World House Media Center at Florida Atlantic University

I have recently completed a 35 page paper that is, at best, a rough outline for what I hope will be my master’s thesis. In truth, I have come to realize that it is also far more than just a thesis.

In its current iteration, it is a business plan for a private-public partnership, and ready-or-not, I had to complete it on Sunday, March 28th and submit it as my entry into the FAU College of Business Adams Center for Entrepreneurship 2010 Business Plan Competition. If my submission wins any of the $64,000 in prize money, I would like them to write the check to FAU.

This 35 page proposal is the culmination of more than four years of coast-to-coast activism, grant writing, program development work and collaboration with several non-profit organizations in Broward County. You see, I am not your typical student. I am 50 years old and had a prior career in public practice accounting, small business consulting and franchise development.

And yet still, after three years of refining my thoughts, it felt like I had just begun my work. There was so much more to be done, and so I re-enrolled in university last May to get help in doing it. Since that time I have worked with dozens of professors in several departments at FAU and have come to realize that the only department that really could own this idea and is truly qualified to help me is the Ph. D. in Comparative Studies program. Unfortunately, it has been suspended. I believe this concept can change that.

The planets seem to be lining up for April 16th to allow this to happen. These are the events that are coming up for that day:

1) This paper (as incomplete as it is) was accepted by the Comparative
Studies Student Association for presentation at their second annual
conference on April 16th. I will be giving a short presentation to explain
my thoughts on how it is critical to preserve and reopen admissions to the
Ph. D. in Comparative Studies program. If I am not mistaken, it is the only
Ph. D. offered by the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. Before
I jump off into the proverbial “deep end,” I would really like to have
audience with the dean.

2) If this paper, as a business plan, is
selected as one of the final eight proposals in the pre-revenue track at the
2010 Business Plan Competition, I will also be invited
to do a presentation
at their event on April 16th. I’m not quite sure how I will
pull off both,
but the odds are that I can work out the timing if it comes to
that.

3) Our new FAU president will be on campus that week.

First I hope to deepen my understanding of what exactly is involved in the creation of a permanent Institute for Social Justice at Florida Atlantic University. I would also
appreciate someone pointing me in the direction of others at FAU who could enhance
my grant writing experience as it relates to a large public institution. I believe it is reasonable to expect some kind of funding starting in January 2011.

I would like to meet with other faculty at FAU so that I can quickly go through this document and point out where the research is thin and still needs more work, but in spite of the shortcomings in the paper I have a clear vision of what I perceive as absent from existing social justice organizations. From there I would seek a greater understanding of what an “institute” at FAU needs to have in order to be successful, and how one goes about funding one.

Unless I am naively optimistic, I see my concept as a vehicle to fund the continuation of the Ph. D. in Comparative Studies Program at FAU as a research institute that has the potential to attract hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in social justice and media research grants. I could easily name half-a-dozen foundations that might vie for naming rights on that social justice institute or a professorship in the comparative studies program.