Service Learning

When Bentley senior Aaron Pinet walked in to a job interview at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the first question he got wasn’t about his grade point average or accounting courses. The conversation starter was his service-learning work: presenting policy-related research on energy literacy to congressmen on Capitol Hill, or developing a financial literacy curriculum for prospective college students.

Chile struggles with legacy of dictatorship

When Kristin Sorensen made her first doctoral research trip to Chile, she packed light. “I used a cardboard box for a table, and bought a couple of pieces of camping furniture for the living room,” she says of the 2002 visit. “I didn’t want to invest in a lot, because I knew I’d be leaving soon.”

Now, seven years and eight return trips later, Sorensen has invested plenty. The Bentley assistant professor of global studies has built a career around her passion to understand Chile’s struggles in the aftermath of dictatorship.

A gift of $50,000 from Grant Thornton LLP will extend partnerships between Bentley University and nongovernmental organizations in Ghana such as the Mmofra Trom Center. The leading audit, tax and advisory firm, which has offices in 100 countries, is also collaborating with the campus chapter of Beta Alpha Psi to help train financial officers of student organizations.

A student-led fund drive has brought new color to the lives of people in remote villages of Africa. The second annual Bentley Goes Red for Africa campaign raised $4,700 to benefit the Mmofra Trom Center and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Project Aids Juvenile Diabetes Reearch Foundation

When Greg Ford ’11 talks about his project for the Information Technology 101 course, the extra credit he earned is practically the last thing he mentions. The grade boost did bring his freshman GPA up to 4.0. But for Ford, the assignment for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) delivered a lot more than a few bonus points.

One could say that Scott Morency is a little ambitious. When not at work as an assurance associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston, the alumnus promotes and sells What a CEO Can Learn From a 4th Grader, which he wrote and released in 2008 through his own publishing company.

The book chronicles lessons that Morency learned in creating and implementing a service–learning project at Bentley. He is pictured here with Brooke Gilson.

Against a backdrop of papery corn husks – leftovers from a recent harvest – six Bentley undergraduates stand in the mud at Waltham Fields Community Farm and contemplate their assignment: germinate a plan to help spread the word about sustainable farming.

The World Computer Exchange (WCE) has a sophisticated public relations plan that includes pitch letters, press releases, electronic newsletter, social media initiatives, and an elevator pitch.