As we finish the first quarter of 2007, I am thrilled to see so many of our primary initiatives underway and moving forward. I am confident these initiatives will continue to move forward throughout the next several years as leadership changes hands.

Pamela_Poland

In this pastoral small town where my employer, James Madison University, nestles between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains, there used to be a nice sandwich shop that was a favorite of students and locals alike.

In the realm of advancement, research is often the lynchpin in securing a major gift. We know how valuable our contributions are and how vital we are to the success of any fundraising effort. But one of the biggest hurdles facing researchers is making sure our accomplishments and value are communicated to the rest of the organization.

When I was growing up in the 1970s, I was certain that the 21st Century would be dominated by the measurement system based on the meter and the gram, what we called “the Metric System.” I had no idea that 30 years later, Americans would still be using the imperial system of weights and measures.

Robert_Scott

Research is the hub of any development operation, with information passing through our hands from a wide number of sources. Very few other departments within an organization will have access to so many pieces of the larger puzzle.

Researchers have long kept at the top of their wish list a resource that would provide the crucial answers to several longstanding questions regarding the notoriously secretive world of hedge funds. Last year, their wish was granted.

So you want to find a new job. Whether you’re hoping to move out or up, the good news is that ours is a growing profession. There are more open positions in research and advancement as a whole than there are qualified people to fill them. This means that your prospects for making a strong lateral or upward move are good.

Shelby_McClintock

Picture, if you will, a time rather different from our own, yet probably not too far off. The institutions, companies and other organizational entities defining everyday life in the early 21st Century — the federal government, state bureaucracies, Boeing, Google, Microsoft, AOL, Amazon, CNN/Time Warner, GE, AT&T, Verizon, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Starbucks “and the rest” — have merged and converged into one daunting megaconglomerate, informally known as GLOM. Although “GLOM” simply trips off the tongue far more easily than “megaconglomerate,” those few remaining word-purists stubbornly insist that the acronym actually stands for Globally Linked OmniMatrix.

Many researchers work at organizations that have a diverse constituent audience to keep in mind as we think about resources. Here at Virginia Commonwealth University, a large group of our alumni work for privately held companies, one of the hardest groups to identify employment and find financial information on.