Palm Desert Center

Dear Reader,

This is the time of year that so many students are finishing up one stage of their education and preparing to begin the next. High school graduations, COD commencement, and university ceremonies are in high gear. This year over 300 students will receive scholarship awards through the Pathways to Success program facilitated by CVEP here in the Coachella Valley. Pathways is a program that is dedicated to improving the college-going rate in the Coachella Valley and creating a college-going culture that benefits everyone living here. The program is awarding over $1.5M in scholarships this year with their matching partners. The Coachella Valley’s average annual salary is around $24K while comparable regions boast an average annual salary that is over $50K. The difference is due to education – with a more educated population, more businesses offering higher paying jobs are attracted to locate in the Coachella Valley because of the skilled workforce. This is a key goal of the Coachella Valley Economic Blueprint, and one that we are dedicated to achieving. To find out how you can help us achieve this goal, please give me a call at 760-834-0800.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Stark, Executive Director
UCR Palm Desert Center

Largest Class of Creative Writing Students to Graduate This Year

Thirty-three students will graduate from UCR in June with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. These students represent the largest group of graduates from a degree program offered at UCR Palm Desert since it opened in 2005.

The graduates include 21 members of the inaugural class of students in the MFA's low-residency program, where students come together twice a year for 10-day residency periods and interact electronically between residency periods.

"These students had to really believe in what they were being told about the program,” said Tod Goldberg, UCR Palm Desert MFA Administrative Director.  “We told them it would be different from other low residency programs in the country, that they'd get the opportunity to meet the decision makers for the next phase of their careers (like agents and editors and such), and that they'd get the very best education in the country. The result has been wild success, both academically and creatively."

 Student Jill Sweitzer agrees. “The Low Residency MFA program has been an enriching and challenging educational experience,” she said.  “The instructors are first-rate and the multi-disciplinary curriculum encourages growth for writers in today’s multimedia marketplace.”

”Our days during the residency periods are packed with workshops, talented guest speakers, and interaction with professors and the nights provide the opportunity to listen to readings of works-in-progress and bond with fellow students," she said. "The time has flown and I’m feeling more confident than ever about finishing my novel and achieving a lifelong ambition."

Goldberg promises to continue their innovative approach as they move into the third year of the low residency program.

“If anything, what we've learned from our first graduating class is that the students crave stimulation and immersion and so while we will continue to provide our students with the firmest creative and academic ground from which to stand, we also will continue to shift the sands beneath them and ask them to look at their work from new angles, understand new strategies for success in our changing world and, above all else, find new stories to tell."

The MFA program is currently accepting applications for the low residency program. To learn more about the program and application process, visit MFA.

Executive MBA Going Global

Next month, students in the inaugural Executive MBA class are taking their studies to Shanghai, China. This trip is one of three extended residency periods in the 21-month EMBA program offered at UCR Palm Desert.

While in Shanghai, the students will receive instruction in global strategic management, comparative international management and business, government and society. These courses will be taught by David Stewart, Ph.D., Dean School of Business Administration and Richard Savich, Ph.D., Academic Director of the EMBA program at UCR Palm Desert.

Savich describes Shanghai as “an oasis of entrepreneurship” and said he’s looking forward to revisiting what some have called the “Paris of the East.”

Not only will students receive traditional classroom instruction, they will also have the opportunity to tour and meet with representatives from the following companies: Kirkland & Ellis International LLP, Monitor Group, Bleum, SimAuthor, The American Chamber of Commerce, General Motors, Bryan Cave, Ruder Finn, Lehman Brown, Styker, Disney Corporation (which is opening a location in Shanghai) and Asia Pacific Properties. In addition, entrepreneur Richard J. Heckmann set up a tour of Coca Cola Bottling for the students.

The students will also visit the World Expo 2010, currently underway in Shanghai. The Expo, which opened May 1st, is expected to draw an estimated 70 million business leaders and visitors from around the world this summer.

To close the trip, the students will conduct a consumer field study and report their findings when they return to class in late July.

Even though they have not yet departed for Shanghai, Savich is already busily making plans for the next international trip. Destinations up for consideration are Singapore, Havana, or a return trip to Shanghai.

The Executive MBA program is accepting applications for fall. To learn more about the program, attend a free information session. The next session is on Tuesday, June 1st from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For more information, click here or call 760-834-0975.

What's Happening at UC Riverside

It's not just the world-class faculty and facilities that make UC Riverside the place to be - it's also the thriving arts community, the one-of-a-kind special collections and lecture series that attract experts from around the world. It's the concerts, film festivals, dazzling dance performances, and thought-provoking theater. To learn more about these events and more visit UCR Happenings.  

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