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A Celebration! Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) Accreditation!

Blog Date
Author(s)
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
Tags
Cleveland
MNO
CWRU
Nonprofit
University Circle

Stuart C. Mendel, Ph.D. presents NACC accreditation to MNO Program Chair Robert L. Fischer, Ph.D., and Dean Grover C. Gilmore, Ph.D.
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The weekend of Friday, September 27, 2019, through Sunday, September, 29, 2019, included three outstanding events that each warrant mention. Each event has a personal meaning to me, so rather than mention all three in one blog post, I invite you to read the following three blog posts:

The events celebrate key dates for each of these three great organizations:

 

 

Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) Accreditation Celebration and Scholarship Launch

Congratulations, Case Western Reserve Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) program, for receiving NACC accreditation!
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The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) has accredited the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) program at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University – one of just nine graduate programs in the first cohort ever accredited by NACC, the only program in Ohio, and the only program housed in a school of social work.

Read more details in the MNO Program Receives Inaugural Accreditation; Celebration Planned for September 27 press release.

As a graduate of the MNO program at Case Western Reserve University (@CWRU), I was invited to a special celebration on Friday, September 27, 2019. I was very impressed with the evening's activities. The celebration focused on two areas:

Nine accredited programs were part of this first cohort.
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First, the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) is one of just nine graduate programs ever accredited by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (@NACCtweets). It was interesting that a classmate of mine presented the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council accreditation. I took MNO classes with Stuart C. Mendel, Ph.D., who is the accreditation launch director and past president of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council. It was good to see him again, and to learn about this new accreditation process.

The MNO was first launched as a certificate in 1987, then as a full master’s degree program in 1989, making it one of the first nonprofit leadership programs in the United States. Today it is a 39-credit hour program with full and part-time options; required courses in strategic planning, law, and ethics; elective courses in international NGOs, program design, and fundraising; and study abroad and dual degree opportunities.

Case Western Reserve University is a national leader in the field -- starting the second nonprofit management masters degree of its kind in the United States in 1989 -- thus, it is appropriate that they are one of the first to receive NACC accreditation. Learn more about NACC Accreditation Process on their website here.

CWRU starts the list of the first nine Nonprofit Academic Centers Council accredited programs!
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The locations of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council accredited programs!
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The second cause for celebration was the launch of a new Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) scholarship. Since the MNO program serves professionals from nonprofits that are making a difference in the communities in which they work, it is great that the University has set up this scholarship fund. The volunteer leadership team is raising these funds to future the mission of the MNO program. Watch for more details by checking the school's website and by following the announcement on Twitter by @MandelSchool.

The Case Western Reserve University Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) started in 1989 - 30 years!
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At the event, I talked to the video crew that was live streaming the evening's ceremony. They let me know that the video will be on the CWRU YouTube Channel in the near future at: YouTube.com/User/Case/Videos -- if I see it, I will share it in my @sos_jr twitter feed.

When I was a graduate student in the program, the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) was a degree awarded jointly by three schools: Weatherhead School of Management (@CaseWeatherhead); Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School Of Applied Social Sciences (@MandelSchool); and the Case Western Reserve University School of Law (@CWRU_Law). At the end of the event, I was able to talk to Dean Grover C. Gilmore, Ph.D. (@GroverCGilmore) of the Mandel School to learn how while that program is administered through the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School Of Applied Social Sciences, the students still have access to resources from other schools within Case Western Reserve University.

 

 

Tweets & Retweets

Here are my @sos_jr tweets and retweets sharing my photos and information related to the MNO Celebration, September 27, 2019. Please share any photos that you find interesting by retweeting.

Please make special note of the tweets with information about Cleveland GiveCamp (@CleGiveCamp), and in memory of Steven A. Minter, 8th president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation (@CleveFoundation).

 

 

Related Blog Posts

There are many posts about Cleveland and Akron area nonprofits that you can read about on my blog at: sosAssociates.com/Blog -- Even though the majority of my blog posts are about nonprofit organizations, I only tagged some of them as having the subject of "nonprofit" (including my Cleveland GiveCamp blog posts). You may also be interested in my many blog posts about the Cleveland Foundation here.

I want to note a particular blog post about the Cleveland Foundation (@CleveFoundation), since it also includes a video with professor of Cleveland Nonprofit History, David C. Hammack. I took Dr. Hammack's class while in CWRU's Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations program:

In addition to following these two University twitter feeds -- @CWRU and @MandelSchool -- I want to recommend following @InTheCircle on Twitter, and exploring University Circle's website: UniversityCircle.org, since it promotes the area where the University is located.

I look forward to learning more about the activities of the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) program as future leaders of the nonprofit sector are developed.

 

Now that you have read this blog post, please read more about events I attended over the weekend after the MNO accreditation celebration:

 

 

Disclosure: I received an invitation to attend the Friday, September 27, 2019, Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) Accreditation Celebration & Scholarship Launch, which included heavy hors d'oeuvres, dessert, drinks, and a gift of a notebook/pen/letter opener. The invitation to attend came as a result of my being a graduate of the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) program. Other than the managers of the @MandelSchool twitter feed, I don't believe the event organizers were aware of my promoting this and other events via my @sos_jr Twitter feed, or that I mentioned the school in a previous sosAssociates.com blog post. I enjoyed the event, and wrote this blog to share my experience and interest in the continued success of the Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) program.