“My classrooms are highly interactive among the students themselves, not between the students and me. In essence, I view my classroom role as an orchestra conductor. The end result is seldom predictable and often better than what I had imagined.”

Learning isn’t confined to Melissa Middleton Stone’s classrooms. Her students serve as consultants to real collaborations in the Twin Cities. Last year, she started a practicum in which students serve as board members of local and national nonprofit organizations. Finding such “client” organizations requires a deep level of public engagement. But the number of organizations that Stone attracts allows her students to choose projects based not only on interests but also on compatible values and personalities.

“I remember thinking, ‘She gets it. She understands the context of nonprofits,’” says a former student and current nonprofit executive. “I remember feeling that my own intellectual world was opening up.”

During her 10 years at the University, Stone has played a central role in developing its nonprofit management concentration--now ranked fifth in the nation. She also started the postbaccalaureate certificate in nonprofit management and worked with the Carlson School to develop a collaborative undergraduate minor. She is known for exposing students to a range of practice, and her courses serve as national models. She has trained such groups as senior staff members from state legislatures across the country and executive directors of women’s organizations.

A former student remembers when Stone created intergenerational groups for a course with students aged 25 to 66. “Academics came to life....Although I was quite experienced when I entered the Humphrey Institute,” she says, “I came out of the program transformed.”

Visit the Melissa Middleton Stone faculty Web page here.