Hi again. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Bentley MBA is focused around four key themes of business: innovation, value, environment and leadership. In the first 12 weeks of the BMBA, we have focused on the innovation theme. We have considered the concepts of creative thinking in small and large organizations, explored the psychology of the innovator’s mind, learned how to elevate an innovation to a business case and, after launching an innovation to start a business, how to sustain the innovation process. Yes, we covered all of this in 12 weeks.

When the Bentley Microfinance Group (BMG) was launched in 2008, artisan Frank Burns was the group’s second microloan recipient. Five years later, a lot has changed for both sides. Burns is selling handmade pieces in the woodworking studio. The $800 loan he took allowed him to purchase materials to produce more pieces. The 40-member student-run organization has made a total of five microloans, and recently published one of the first student-edited, student-run, microfinance journal.

Playground construction became a lesson on service, as Bentley students traded laptops and books for wrenches and shovels on September 17 to join community partners to build a play space at Prospect Hill Terrace low-income housing development in Waltham, Mass.

Sometimes when you are in a new environment and everything around you seems to be happening for the first time, you still feel certain familiarities and closeness in people around you. The start of the Bentley MBA  with a bunch of people who are so diverse in geographies — 15 countries represented, speaking 21 different languages — and yet so close in the way they think and feel about themselves and about their future.

In order to expand its focus to areas of public health and sustainability, the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University has appointed two post-doctoral fellows, Andrea Ballabeni, PhD and Michael J. Walsh, PhD.

In the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings of America’s Best Colleges 2014, Bentley University is ranked #4 among “Best Regional Universities - North.” Bentley is also ranked #47 among the Top 50 “Best Business Programs” in the country.

Rising high school seniors had the corporate world at their fingertips as they gathered at Bentley University for a week-long residential camp. The Wall Street 101 business camp allows students to engage in the fundamentals of Wall Street through a technology-rich and interactive curriculum.

After dedicating his distinguished career to the enhancement of business ethics, W. Michael Hoffman, Hieken Professor of Business and Professional Ethics, was recognized for his efforts with a $25,000 Mee Family Prize and medal, presented in front of a crowd of thousands at Bentley University’s convocation ceremony on August 27, 2013.

Biotech: Not Just for Geeks

Business students get high marks for scientific literacy

In a down

What Courses Matter Most in College?

Learning in unexpected places

I only remember two of the courses I took in college, and neither was in my major.

I went to college in the 1970s as a pre-medical student, and my college curriculum was dominated by courses that were pre-requisite for medical school. None of those courses matter now. By the time I began my professional career, everything I learned in those courses was obsolete, and the textbooks I used are now yellowed museum pieces in my library.