Welcome

Here are a few more courses related to CI (thanks to Buzzy for the public policy courses):

UM Nonprofit Management Center - updated list of courses for Winter 2008.

Pubpol
587-001: Public Management - The Politics of Bureaucracy
The Ford School offers three public management courses, one in the fall
and two in the winter. Each is offered by a different professor and
has a different spin. This one focuses on government processes and
their functions (and disfunctions). This may be particularly good for
those of you interested in politics or careers in federal government.

Pubpol 587-002:
Public Management - Strategic Management in the Public and Nonprofit
Sectors
This is a more "big picture" view of public management and would be
good for any of you considering working in the public or nonprofit
sectors (that includes you, librarians and archivists!). I actually
took this course and found it a nice mix of theoretical and practical
readings (generally case studies). You'll also get an opportunity to
examine a local organization's management structure.

Pubpol 636:
Program Evaluation
This course could be a good companion to SI 622 or 623. It's a more
quantitative look at how to evaluate programs and whether they're
effective. Again, this may be good for those of you entering the
nonprofit or public sectors, where it's more difficult to ascertain
program effectiveness. Just as a warning, this is a
highly-quantitative class. If you're considering taking this, make
sure that you have a basic grasp of statistics. The course makes heavy
use of regression.

Pubpol 671:
Policy and Management in the Nonprofit Sector
This course provides an excellent basic overview of what makes
nonprofits different from the public or private sectors. You get a
nice dose of theory and practice, and the course covers topics such as
evaluating effectiveness, the legal environment surrounding nonprofits,
finances, philanthropy, and other topics. It's taught by Neel Hajra, a
very dynamic guy and CEO of the NEW
Center here in Ann Arbor. A great class for those of you
interested in community informatics.

Pubpol 687:
Negotiation and Conflict Management
I took this class last winter and found it incredibly helpful not only
professionally, but also personally. The professor pairs some
interesting theoretical and practical reading on negotiation with
simulation exercises. The course has a heavy psychology bent (as the
instructor's a social psychologist) and focuses not so much on
negotiation techniques themselves as why the techniques work.
It provides a nice complement to some of the social psychology you
learn in SI 500 or the old 502.

Pubpol 746:
Social Welfare Policy
Social welfare policy is a particular strength of the Ford School, and
Sheldon is a well-known figure in the field. The course addresses
programs the federal government implements to combat poverty. Again,
this course may be useful for those of you interested in community
informatics. It also may be a good course for people interested in
radical librarianship or simply in helping out the less fortunate.
Some economics would help in this course.

Pubpol 754:
Research Seminar in Science, Tech and Public Policy

A broad overview of science & technology
policy taught by James Duderstadt (yes, that Duderstadt). Invited
lecturers come each week and will discuss different interesting areas.
Both 1- and 3-credit versions of the class are available.

This is a solid set of related courses from across many disciplines at the University of Michigan that deal with community and the public. While not all of these may be counted towards the CI specialization at SI, take them to the faculty coordinator (Paul Resnick as of 9/2007) and
see what he says. Most of the following course links can be found at: University
of Michigan Nonprofit and Public Management Center.

Today, CiC kicked-off the semseter with the 'Food for Thought' lunch-and-learn series. In addition to hearing about plans for this semester's CiC seminar, Dean Pollack as well as facultly members Maurita Holland, Dan Atkins, Joan Durance, Paul Resnick, and Steven Jackson each described their interest and current involvement in the field of CI.  It was great to see so many new and returning students at the event and I certainly hope that we will continute to see such a strong turnout  throughout the rest of the semester.