Pulse California University of Management and Sciences
Virginia Campus
Summer Quarter 2 0 1 5
We moved! Master OPT Which of your teachers used to be a basketball star? Learn about our Entrepreneur Scholarship
NEW BEGINNING Enjoy your Washington summer
CONTENT 03
DIRECTOR’S WORD
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WHAT’S GOING ON
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NEW BEGINNING
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An introduction to our magazine’s first issue, courtesy of our Branch Director, Khulan Och.
What CALUMS has been up to in the last weeks and an update of upcoming events.
We moved! And we are enjoying it. How do we do it?
A visit to the Latin American Youth Center, in Washington, DC, served to share experiences and encourage students from minorities to pursue a college education.
CPT vs. OPT Attention, international students: knowing this can maximize your chances of employment in the US.
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YES, THAT’S HIM A conversation with Dr. Grenway, published intellectual, beloved teacher and basketball star.
SCHOLARSHIPS If you got good grades you could get a quarterly scholarship. If you got a great business idea, even better.
There’s plenty of room in our new home! The sky is the limit.
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DIRECTOR’S WORD summer is here
Dear Students, It is with great pride that I present to you the very first issue of CALUMS PULSE Magazine. This is a very important step in our effort to create a real academic community where students, faculty and staff can share experiences and knowledge in order to grow together. Remember, we are all pushing in the same direction! There are so many things that make CALUMS stand out over other schools in the DC area. Did you know about our current scholarships? Did you know about our future scholarships, and our plans to award your best business ideas? Did you know that, just by being a CALUMS international student, you have more chances to obtain an H-1B Professional Visa than a student from another school? You can find out about these topics in the following pages. Also in this issue: an article dedicated to our new and shiny location in Ballston; an in-depth interview with beloved Dr. Grenway; information about upcoming events and much more! Do not forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and most importantly, let us know what you think about all these new initiatives. There is always room for improvement. There’s a great summer ahead of us. Let’s make the best of it. Sincerely,
Khulan Och Director, California University of Management and Sciences Virginia Branch MAGAZINE
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WHAT’S GOING ON news
&
events
A VISIT TO THE LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER
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here do you see yourself in 10 years? The question was asked to a group of senior high school students at the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), and CALUMS was there to help them find and answer. The work of LAYC is crucial for children of minorities in the Washington, DC area, specially when it comes to deciding what to do after graduating from school. Staff members and students from our university were there in order to give some orientation, share experiences and encourage the undecided to pursue a college education.
UPCOMING JULY 29: Program Advisory Council SEPTEMBER 19: Graduation Ceremony at the Westin Arlington Gateway (1 block from our school) COMING SOON: Oracle University Workforce Development Program ALSO COMING SOON: Job Fair in our campus
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Above, from left to right: Svitlana Goncharenko and Alina Turkevich discuss their experiences as young CALUMS students living in the DC area, and how convenient schedules and affordable tuition rates can help students succeed. At the end of the day, it’s all about hard work. Right: Mr. Miguel Bustillos, CALUMS Programs Director, explains the mission behind our university to the audience. Next to him is Imane Bendebiche, MBA student who also works in campus.
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1) CALUMS Virginia Branch leadership was in California, visiting our main campus and exchanging ideas for the best of our ever-improving school. 2) At the end of each quarter, faculty members meet with the same purpose (and enjoy pizza). 3) One of our university’s key initiatives is the Program Advisory Council, which allows local business owners and managers to establish connections with our school and give us valuable feedback to make our academic programs really competitive in today’s world.
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NEW BEGIN NING WE MOVED TO BALLSTON!
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C R A S H COURSE IN CALUMS HISTORY 1998: Different name, same spirit. Our institution opens its doors in Anaheim under the name California College of Management and Sciences. 2002: A university it is. In June of 2002, the school changes its name to California University of Management and Sciences. 2007: Expanding to the East. CALUMS Virginia Branch Campus starts operating in a small location at Falls Church, VA, only offering ESL courses. 2014: New home, new programs. By the end of the year, CALUMS VA Branch Campus packs its things and moves to a new location in Arlington, at the same time expanding its academic programs. 2015: CALUMS PULSE magazine is born. No explanation needed!
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HE STORY OF CALUMS in Virginia is one of incredible success. Just eight years ago, this school did not even exist in the DC area. Older students will remember when the school’s original offices opened in year 2007, offering nothing more than English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. Not so older students will also remember, since the institution operated in that campus until as recently as last year. As more academic programs started to be offered and more students from all over the world enrolled, space started to become an issue.That’s when the school made the leap to a much more comfortable and beautiful building in the heart of Arlington.
he means it. He can remember by heart the name of every single student in the school, all five hundred of them, including their backgrounds and struggles. So he takes that in consideration when planning a new scholarship or developing an entrepeneurship project. And it’s not only him. The whole administrative staff can recognize a CALUMS student from a block away and call him by his first name. It’s a talent
How could an educational organization grow from a couple of classrooms that offered ESL classes to a real community of 500 students?
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OW CAN CALUMS’ accomplishments be explained? How can an educational organization can grow from a couple of classrooms that offered English lessons to a real community of five hundred students in just a bunch of years? There are factors in play, like affordability and schedules that make sense, but those are not enough to offer a satisfactory answer. Many schools do their best to keep their tuition rates low, and many more offer night classes and other accomodations for their working students. Maybe the best reason can be provided by Finance Officer Joon M. Kim, who likes to say that the CALUMS community is like a family. And
that has organically grown within the organization’s culture.
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o what comes next? Many things. There is still some much room to grow, academic programs to expand, computer labs to build. In the meantime, let’s enjoy this new home and take care of it, because a new home always signals a new beginning. Much has changed, but our spirit remains the same.
From top to bottom, left to right: Our new campus has fully equipped classrooms, and we are also concentrating our efforts on attracting the most capable professors and specialists . Two brand new computer labs are at the service of all academic programs, and soon we will be Oracle-certified. Our staff is constantly expanding, and that includes more opportunities for students in-campus employment. A student lounge has quickly become the favorite hanging-out spot, as has our brand new library.
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OPT vs CPT what’s the difference? what’s the point?
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nternational students know the struggle: with a visa (F-1)that lets them do almost anything with the exception of getting a job, life in America can become pretty frustrating. Now, many know that once they are done with their academic programs they have the option to get a temporary work permit that could eventually open the possibility of a more permanent status (H-1B visa, employer sponsorship, etc.); what most don’t really know is how to take the best advantage of CPT and OPT; as a matter of fact, few students can even tell the different between both or understand why the fact that they are enrolled in a non-profit school such as CALUMS could maximize their chances of employment.
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CPT
OPT
School
USCIS
Who authorizes? Max. Working Period
12 months of Full Time (Combined)*
Fee
$500 Adm. fee
$380
Working condition
While studying
After Graduation
Part of Program Curr.
Yes
No
Offer letter required?
Yes
No
Related to Major? Need of EAD Card?
et’s start with Curricular Practical Training, better known as CPT. The first characteristic of CPT is that it is issued by the school, not by the government, as part of a cooperative agreement between school and employer. You can take CPT before finishing your academic program, and obtain employment up to 12 months while studying. Since it’s issued by the school, CPT is a little easier to obtain than OPT.
you been a full time F-1 student in good standing for at least one full academic year? 2) Are you currently maintaining F-1 status? 3) Is your proposed work directly related to your major area of study?
On the other hand, the Optional Practical Training (OPT) is issued by the government to F-1 students in good standing once they are done studying. If you want to know if you are elegible for OPT, you have to answer these three questions with a yes: 1) Have
Keep in mind that depending on your major, you could extend your OPT 1-year work authorization. If you are a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) student, you can get a 17-month extension, for a total of 29 months if you apply on time. It is possible
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MAGAZINE
Yes No
Yes
Keep in mind that if you are a STEM student, you could extend your 1-year work permit for 17 more months, getting a total of 29 months. But you have to apply on time. that your employer likes your work so much that they want to hire you via a proffesional visa (H-1B). In that case, you would probably have to go through a lottery process, but you would have a clear advantage: by law, students from non-profit schools such as CALUMS get more chances to win. Yes, just by being enrolled in CALUMS your pronbabilities to win the aforementioned lottery are greater than a student from, say, Harvard University. What about that?
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MAGAZINE
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THE AMAZING LIFE OF DR.
Basketball star.
Published intellectual.
And...
GRENWAY Pulse
MAGAZINE 13
BELOVED TEACHER.
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newspaper article from November 12, 1992, reads: “Flashy sophomore guard Bernard Grenway is back, along with his 20-points-pergame average.” A college sports column from the same year says: “Grenway was named the NAIA Division II National player of the week [...]. Grenway pumped in 41 points to lead UMPI past UMaineAugusta, 102-84”. 41 points! More examples of praise for rising star Bernard Grenway can be easily found. But that wasn’t his path. “I actually got invited to a couple of tryouts to play overseas,” says Dr. Grenway. “And I was pretty good, I made it to maybe the last cut. Three teams. And then I didn’t make it, I was maybe 24, young guy, and I realized ‘ok, wow, I thought I was gonna play basketball’. The good thing is that I have a really addictive personality, and I just channeled all that basketball addiction to education,” says present day Dr. Bernard Grenway. He can’t help to mention that all of that happened “50 pounds ago”.
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he really interesting thing to know here is how did Grenway, the 24-year old basketball star from the University of Maine, transformed in 43-year old Dr. Grenway, the respected scholar and proffessor; how a kid who only dreamed of becoming an NBA legend ended up falling in love with books. (“My wife always yells at me. We had to turn our garage into a library. I have to buy a bunch of shelves”.) It just sort of happened. After his basketball tryout failed, he went back to college. “And the first class I took was called Organizational Behavior, by a teacher called Dr. Barboza. He’s my mentor now. So he made the class so interesting 14
that I actually went out to him at the end of the class and said ‘I wanna do what you do.’ And since that time I have 5 master degrees and I’m working on a second PhD.” Dr. Grenway has become an authority in the field of organizational behavior and good management. “The key is to inspire people, to motivate
“My wife sent the manuscript of my book (Random Memories) for publication without telling me. And now it is at every major university library in the world.” them, not just giving them orders. And that leads to more productivity”. He applies those same principles to the classroom. His experiences led to writing a memoir called Random Musings, which deals with his struggles as an African-American kid from D.C. that got into college thanks to a
basketball scholarship, and the cultural shock of studying in Maine at age 19. “I never told anyone about the book, and one day my wife gets on the computer and she’s reading my book. And I was like, don’t read that, it’s terrible!” But the book was published (by his wife’s secret initiative) and became an editorial success. Dr. Grenway has another book published, an extension of his dissertation about motivation in the work enviroment for AfricanAmerican employees. “I kind of turned that into a book that talks about the complexities of culture as it relates to motivating people, that you have to meet them at their cultural level.” He has received more book proposals.
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nd now, after all, there is hope for the Grenway name in the world of basketball. “My daughter, she is ranked in the nation for middle school players. She’s already received 12 letters to play in college and she’s only in 8th grade. I follow her around and get on her nerves about basketball,” he says with parental pride. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all. 9
Learn from his example. Our most recent scholarship awardee is Temuujin Enkhbold. Orginally from Mongolia, Temuujin received his quarter scholarhip for the winter quarter, which was also his last. By now, he has successfully finished the MBA program and is awaiting for graduation on September. Good job, Temuujin!
CALUMS P U L S E MAGAZINE EDITING & DESIGN Giomar Silva
PHOTOGRAPHY Anastasia Babenko CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCES VIRGINIA BRANCH CAMPUS 4300 Wilson Blvd. Suite#140 Arlington, VA 22203 Tel: 703.663.8088 Fax: 703.663.8090 E-mail : infova@calums.edu www.calumsva.org
WHY DON’T YOU GET A SCHOLARSHIP?
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it’s not that hard
ou only need good scores, at least 1 year as a CALUMS student and a 1-page essay to apply for our quarterly scholarships. Other conditions vary, but the common denominator is that you can save hundreds of dollars in tuition. Please visit our offices for more information regarding this topic. What are really proud of, however, is our Entrepreneur Scholarship. Employment after graduation is a concern not only for us, but for every school in America. The U.S. economy is improving, but it is still difficult for new proffessionals to go out to the world and find a job that will pay off for all their efforts and return their college investment. On the other hand, this is a country that rewards initiave and entrepreneurship; the laws are specially favorable to small businesses and people who want to start their own ventures. That is the reason why CALUMS is launching its Entrepreneur Scholarhip. This is a program that encourages business ideas from students and helps to actually get them off the ground. We will give up to $5,000 to the best proposals. These are the conditions: 1) Team up with a minimum of 3 students, and a maximum of 5. 2) Team members should be combined MBA and MSCIS students. 3) Students cannot be involved in more than 1 project. 4) The team should create an actual model of the idea such as applications, programs and so on. Any other questions? Ask and you will get far.
MANDATORY ORIENTATION. Monday, Pulse
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keep in mind ACADEMIC CALENDAR 2015 SUMMER QUARTER CLASSES BEGIN JULY 6 LAST DAY TO ADD AND DROP JULY 15 REGISTRATION FOR FALL QUARTER AUGUST 10 - SEPTEMBER 4 ACADEMIC HOLIDAY SEPTEMBER 7, LABOR DAY FINAL EXAMS PERIOD SEPTEMBER 8 - SEPTEMBER 13 SUMMER QUARTER BREAK SEPTEMBER 14 - OCTOBER 4 FALL QUARTER CLASSES BEGIN OCTOBER 5 LAST DAY TO ADD AND DROP OCTOBER 14 REGISTRATION FOR WINTER QUARTER NOVEMBER 9 - DECEMBER 4 ACADEMIC HOLIDAY NOVEMBER 26 & 27 THANKSGIVING DAY FINAL EXAMS PERIOD DECEMBER 7 - DECEMBER 13 FALL QUARTER BREAK DECEMBER 14 - JANUARY 3, 2016 UNIVERSITY CLOSED DECEMBER 24, 25, 31 & JANUARY 1, 2016 2016 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) CLASSES BEGIN JANUARY 4 LAST DAY TO ADD AND DROP JANUARY 13 REGISTRATION FOR SPRING QUARTER FEBRUARY 8 - MARCH 4 ACADEMIC HOLIDAY JANUARY 15, PRESIDENT’S DAY FINAL EXAMS PERIOD MARCH 7 - MARCH 13 WINTER QUARTER BREAK MARCH 14 - APRIL 3
4300 Wilson Blvd. Suite#140 Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: (703) 663-8088, Fax: (703) 663-8090