Does online education really measure up? Why sit in a classroom when you can boot up your PC in the comfort of your home and participate in anything from a single course to a full degree-bound academic program? Michael Fortier will attest to that. Fortier, 38, has been enrolled in online degree programs since 1999 [...]

A practical guide to living and working in the City of Angels. Native Californians are perplexed by the phrase back East. Back to what? Humidity? Hurricanes? Sub-zero temperatures and slushy, grimy snow? Los Angeles has its share of problems–smog, earthquakes, floods, forest fires–but it also has bikini-clad babes blading down the boardwalk, a bright white [...]

You don’t need a Harvard MBA anymore, at least not for major career success. Many senior corporate stars have taken a very unorthodox academic route on their way to the top, experts say. Or they ditched the idea of getting a college degree entirely. Don’t Fence Me In Of course, a Harvard MBA (or equivalent [...]

Inside an elite squad of computer technicians. Bill Gates might be offended if you called him a geek, but 31-year-old Robert Stephens would not. Though Gates put the word into the everyday lexicon, Stephens has truly elevated the “geek” to cool status. Stephens is much more than a computer guy. He bills himself as “Chief [...]

Traci Parks had a typical dilemma. She went to college to pursue her ideal profession, but eventually realized that she wanted to do something else. In her case, that ‘something else’ was photography. Which is not so typical, because Parks is legally blind. In fact, she knew about her degenerative myopia even before making the [...]

A prominent psychiatrist helps the famous and infamous. From kings to criminals, politicians to prostitutes, Dr. Alen J. Salerian explored the darker edges of the human mind as a high-profile psychiatrist. But he had no idea just how dark it could get–until he was sent to interview a mass murderer 15 years ago. Salerian found [...]

You may want to avoid leadership roles. The phone rings at your desk. On the line is the boss and she wants to talk. There’s no problem; rather, she’s offering you a promotion, a management position. While for some this is the dream scenario, for others such a situation creates a dilemma. Do you accept [...]