As I began my PhD journey 3 years ago I never thought it would lead to exploring economic models. In my graduate program in the 90s I had taken two semesters of economics and healthcare finance and I must admit it was painful. I considered those courses my foreign languages. As a nurse, I was… Read more »
Tag: Change
Education contributing to issues and being a solution for environmental sustainability
The world of education is under a tremendous amount of pressure to serve two masters. Traditional approaches are called for to ensure students gain opportunities for the next step in their learning journey and new thinking and innovation are required to ensure students are prepared for a world that is ever changing and uncertain. These… Read more »
Transforming a City Once Divided- Reflections on the Fall of the Berlin Wall
This year on November 9, the people of Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A business trip to explore partnerships with German universities took me to Berlin one month before that anniversary to see what has been, and continues to be, an amazing transformation. What I saw taking place… Read more »
The Evolution of Chinese Worldviews
The evolutionary theorist and psychologist, Clare W. Graves, puzzled by an inability to answer his students’ questions about which theory of human development was correct, dedicated his life to exploring the differences in personalities of mature adults as they relate to their human experience. From over a thousand essays from students ranging from 18-61 years in age… Read more »
The Importance of Gender Equity
In my last blog Strengthening our Social Fabric, I mentioned Sweden’s emphasis on gender equity as a way to create a good society. Here I will further consider the systemic implications of gender equity in hopes that we consider its importance to all societies. The Global Gender Gap report (2013) rates 136 countries on their… Read more »
Learning Across Boundaries – The ISSS-2014 Conference in Washington, D.C.
The 58th meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences was held George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Gerald Midgley president for this year, and his conference team, are to be commended for creating a great week of learning. The theme of the conference was “Learning Across Boundaries: Exploring the variety of systemic theory and practice.” That theme was reflected… Read more »
The Evolutionary Journey of Life
Life is a journey. I have been keenly aware of that for a good portion of my life. I guess I became aware of the power of the metaphor in my early twenties when I broke away from some cultural patterns that diverted me from what a friend called “the franchised life” — that more… Read more »
Strengthening Our Social Fabric
Recently I travelled to Finland for a conference which created an opportunity to travel around the Scandinavian countries. The country that left the strongest impression was Sweden. We took the ferry from Vassa Finland to Umea Sweden and as soon as we got on the ferry, I noticed something different in the way Swedish people… Read more »
Seeing Beyond Boundaries that Divide Us in Our Quest for Social Justice for ALL – Part 1
July is usually a rather reflective month for me as I embrace yet another year of progression in age with a deep sense of gratitude for the gift of life. The past two weeks have particularly been reflective and thought-provoking for me as I seek to gain deeper insights on a variety of things. These… Read more »
Conversations About the Future Systems Research
There is a long connection between Saybrook and systems conversations, which continues to this day. The semi-annual conversations have been hosted by the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR), and were historically known as the Fuschl Conversations (due to their location at Fuschl am See in Austria). Bela Banathy, the founder of the systems program… Read more »