Here at Yestermorrow we are ramping up to launch our new Semester Programs, offering both an undergraduate 16-week Sustainable Design/Build Semester Program in Fall 2011 as well as a 6-month graduate level program in Integrative Design/Build in the spring/summer of 2012. This major initiative is the result of many years of dreaming, planning and strategic thinking about the future direction of Yestermorrow and how to create more in-depth learning opportunities and broaden our reach.

While we’re still working out many of the details, and will not officially launch the program until January, I am excited to announce two exciting developments:

1) We have hired José Galarza as our new Director of Semester Programs. Many of you have gotten to know José over the past year and a half in his roles as our Community Outreach Coordinator and 2010 Natural Building Intensive Program Director. José will take on this new full time staff role starting in January and will be responsible for overseeing the development, content, and performance of the school’s semester programs, managing faculty members, and providing student support services.

2) We are currently soliciting applications for the two lead faculty positions for the Fall 2011 undergraduate Sustainable Design/Build Semester Program:

a. Lead Faculty (6 month full time position)

b. Lead Build Instructor (2 month full time position)

For more information on both of these positions, please visit our website for full job descriptions. Applications will be accepted through February 15^th. Please help us spread the word about these exciting new opportunities, and consider throwing your hat in the ring if it sounds like it would be a good fit.

We are also in the midst of finalizing academic partnerships to grant college credit for these programs, so stay tuned for details on that in the next month or two. We are also looking for any personal contacts you may have at different colleges and universities that we can tap into as we start outreach and marketing for these programs in January. Please email me with contact information (name, college, position, address, email, phone) for anyone you think would be able to put up a poster at a college, help arrange a campus visit, or just put the word out to students.

Things are really coming together and while we continue to stay focused on maintaining the excellence of our current short courses and certificate programs, I also believe these new semester programs will really push Yestermorrow to the next level in terms of impact, providing an immersion in the design/build approach that’s available nowhere else in the world.

Happy December!
Kate Stephenson
Executive Director

p.s. We are extremely grateful to Jon Mingle, who as our Semester Program Coordinator over the past 8 months has helped “midwife” this initiative and who has done a stellar job juggling the many pieces to pull this together. He’ll be leaving us at the end of December to head back to India where he has worked over the years leading educational programs and helping to build communities in Ladakh.