Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For those of you who are interested:  I have enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Texas, Dallas, School of Management.  This is a Business-Focused University Coach Training program.  Upon completion of the educational phase – plus the coaching practicum and comprehensive examination – I will have earned 12 graduate credit hours. Also, I will have earned the contact learning hours and mentored coaching hours required by the ICF for professional certification.

I decided to enroll in this program for several reasons.  A very successful business friend of mine (I won’t mention any names but she is a senior executive with the Gap) went through a similar program and began talking to me about doing it, (no surprise this kind of thing usually starts with some sort of encouragement.)  Another reason I did it is that I have personally experienced having an executive coach and found it incredibly useful (shout-out to Sue!).  Finally, the nonprofit sector is facing a leadership crisis and I saw this impact first-hand in my nationwide leadership role at Big Brothers Big Sisters. I have the experience of being a nonprofit leader, and I want to couple that with skills and techniques to help and encourage others who are capable of achieving greatness.  The sector needs great leaders and those professionals who choose the sector as a career deserve excellent professional development at an affordable price.

All that being said, I decided it might be interesting for you (and cathartic for me) if I blog about my experience in this graduate program.  It is a year-long program, and all distance-learning so, I figure, I will have ample material to blog about.

Let me be clear: this is not the only topic I will be blogging about.  If you are not interested in following my educational piece over the next year, no worries because I will continue to blog about important topics impacting the sector and my opinion about such.

So, are you ready to go back to school with me?