Marc Lavine 
Master's Specialty Area: Educational Studies, Teacher
Education
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Present Position:Doctoral Candidate and Instructor, Department of Organization Studies, Carroll School of Management, Boston College
In my current work I continue to teach and learn about leadership development. I also do research related to business ethics and corporate social responsibility. My fundamental interest is in what enables extraordinary performance in organizations with a strong social mission. I explored these issues in depth when I collaborated with Kim Cameron in co-authoring the book Making the Impossible Possible: Leading Extraordinary Performance (Berrett-Koehler, 2006) chronicling the dynamics of extraordinary organizational performance in the context of the largest and most complex nuclear cleanup in world history—The Rocky Flats nuclear arsenal in Colorado that was closed far ahead of schedule, under-budget and to a cleaner standard than projected.
Areas of interest
While in the dual degree program I had the chance to look in depth at high school reform efforts, particularly charter and alternative school initiatives and the issues and challenges surrounding the expansion, replication, or scale-up of such efforts. My other area of emphasis was leadership development as it related to teaching, school administration or management of “social enterprises.”
What I learned in the dual degree program
An immense amount! I gained a solid “toolkit” of management skills coupled with the chance to deeply consider an array of critical educational issues from diverse perspectives such as leadership, pedagogy, and policy. I also found that my coursework in education helped inform my management training and vice-versa. I am grateful for the particular learning that came from pursuing these degrees in tandem.
I also had numerous hands-on learning opportunities. I consulted for the education reform organization The Big Picture, helping with their organizational scale-up efforts. I served on the board of the Nonprofit and Public Management Center. As a former teacher, I worked for the School of Education’s Elementary Teacher Training Program as a Field Instructor, helping to train aspiring teachers while defraying some of my tuition costs. I also collaborated with faculty on research related to public sector leadership, ethics, and extraordinary organizational performance. It was the combination of college level teaching experience and involvement with faculty research that motivated me to pursue a career in academe.
Prior to the dual degree program
I helped manage and start youth-serving nonprofit organizations in the U.S and abroad over the course of a decade. These organizations focused on agricultural education, community development, economic development/job training, and leadership development. I also worked as an elementary school Spanish teacher and ran an in-school program for “at-risk” middle school students.
