Sharing a Pursuit of POS – 2013 POS Summer Fellows

August 17, 2013

By Janet Max

“This was among the best experiences I have had at Ross, and the people I was exposed to—from the students and staff to the faculty—have changed the way I see myself, the way I approach life, and the way I will approach work moving forward.”  Anne Hafeli, MBA ‘14

The fifth cohort of POS Summer Fellows has just completed its tenure in a program that many of the participants describe as an incredible catalyst for positive growth and change in their lives.  This year, twelve students (six MBA students, five undergraduates, and one doctoral student) each worked on a project with either a faculty member or staff member of the Center for POS.  The work ranged from assisting with a research project on leadership development in college students, to laying the groundwork for an upcoming conference on Positive Business, to working on the development of a research-in-action tool.

Students also met each week for a lunch-and-learn featuring a different theme and host.  Center for POS faculty members Shirli Kopelman, Jane Dutton, Gretchen Spreitzer, Bob Quinn, Kim Cameron, and Lynn Wooten shared highlights of their research, and 2011 POS Summer Fellow alumna Rebecca Beagan guided students in the Reflected Best Self Exercise.  In a special supplemental project, Melissa Peet, Director of Integrative Learning and Knowledge Management at Ross, guided students in the creation of an electronic portfolio designed to help them integrate their learning as they experienced it, identify their own unique contributions and capacities, and enhance their educational experience overall.

Although the POS Summer Fellows program has provided a rich experience for student participants and faculty members each year since its inception in 2009, Education Lead Betsy Erwin, who joined the Center in Fall 2012, expanded the breadth and depth of the program.  The cohort size grew from an average of six in past years to 12 this year, and the students were provided with co-working space.  Betsy coordinated a great variety of readings and supporting materials for the weekly lunches, and in general took the program to a new level.

Recruitment of fellows for the summer of 2014 will begin in the Spring, but students interested in engaging with the Center in the near future can contact Betsy at berwin@umich.edu regarding the +LAB program for academic year 2013-14.  The program is a distinctive combination of coursework, action learning, and high-quality engagement with our faculty members and staff, our community of scholars, and our corporate partners.