After a decade-long stay here at Manchester College, the Pledge will be relocating its headquarters to Bentley College (www.bentley.edu) at the beginning of the 2007 academic year. While we here appreciate the hospitality and support we have received over the years at Manchester, Bentley simply offers a better home for the Pledge, full of great resources. Bentley is a liberal arts/business school in Waltham Massachusetts, and the Graduation Pledge will now be housed in their superb Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility. Director of the program Tony Buono is pleased to welcome the Pledge to its new home, and will work closely with Neil, who will still serve as the Pledge’s co-coordinator. For some comments by Tony, please see attachment.

I am still in the process of speaking to schools to see where they are in their planning for the 2007 class of Graduation Pledge signers. For those of you I have spoken with, thank you very much for your willingness to communicate with me. Talking with the Pledge organizers has been very beneficial, both for me and also for them. I hope to speak to the remaining schools in the coming months, and look forward to hearing what you have to say. Also, if you received an email from me requesting a conversation but did not respond or decided at the time that you did not need to speak with me, you can still get a hold of me (zpburton@gmail.com) and set up a time to talk.

Just a quick reminder that, although it may not seem like it, you still have time this semester to do some last-minute planning for your Pledge campaigns in the spring. Most schools usually do one activity in the fall and one in the spring. I urge you to not wait until the last minute to try and figure out what you want to do!

Some of the people I have spoken with over the phone recently have raised the issue about how they want to do more for the Pledge, but are not sure of the “next step” they could move to. If you are in this position and would like to get some ideas, be sure to check out this piece on our web site: http://www.graduationpledge.org/campaign.html. This is a good read not only for those who are trying to get a plan in place, but also for those who already have a strong program but might need to be reminded of some things they can do.

We are currently looking for schools in other countries to contact. If anyone knows of contacts at some schools outside the United States who might be interested in the Pledge, please send their info to Neil (njwollman@manchester.edu), so that we can initiate some dialogue.

If anyone is looking for career opportunities, be sure to check in to two good organizations that give out grants and fellowships. The first is an organization called Campus Progress (http://www.campusprogress.org/). Campus Progress is a fantastic site, and is a smaller part of the larger Center for American Progress. Another good organization to check out is the Drum Major Institute (http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/). The Drum Major Institute has a special program called the Drum Major Institute Scholars, which molds young scholars who are interested in shaping the direction of the United States. You can apply directly by going to: http://www.drummajorinstitute.com/dmischolars/.