Warmest Wishes,

Company of Experts is pleased to introduce its newest Certified Appreciative Inquiry Facilitators (CAIF) to its growing Ai family. 

The individuals listed below participated in our 4-day  Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (AIFT) program and submitted a practicum demonstrating their knowledge and application of Appreciative Inquiry. In reading their practicums, we are able to celebrate in their achievements and observe how Appreciative Inquiry has positively influenced their lives - personally and professionally.

• Stephen Davis, "AI for Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa" 
• Melissa S DeHaan, Institutional Research Analyst 
• Lori McKenzie, Assistant Director of Human Capacity Development 

New practicums are frequently posted to our blog, so check back often to see what new stories have been posted. Click here for more practicums.  

Over two decades ago David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva brought Appreciative Inquiry into organizational life. It shifted our attention from organizational life as "a problem-to-be-solved", to "a universe-of-strengths". One decade later Gallup unveiled the results of its landmark research study amongst 1.5 million people worldwide. The research confirmed the basic AI principle: a person, an organization or a larger system will excel only by knowing and amplifying strengths, never by fixing weaknesses.

Since then many people and organizations around the world have shifted their attention to strengths-based practices and leadership. This has led to breathtaking results and breakthroughs. The community of people applying AI at all levels or organizational and social life is growing continuously. Not limited by sector or continent. AI is a true global innovation. AI is changing the way that we look at change.

The August 2012 issue of the AI Practitioner will focus on how the practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) fosters and opens inclusive spaces in organizations of all kinds. We invite Appreciative Inquiry practitioners to share articles, stories, case studies, reflections, art, images, poetry, research, models and theory regarding creating inclusive spaces. We are particularly interested in how Appreciative Inquiry has generated those inclusive spaces with emancipatory and social justice frameworks such as transformative education or critical theory.

Proposals for the August 2012 AI Practitioner issue are due by December 1, 2011. Full proposal details can be found here. 

To view a list of all the NCSPOD 2011 Award winners, please click here. 

To view NCSPOD 2011 presentation, please click here.

Company of Experts is proud to announce that The Center for Appreciative Inquiry has its own Facebook and Twitter page. The Center for Appreciative Inquiry, a branch of the Company of Experts, is best known for its Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (AIFT), but is happy to announce that it will be rolling out new offerings and services in 2012. Connect with the Center for the Appreciative Inquiry and be the first to know of new events, offering, services.  

The Center for Appreciative Inquiry's facebook page will also allow you to participate in online polls, chat with others AI enthusiasts, read AI related articles, share pictures of your Appreciative Events, view AI videos, and share your stories.  We look forward to seeing your online! 

Nebraska Advocacy Services wants your help in designing its new logo for its new name! The Contest is open to individuals, disability organizations, companies, and educational institutions. You do not need to have a disability to participate, but people with disabilities are encouraged to enter a design. See below for the full contest rules.

To learn more about contest rules and prizes, please click here.

Department Chair Institute (DCI) 

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@CompanyofExperts: 7 must-read books on education: read here 

@CompanyofExperts: Gender Difference in Emotional Health: read here 

@CompanyofExperts: Cultural Studies: Emoticons Move to the Business World - Cultural Studies: read here 

@BibbSchools: Check out videos from The Macon Miracle at http://www.youtube.com/bibbschools. 

That Used to Be Us:  

By: Friedman T & Mandelbaum M 

Description: In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, offer both a wake-up call and a call to collective action. They analyze the four challenges we face: globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and our pattern of excessive energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to sustain the American dream and preserve American power in the world. They explain how the paralysis of our political system and the erosion of key American values have made it impossible for us to carry out the policies the country urgently needs.

Kay Weiss, Ed.D. is a community college administrator and has extensive experience in professional and organizational development.   In addition to teaching, Kay has served as a division dean, department chair, committee chair, and Standard Chair for Accreditation.    

Kay has been an extremely active volunteer with NCSPOD, serving as Western Region Vice President, President Elect, President, and Past President. She currently serves as Certificate Program Liaison, working with newer practitioners and mentors on NCSPOD's professional certificate process.  She has served as facilitator for the New Practitioners Institute, the Summer Institute and the International Professional Developers Workshop for NCSPOD.

She has also served as the lead facilitator for various Campus Great Teachers Format Seminars, including Great Staff Seminars, and the Great Online Teachers Seminar and has utilized both Appreciative Inquiry and the World Caf� Model to facilitate dialogue about topics "that matter most" in a variety of settings.. Read More >> 

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."

~ Carl Jung, Psychologist 

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

~ Robert F. Kennedy 

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

~ Marcel Proust, Novelist