boston Globe operates 50 local news sites offered through Boston.com’s Your Town. Everyone wants a piece of the hyperlocal market.

Journalism starts at the local level

Meetings, sports, schools, crime, and changes in the community are the bread and butter of community journalism. You don’t have to be a journalist to learn how to cover these issues. You could be a local resident frustrated with the big newspapers. You don’t need to work for The New York Times to report about corruption or write a story that changes someone’s life for the better.

If you have an interest in your town and want to play a bigger role in your community’s civic life, consider Community Journalism, where you get to do it all, with a lot of sweat and digging, but tremendous rewards you get to call your own.

David Ropeik, a former science journalist, has written 2 books on the science and emotion of risk: RISK! A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around You and How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Really Match the Facts. Ropeik synthesizes research from psychology and neuroscience to explain how people assess risk, and how those assessments may distort reality.

His spring course, Critical Thinking about Environmental and Public Health Issues, applies this research, as well as aspects of psychology, epidemiology, toxicology, and other disciplines to give students a more nuanced view of public health concerns.

According to Ropeik, humans have, over time, developed sophisticated mechanisms for evaluating risk in their environment.

“We have evolved neural architecture and biochemistry, and a suite of psychological tools, that help us quickly judge whether something feels scary or not,” Ropeik said. “It takes more time to get more information, and that time can be the difference between survival and death.”

These mechanisms save valuable time and usually keep humans safe.

“It takes work to cognitively reason about these things. Careful thinking is risky not only because it’s slow but because it’s expensive.” Ropeik said. “The instinctive shortcuts we’ve developed that help us subconsciously judge risk mostly work, and save us energy.”

But these mechanisms distort our perception of risk: we worry too much about some risks (terrorist attack, plane crashes) and too little about others (heart disease, diabetes).

“We can make more careful, thoughtful, informed choices about risk just by realizing that our innate system is based on emotions that sometimes can lead to choices that feel right but are dangerous in and of themselves, “ Ropeik said.  “That realization alerts us to the flaws in our thinking. We can use that awareness to challenge our decision-making.”

Ropeik says individuals will always struggle to overcome their innate emotional responses to risk. Societies as a whole, however, are much more capable of countering risks born out of those faulty decisions, whether to drive drunk or to decline to vaccinate your child against common diseases.

“We can apply our understanding of the psychology of risk perception,” Ropeik said. “And either encourage healthier choices with better risk communication or economic incentives, or mandate them through law.”

The deadline for spring registration is January 22. Ropeik’s class is a safe bet for any student looking to learn more about risk and public health. For more on David Ropeik, read his faculty biography.

Post by Iain Bernhoft, teaching fellow of Shakespeare and Modern Culture

Shakespeare is everywhere. “To be or not to be” rings in our ears. We watch Band of Brothers and speak of star-crossed lovers. Iago, Romeo, and Hamlet are recognizable character types. Advertisements for stain removers cry, “Out, damned spot!” and self-help books assure us, “To thine own self be true.”

The English class Shakespeare and Modern Culture, offered this spring, demonstrates that we are immersed in Shakespeare’s phrases, expressions, plots, and characters—in advertisements, articles, films and cultural references. And, as the very recent (and rather silly) film Anonymous demonstrates, we never tire of rethinking Shakespeare.

In her book Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Marjorie Garber invokes M.C. Escher’s famous lithograph Drawing Hands to explain the relation between modernity and the famous playwright: Shakespeare writes the modern world as we know it, even as we rewrite Shakespeare from the standpoint of modernity. Garber, award-winning Shakespeare scholar and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard, examines the ways in which modern culture relates to and reuses Shakespeare’s characters and plays throughout this unique course.

What does it mean when Shakespeare is invoked in popular culture, politics, or advertising? Since his language pervades our speech, how does that shape our ideas and worldviews? Shakespeare gives us many of the ideas we think of as “naturally” true: ideas about human character, individuality, men and women, youth and age, government, leadership, and love. He is “like a portrait whose eyes follow you around the room,” Garber says. “Wherever you stand, he looks straight at you.”

Garber’s Shakespeare and Modern Culture will be offered as an online course. In it we study some of Shakespeare’s most influential plays (Hamlet, King Lear, the Merchant of Venice, Henry V, and others) alongside modern authors who respond to them—writers such as Beckett, Freud, Marx, Tom Stoppard, and Josephine Tey. We consider the way Shakespeare pops up in a vast array of cultural materials: from political speeches to news headlines, advertisements to business training manuals, psychoanalysis to films, modern literature to sports stories.

For fans of Shakespeare or those who have discovered the famous playwright, you will see Shakespeare in a new light. More than that, however, we learn how Shakespeare’s plays continue to live and work in our world, our language, and our minds.

Registration is open through January 22, so as Shakespeare would say, “make haste,” and sign up soon.

LinkedIn has been around for quite a while now. Perhaps you’ve even had a profile up for a year or two? Now, the question is whether or not your profile is positioning you in the best possible light. Is it generic or well developed? Is it rather ordinary, or does it distinguish you from the crowd? Here are a few tips to make sure your presence is as polished and well positioned as possible.

1. Make a great first impression.

When someone meets you for the first time, they automatically, and usually unconsciously, make a judgment about you within the first few seconds. If you are dressed in a suit versus army cargo pants coupled with a pink tank top, they have a different impression of you. So, keep this in mind in regards to both your photo and your headline on LinkedIn. Those two elements are what someone will see, and take in, first.

2. Keep the end goal in mind.

Is your goal to land a new job? If so, then your first step should be to research at least 5 to 10 job openings that appeal to you for important details on what you will want to demonstrate in your LinkedIn profile. If you are targeting a position in marketing, and the job descriptions tend to say they want someone who is creative, a strong problem solver, and who has Photoshop skills, then you’ll want your Linkedin profile to shine in these categories if you have these skills. Be targeted with your profile. And don’t be afraid to downplay the skills and experiences that are less relevant. It’s great to de-clutter your profile so that the important pieces can stand out.

3. Fit in while also standing out.

This probably sounds like an oxymoron. But while it is key to demonstrate you have the skills for a given position and to include the right keywords for your industry, you also have the opportunity to differentiate yourself in your profile. This is where LinkedIn can go beyond what you might include on a resume. In your summary and throughout the various sections you can show off your unique characteristics and personality traits. Use adjectives to help. Are you innovative, reliable, or quick-witted? Do you have a keen eye for detail, enjoy a particular activity that is unique, or have a past work experience that is intriguing? Round out your skills and accomplishments by adding in a bit of personality. This will help others see you as a potential employee and member of their team.

Whether you’re aware of them or not, every day we are exposed to synthetic chemicals in the water and food we consume. For more than a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been monitoring chemical exposures within the US population, with more than 200 compounds included in their most recent tests. While we can’t always control these exposures, we can reduce some risks by making informed choices.

To begin, let’s think about dietary chemical exposures in 3 categories:

• Residues – Chemicals, like pesticides, that are left behind as a result of their deliberate use in food production and processing
• Contaminants – Chemicals or toxins, like mercury, that inadvertently enter the food supply via the food chain, supply chain, or your own kitchen
• Ingredients – Chemicals added to food products to impart particular qualities or properties, such as preservatives or dyes in processed foods

What follows are tips to detox your diet and minimize some of these exposures.

Avoiding residues on food

Pesticides are commonly used in conventional agriculture. Unfortunately, residual contamination is also common on the fruits and vegetables we buy in the supermarket. While the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs has approved tens of thousands of active ingredients, many unanswered questions remain about their associated health risks. For example, a recent Harvard study showed that children exposed to higher levels of organophosphate pesticides were at increased risk for ADHD.

Sight and smell don’t typically allow us to detect these residues, so how can we reduce or avoid exposure? Two options are to go organic (or at least semi-organic) and use some rules of thumb.

Go organic. Organic agriculture uses natural methods for soil enrichment and pest control instead of genetically modified organisms. These methods reduce residues on the produce leaving the farm and cut down on pollution in groundwater and farmland. Recent studies have confirmed that switching from conventional to organic produce can reduce your dietary exposure to pesticides.

Go semi-organic. The premium cost of organic has declined a bit in recent years, but if the added cost is an issue, you can still make informed choices in the conventional bin. Each year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. The fruits and vegetables tested with the highest and lowest levels end up on their Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists, respectively.

• Tip #1: Focus your organic dollars on purchases from the Dirty Dozen and save a few bucks by purchasing conventional produce from the Clean Fifteen. It’s not a guarantee that levels will be low, but the odds are better.
• Tip #2: Print the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists and keep them in your wallet as a reference when you shop.

You can also use these other rules of thumb for shopping and eating:

• Contamination can be skin deep:  Since some residues are on the surface only, go organic when you will be consuming the entire fruit, skin and all (strawberries and apples). If the fruit has a thick skin or peel that is discarded (bananas and pineapples), go conventional.
• Wash the bad stuff away: Thoroughly washing produce can reduce (not eliminate) some surface residues.
• Mix it up: Eating a variety of produce from different sources will limit the possibility of high exposure from a vegetal hot-spot.  

The thing not to do is avoid fruits and vegetables because of chemo-phobia. Focus on the benefits that these foods impart and try to reduce the avoidable risks through your sourcing.

Avoiding contaminants

Sometimes chemicals find their way into the food chain and to your dinner plate because of environmental pollution. Did you know that much of the mercury in seafood originates in power plants that burn coal? This airborne mercury is dispersed in the environment and bioaccumulates via food chains that can end up in commonly consumed seafood.

Fish can be an excellent source of protein and healthy omega-3 fats, and you can avoid the species with high levels of mercury by consulting consumer guides from the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), EWG and National Geographic.

On the way to your fork, many food products have passed through supply chain processing and packaging facilities that can contaminate our food with low levels of synthetic chemicals. For example, in a recent dietary intervention study conducted by the Silent Spring Institute, families who avoided processed food for 3 days reduced their exposure to 2 suspected endocrine disruptors: a phthalate (DEHP) and bisphenol A (BPA).

Phthalates are commonly used to soften plastics (like vinyl) in some food packaging and in many personal care and consumer products. Most recently BPA has also been found in the resins used to line some canned foods.

Where possible in your home and kitchen, store food in glass containers, and avoid microwaving foods in plastic containers, especially fatty foods that can easily absorb chemicals that may leach from plastics. Keep any products that contain chemicals, like surface cleaners, away from your food.

Avoiding problematic ingredients

Heavily processed foods contain more synthetic chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and artificial flavors. The list of these chemicals currently on supermarket shelves is long, while the research on their health effects is limited. We know that some people have allergic responses to individual compounds, but more serous health effects have been suggested.

Bottom line: Limit your exposure to processed foods and maximize the whole and natural foods in your diet. As Michael Pollan has said, “Avoid foods that your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

If you haven’t already panicked, don’t

Become an informed consumer. Avoiding chemical exposures should not necessarily be your primary focus in making your dinner decisions. A healthy, balanced diet is one that is rich in vegetables and fruits, favors whole grains over processed grains, limits animal products, and includes healthy fats. But I’ll leave the healthy diet advice to my Farm to Fork co-instructor Dr. P.K. Newby, who has covered many of these issues in her blog, Play a Good Knife and Fork.

Remember the anticipation and excitement as a child when you would board the big yellow school bus for a trip to the science museum or Plimouth Plantation? Without classes or pop quizzes to worry about, it was a school day filled with exploration and fun beyond the classroom. While your best friend’s mom is no longer needed to chaperone and the brown paper bag lunches have been replaced by a quick trip to Market in the Square, the occasion for field trips as an adult learner are no less important and equally as enriching.

As Confucius once said, “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.” Recent studies show that students who experience and practice what they are learning are much more likely to retain the information.

This January and spring, several courses will provide students with the opportunity to get out of the classroom and explore their subjects in the real world.

An up-close look at a horseshoe crab

In Sustainable Ocean Environments, you’ll venture to the New England Aquarium and Cape Cod to explore the saltwater marshes and bays and the species that inhabit them. Catch a glimpse of the Cape Cod field trip in a video slide show.

Conservation Biology and Sustainable Use of Forested Landscapes will bring you to the Harvard Forest to link tropical forest land use with New England’s forest history.

Spring break in Paris? Count me in. In Sue Weaver Schopf’s The Expatriate Moment in Paris, students have the option to spend a 1 week immersion trip in the City of Lights. Accompanied by Schopf, students will experience the neighborhoods, cafés, parks, and monuments frequented by the artists studied in the course. Très chic!

Art in context

Learn first-hand what it takes to develop and plan museum exhibitions in Museum Exhibition Content Development. Workshops will be held in class or off-site at museums in Greater Boston.

According to instructor Robert Allison, you can tell the whole history of the United States just looking at Boston. In the course History of Boston, students will explore the neighborhoods, places, and people that define one of America’s oldest and most revered cities.

In the January-term course The American Revolution in Boston, instructor Robert Allison and his students will trek out into the streets of a wintry Boston to explore the old State House, the old South Meeting House, Bunker Hill, and many other places ties to the birth of our nation.
to link tropical forest land use with New England’s forest history.

Register for January term courses through January 4 and spring term courses through January 22.

We live in a complex and unpredictable world, one that is constantly changing and becoming more connected by the minute. Heck, while reading these first 2 sentences, 347 more people just joined Twitter.

The reality of today’s global dynamics was the cover story of the Harvard Business Review September issue, “Embracing Complexity.” This January, it is also the topic of a new 3-week on-campus course Complexity Management, taught by Mark Esposito, associate professor of management at Grenoble School of Management in France. Emerging out of chaos theory, complexity management is “an organic, nonlinear, and adaptive concept critical to business and people development,” says Esposito.

The concept of complexity management challenges the traditional business tendencies for simplicity and reductionism. “Why do companies fail? Because they over-simplify. The course will build on this paradox and challenge the business-as-usual mentality,” says Esposito.

Just because something is complex does not mean it is complicated. So instead of fearing or recoiling from the complex, Esposito says more managers and organizations need to embrace complexity if they want to be successful in the twenty-first century. “When thinking is compartmentalized and specialized, imbalance and misalignment occur. The focus has to shift from the actors and elements of the systems to the rules that are governing the relationships among them. We need to create congruity between people and systems.”

Individuals and organizations can learn to cultivate this emerging mindset to drive divergent thinking, acting, and managing. “Complexity is like an iceberg; appearances can be deceiving. This course will give you the information to discover what lies beneath the surface. We’ll analyze real-time business decisions and their implications for our complex world.”

So remember, keep it complex, smarty.

Register for January term courses through January 4. You may also want to review our tips for finding housing for the 3-week term.

Editor’s note: After this post was published, the course was cancelled for the 2012 January term. It may be offered again at a later date.

’Tis the season. And if you’re like me, you’ll be shopping up until the moment before your holiday gathering. To help us all in our quest, I’ve assembled a list of 10 books by current and past faculty that are suitable for any readers on your list, be they young or old, history buffs or mystery fans.

1. A Short History of Cape Cod by Robert Allison

The title tells all in this unassuming work, the third in a series of concise historical nonfiction by Allison. Four short stories, supplemented by more than 100 photographs, tell the 400-year story of one of America’s most beloved summer vacation destinations. An easy read for the beach yet curiously insightful enough for any historian, it’s sure to be a treasured gift for anyone who spent their summers among the dunes of Old Cape Cod.

2. The Sweet Relief of Missing Children: A Novel by Sarah Braunstein

A suspenseful novel that moves through time and explores the power of running away, the desire for reinvention, and the transcendence of our human experience. With this debut, Braunstein was named one of “5 Under 35” fiction writers by the National Book Foundation in 2011. More importantly, if Oprah recommended the book, you know it’s a hit.

3. Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life by Shelley Carson

Do you (or your loved ones) wish you could be more creative? No? Well then you’re going to be left in the dust in the twenty-first century because studies suggest that our creative brain is our most important asset. Dr. Carson’s book is chock full of helpful suggestions to help you harness your creative potential and excel in your personal and professional life.

4. Tinkers by Paul Harding

Did you root for the Little Engine That Could? Then you’ll root for this book, which propelled Harding from rejected writer (and fan-favorite instructor) to Pulitzer-Prize winning author (and still a fan-favorite instructor). A powerful memoir about family, memory, and mortality, this little novel took the literary world by storm in 2010, and we would be remiss not to include it on our list in 2011.

5. Immunity to Change: How to Overcome it and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

If change is a good thing, why are we so resistant to it? If it were a matter of life and death, would we change our ways? Studies show only 1 in 7 of us would be successful in doing so. In their book, Drs. Kegan and Lahey set out to inspire change agents and leaders and show us how to overcome the forces of inertia.

6. Mapping Boston by Alex Krieger and David Cobb with Amy Turner

A terrific and beautiful coffee-table book for your favorite cartographer and anyone who “loves that dirty water.” Edited by Krieger and Cobb with Turner, this collection of maps and essays brings the history of one of America’s oldest and most beloved cities to life.

7. Baseball as a Second Language by Harry Lewis

Here’s a book that’s perfect for any parent, spouse, or foreigner unfamiliar with America’s greatest pastime and the lingo that permeates our everyday conversations about work, politics, and romance. Terminology and rules of the game are brought to life with humorous examples from news and pop culture. Don’t balk at the price. At $9.99 it’s a steal.

8. What is College for? The Public Purpose of Higher Education by Harry Lewis and Ellen Condliffe Lagemann

From the former deans of Harvard College (Lewis) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Lagemann) comes a more serious book on the purpose of higher education. How can universities create a better citizenry? What values must we sustain and what changes need to be made in our curriculum? It’s a hot-button topic and well worth a read for any soon-to-be-undergraduate and those with a passion for higher education.

9. Hieroglyphs from A to Z: A Rhyming Book with Ancient Egyptian Stencils for Kids by Peter Der Manuelian

Does your 9-year-old niece or nephew walk like an Egyptian? Then this book is for them! Bold, beautiful pictures are bolstered with fun educational content that explains the ancient Egyptian code and history in language kids can understand. Bonus: The back cover includes stencils for the kids to draw hieroglyphs and create their own story.

10. Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer

It’s like 2 biographies for the price of 1. Stauffer tackles the stories of 2 great men in the nineteenth century who transformed themselves and our country forever. Though Lincoln and Douglass were never close friends, having met only 3 times, Stauffer weaves their stories together, reflecting each man’s triumphs and transgressions off the other in a seamless narrative on the development of our democracy in the Civil War era.

There you have it. With so many authors among our faculty, getting this list down to 10 was no easy task. Which other faculty, student, or alumni books would you add to the list? Include them in the comments below.

Happy shopping!

January session: intensive 3-week courses

Thinking about coming to Boston for one of our 3-week January courses at Harvard Extension School? We have some tips for finding housing while you take a course in management, biological sciences, economics, or another subject (see the January courses list).

January courses are a great opportunity to gain knowledge intensively. And if you are an Extension School degree candidate, you can complete a significant part or all of your residency requirement in only 3 weeks (depending on your degree program requirements). January courses are worth 2 or 4 credits and meet between 2 and 4 times a week.

Where should you live if you’re coming from out of town?

Official University housing is not available during the January term. There are, however, a number of options for out-of-town students looking for accommodations.

Hotels. Boston and Cambridge (as well as the surrounding suburbs) are home to many hotels, most of which offer competitive rates. January is a particularly economical time to visit the city of Boston, as tourist season effectively ends once the winter begins. As the temperature drops, so do the room rates. (But remember to bring your snow boots.) Websites such as expedia.com and hotels.com can be useful in finding a hotel to suit your needs and budget.

Sublets. For those looking for something a bit more home-y, it is possible to secure a sublet within an easy distance of campus. Websites such as Craigslist and airbnb have postings of available rooms and apartments. Airbnb (along with the similar roomarama) has rooms in local apartments (or entire apartments) available to rent by either the day or week. These rooms are often considerably cheaper than a hotel and offer the added amenities and privacy of a house or apartment. Be aware of the risks involved with sites like Craigslist and be certain to do the proper research before committing to an arrangement.

Commuting. Some students do elect to commute during the January term, flying in during the week for their classes and returning home on the weekends. Those who elect to stay in Boston for the entirety of the term, however, get to immerse themselves in the Harvard experience. Check out Harvard Extension School resources for information about Harvard libraries, computer labs, and other resources.

Enjoy your classes! If you haven’t already, check out the January courses list. If a syllabi is available for the course that interests you, you can find it on the syllabi page. For ideas of what to do when not in classes, visit HarvardSquare.com and Boston.com.

Note that Harvard Extension School does not endorse any website listed in this blog post. They are provided simply as a resource.

Vladru/Shutterstock.com

You’ve got a profile on LinkedIn and you have started to tap this incredible professional networking tool. Now let’s enhance your profile for a strong online presence, showing off more of what you have to offer to a future employer.

Tip #1: Ask for recommendations

One way to show some additional facets of yourself is by having others recommend you. While most people think about asking a past or current supervisor for a recommendation, it doesn’t have to end there. You can also ask co-workers, past or current clients, and even vendors whom you might have worked with closely.

If you don’t want to seem too pushy, you could send them a regular e-mail message asking if they would consider writing you a short recommendation, rather than asking via the LinkedIn request section. Keep in mind that the one writing the recommendation also has to be a member of LinkedIn.

Tip # 2: Customize your public profile for use on business cards and in your e-mail signature

In the top section of your profile, that summarizes your key information, you’ll see a section called public profile. In “Edit Profile” mode, you can edit this section to display, ideally, only your name. This shorter version is now much easier to put on a business card and add to the signature of the e-mails that you send. Including that link will allow others to see your LinkedIn profile instantly, without having to log into LinkedIn or even be a LinkedIn member. Think of it as your own website URL.

Tip # 3: Add additional sections to your profile

Recently, LinkedIn created some new sections that you can choose to add to your profile. Right above your summary (when you are in “Edit Profile” mode) you’ll see “NEW Add Sections.” This new profile section gives you the opportunity to highlight achievements, classes, certifications, and more to potential employers. Here are a few for you to consider:

• Projects: If you are currently taking classes, show off the academic projects that you have completed that most closely relate to the type of work you are currently doing or for the field or type of job you are trying to land.
• Courses: List the courses you have recently taken to demonstrate a particular skill you have gained or knowledge area or to simply show your interest in a topic that is relevant to your sector.
• Organizations: Include the organizations that you belong to, especially when they are professional organizations related to your field to show that you are constantly learning the latest information in your industry.

Do you have your own LinkedIn tip to share? Comment below. And don’t forget to watch for Woods’ follow-up post in January, with more tips.

With the holiday season in full swing, it’s easy to load up on carbs and your co-workers’ latest kitchen creations, but let’s not neglect the importance of maintaining a balanced diet and working in some brightly colored vegetables among those starches.

I recently accompanied Dr. PK Newby, a nutrition scientist and co-instructor for the course From Farm to Fork: Why What You Eat Matters, to the Copley Square Farmer’s Market to get her take on the benefits of shopping locally and why vegetables are so important for maintaining a healthy diet (and planet).

Revisiting a tale of 2 plates

Take a look back at Dr. Newby’s commentary on the challenges posed by the new USDA and Harvard food plates in MyPlate, Harvard’s plate, and your plate: The devil is in the dietary details.

And for help in applying sound scientific principles to your own plate, visit Play a Good Knife and Fork, Dr. Newby’s blog about healthy cooking and eating.

Photo credit: David Shankbone

Boston, Oakland, Berkeley–all of these cities now house Occupy protests. Harvard even joined the movement and there is now a group of protestors camping out in Harvard Yard. These little tent cities have been popping up all over the country, and the tenants have been surviving the elements. Snow, rain, and wind have blasted the Occupy Boston tent city that I finally got to see the other day.

These Occupy movements have taken on a life of their own, becoming like real cities where they provide shelter, dole out food, and even punish wrongdoers. The Occupy protests have taken a hit in the court of public opinion recently as news of violence in the tent cities emerge.

There has also been concern about whether the Occupy movement has an actual plan in place to create change. Tim McCarthy, who teaches American Protest Literature from Tom Paine to Tupac at the Extension School, has been studying this movement and spoke to the concern that the protest seemingly has no clear-cut goals. “Social movements are, by definition, oppositional,” he said in a recent Harvard Crimson article. “You have to articulate what you’re against first.”

As I have been observing the Occupy movement, I’ve been curious about whether or not these protests will in any way help end economic inequality or if such a widespread movement can possibly create change, especially with the recent eviction of the Occupy Wall Street tent city. Jorrit de Jong, instructor of Becoming an Agent of Change and Harvard Kennedy School research fellow, spoke with me about how this movement is different and how “Occupy” can sustain its momentum.

How can the Occupy protests sustain change and a movement that is so large, and spread across the country?

I believe there are two distinctly different issues here: 1) how can the protesters sustain the movement (or how can the movement sustain the protests) and 2) how can they make large scale, systemic change. With respect to the first question: protesters need food, morale, and media attention. If any of that runs out–and all 3 are very likely to–it will be hard to sustain momentum. With respect to the second question, if protests are not paired with more constructive political actions (such as legislation, lobby, coalition building, or technical policy development) it will be hard to change the status quo.

Photo credit: David Shankbone

How can a group produce such a huge change, such as economic equality for all?

In my class, we examine successful efforts to make sustainable change. One of the most important skills of change agents is diagnostic skills. Change agents diagnose the systemic problem, they diagnose their political environment, and they diagnose their own potential to make change. Of course diagnosis is not a sufficient condition for change, but it is definitely a necessary condition.

Can change like this happen without a clear-cut leader and organizational plan?

The key to large-scale social movements is their strategic capacity to affect change. This does not necessarily mean that there has to be one leader or an elaborate organizational plan. But there has to be a shared set of values and ideas, there have to be structured interactions between the members, and there have to be mechanisms that help the movement learn from what works and what doesn’t. It looks like the Occupy movement lacks all 3 elements.

In your opinion, how feasible is it for the Occupy movement to continue on as long as something like the Tea Party, which has initiated change in the US government and has clear legislative goals?

The Tea Party has money behind it, has developed strategic capacity (without strong visible leadership figures), and has teamed with legislators and lobbyists. But I would not say the Tea Party has created (systemic) change in the United States. It has channeled certain sentiments, but it has primarily made US politics more divisive and polarized. But of course, it is a good thing that people make themselves heard in a democracy. The same is true for Occupy protesters. Not every protest has to be constructive, focused, strategic, etc. It has a value in and of itself if people are motivated to voice their concerns. But making real change is something else.

Becoming an Agent of Change is a course held during the January session, where all the classes are 3 weeks in length. January courses are great for degree candidates for fulfilling the on-campus requirement and are convenient for working professionals who want to learn new skills quickly. See what other courses are available during January.

When it comes to choosing a school to attend for a degree or professional training, there’s a lot to consider. With spring registration approaching, I thought it would be helpful to offer a “virtual tour” of Harvard Extension School and answer some popular questions that are asked when visiting colleges.

What makes Harvard Extension School distinctive from other schools? 

The mission of Harvard Extension School is to extend the University’s academic resources to the public. You can find affordable, convenient options to help you change careers, advance in your field, or learn for enrichment. Our evening and online courses are open enrollment, so anyone up to the challenge can take a course. And our part-time degrees allow you to continue in your career while you study. When graduates were surveyed 97% were satisfied with their education and 98% were satisfied with their instructors.

What subjects do you offer courses in?

Harvard Extension School has an array of subjects and courses to choose from. English, management, finance, biological sciences, and environmental studies are just a few of the subjects we offer. The majority of our 600 courses are offered during the evening. More than 150 are online courses so that an education can easily fit into your lifestyle.

What fields do you offer degrees in?

We offer associate and bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, and graduate programs in 8 fields, including biotechnology, information technology, liberal arts, and management.

We also offer professional certificates in nanotechnology, religious studies and education, strategic management, sustainability, and web technologies.

How do I apply to a degree program?

Admission is based primarily on your ability to do honors-level work at Harvard. Before applying, you prove your mettle in 3 preadmission courses from your program’s curriculum. Full admission requirements are outlined in each degree program section of the website.

How many years will it take to earn a degree?

You must complete a degree in 5 years. How long it will take within that timeframe is really determined by how many courses you are able to take each semester. If you’re interested in an undergraduate degree, you can talk to Ann Wright, an admission advisor. For information about other advisors, check out the graduate degree program you are interested in and the advisor of the program will be happy to help you plan out your way to a degree.

How much is tuition?

Tuition ranges from $975 to $1,900 for most undergraduate- and graduate-credit courses. Exact tuition is listed in each course description.

Who teaches Harvard Extension School classes?

Our faculty is drawn form all but one of the schools at the University, as well nearby institutions. Industry professionals, like CEOs, consultants, and directors, also teach at the Extension School, bringing their own field experience.

What type of career services do you have?

The Career and Academic Resource Center offers career counseling and free workshops, like Ace Your Interview: Strategies for Success; Exploring Careers in Energy, Environment, and Sustainability; and Beyond Networking: Building Professional Connections.

What type of academic support and tutoring do you have?

We have study skills and tutoring services. Tutors are available through the Writing Center and the Math Question Center. For other subjects and for a fee, there is the Harvard Student Agencies. The Career and Academic Resource Center also offers free academic workshops and graduate school preparation, where students can get help with their application essays and receive graduate school counseling.

What activities are offered to students?

Harvard Extension Student Association (HESA) has many fun events throughout the year and offers a variety of ways to get involved on campus. HESA also has a number of clubs you can join. From the Harvard Extension Environmental Club to the Harvard Extension Business Society, there is sure to be a club that fits your interests.

Is there parking available?

Parking is extremely limited. We recommend public transportation. However, Parking Services offers a limited number of permits for University garages or parking lots. Permits are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. There are also campus transportation services like the M2 and an evening shuttle.

January and spring course registration

If Harvard Extension School seems like the school for you, spring registration opens for all students on December 5. The Harvard Extension School schedule worked for an Oklahoma mom off 11, so you know we offer flexible programs to work around your lifestyle.

Visit Harvard Extension School online for any other questions you may have. Also, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and bookmark this blog so you can keep up to date on Extension.