It is that magical time again. My social media is flooded with pictures of friends who are graduating or celebrating the graduation of another. Here at Champlain College, we recently lauded the Class of 2023 as they not only stepped onto the stage to receive their diplomas, but also stepped into the next chapter of their lives. 

I will tell you a secret. I always cry at graduations. It is such an emotional moment. A time of honoring sacrifices made in the quest for achieving a goal; a time of thanking those who supported along the way; a time of hope for what is yet to come. As we know in Appreciative Inquiry, words make worlds. And as such, it is perhaps apropos that graduation ceremonies are called “commencements.” The word literally means “beginning”.

Here at the Cooperrider Center, we are enjoying our own season of commencing. From our newly updated website, to our new (soon-to-be-launched) podcast, to our work as a co-convenor of the Earthshot OD track at the upcoming OD Network Summit, we are commencing many things! Below are more details for some of the exciting things commencing in the upcoming future. We hope to celebrate commencing new beginnings with you! 

What commencements or beginnings are you celebrating today? Use #CommenceAppreciation to share with us at our social media handles below!

- Lindsey Godwin,
Robert P. Stiller Endowed Chair & Professor of Management
Academic Director - David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry

Students we've connected with are walking into new opportunities in the real world knowing how to appreciatively approach them and see collaborative possibilities.

We're so excited to announce that our new website is up! Our main goal with this new platform, in addition to improving the user experience, is to really better lift up AI stories and resources! Check out the In Practice page and the Blog page to start to see how we are doing this. These two pages are still very much a work in progress that we will be editing and adding to over the summer. We would appreciate your thoughts and feedforward on how to make it a valuable resource to you. Email us at appreciativeinquiry@champlain.edu.

The 2023 International ODN Summit is only a few weeks away and we are looking forward to joining our very own Academic Director, Dr. Lindsey Godwin and CCAI Honorary Chair, David Cooperrider, as they lead the Earthshot OD track!

We are also excited to share that while we are at the ODN Summit we will be dropping our first two episodes of our new podcast, Inspiring Impacts, which elevates the stories of where and how Appreciative Inquiry has had meaningful impacts on people and organizations. So, keep your eyes peeled and your ears open! 

Join us for our next free webinar on Wednesday, June 21st at 11:45 AM to hear from and converse with contributing authors and guest editors of the May 2023 issue of the AI Practitioner Journal, Appreciative Inquiry for Life: Working With Nature in a Time of Ecological Crisis. 

"What if we choose even more radically to place all of life – including the more-than-human world – at the centre of everything we do? What might it look like if we made more space for non-human voices? How can work more explicitly with and in nature? This special issue consists of 15 research and practice articles that each explore what our responsibility and contribution could and should be as AI practitioners in this time of ecological crisis."

June 11-14, 2023
ODN Summit 2023
Gathering in Raleigh, NC

June 21, 2023
Appreciative Inquiry for Life: Working With Nature in a Time of Ecological Crisis

Free Webinar with AIP contributing authors

Join our Facebook Group

Appreciative Inquirers Facebook Page

Join the Strength-Based Book Group

Sign up to join the next meeting on July 11th

Reading through chapter 2 of Megan Wheatley's "Who Do We Choose to Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity" for the next meeting.

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