The Other Lobe of The Brain

A Blog About Experiential Education, Social Media, and the Brain…

A poem is a dance with the other lobe
Bronwyn Lommel and Jim Stellar
Bronwyn and I knew each other some time ago as lab student and professor in molecular-behavioral neuroscience at Northeastern. We both had an interest in larger questions and recently began to talk about how my emerging blog and her writing might be connected. [...]

Does Leadership come from ­Experiential Learning?
                                                    
Allyson Savin NU’07 and Jim Stellar
 
Allyson was one of the most impressive of the student leaders with whom I had the privilege of working when I was Dean at Northeastern University.  A graduate of the Business College, she is now working in the very timely field of bank regulating [...]

From both sides, now
 
Heather Brenhouse and Jim Stellar
 
Heather was a graduate student of mine when I was Professor of Psychology and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (something that required her to be patient with my absences from the lab).  She had a great group of undergraduates work with her in the lab [...]

View from a special experiential scholarship program
Valerie De Jianne NU ’05 and Jim Stellar
Valerie was in the first group of students at Northeastern University when I was Dean to win a 21st Century Scholarship.  She and her peers were selected from the best students in the Freshman class and were given a alumni donor-based tuition [...]

Albanian to American in higher education
 
Enkelejda Demika NU ‘09 and Jim Stellar
 
I first met Enkelejda at a high school science fair and immediately noticed a combination of the classic education hunger of an immigrant to US with that kind of intelligence that is at once academic and instinctive (e.g. otherlobe).  We met repeatedly over the [...]

Inspiration is key to students from underrepresented groups
 
Tamara Buchanan NU’07 and Jim Stellar
 
When I was Dean at Northeastern, Tamara worked a little in my research laboratory but came to me with a proposition.  She noted that one of the Universities goals was to encourage diversity and accomplishment, particularly in pursuit by undergraduates of premedical and [...]

Building a Confidence Growth Curve through Work Experiences
 
Alisa Duhaney NU ’08 and Jim Stellar
 
Sometimes the work experience begins before College. In the case of Alisa, we have that example and can see how that work experience is built upon by a Cooperative Education work experience and finally experience on a regular job.  The field is [...]