Maryland Higher Education Commission

December 2009 Lt. Governor's Office Press Release

 

 

For immediate release                                                          Media Contact: Mike Raia, Press Secretary
                                                                                                                                Office: 410-260-3888 

                                                                                                                                Cell: 443-336-3032

 

                                                                                                                                 Luci Mazzullo, Communications Aide

                                                                                                                                 Office: 410-260-3847

 

Lt. Governor Brown Announces Recipients of 2010 BRAC Higher Education Fund Grants

Programs lauded as spark for job creation and development of

Maryland's first-class professional workforce

Annapolis, MD (December 15, 2009) -  Lt. Governor Brown announced today the recipients of the 2010 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Higher Education Fund grants. Brown, the Chair of the Governor’s Subcabinet on BRAC, revealed the 12 grants awarded to 11 two- and four-year colleges and universities across the state. The grants, which range in size from $44,000 to $93,000, and made available through legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2008, will be used to develop new programs addressing BRAC-related workforce needs or to expand upon existing related programs at the recipient schools next year.

“I applaud the 11 institutions of higher education on their successful grant applications. It is only through our partnerships that Maryland will reap every benefit of BRAC,” Lt. Governor Brown said. “Governor O’Malley and I have set clear priorities that put an emphasis on job creation and we wholly understand that our strong network of public, independent and community colleges play an important role in reaching our ambitious goals. Through these new and expanded innovative programs at Maryland’s institutions of higher education, we are making a critical investment in the future of our workforce, spurring job creation and economic development, and ensuring that our students are fully educated and prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.”

“We want to thank Governor O’Malley and Lt. Governor Brown for their outstanding support of our efforts to build a strong education and training foundation for the BRAC workforce,” said Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “This grant from the Maryland Higher Education Investment Fund will enable us to establish a center for cybersecurity training which is an essential component of BRAC.”

“We must support our higher education institutions in preparing tomorrow’s workforce to meet the needs of BRAC. We applaud the O’Malley-Brown administration for providing those institutions with resources to begin to fill that need” said Rosemary Budd, President of the Fort Meade Alliance.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) administers the grant program and was allocated $864,700 in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget to finance the grants. The 12 applications, approved by an MHEC panel, have an emphasis on grants that meet identified workforce needs, such as administrative and lab support personnel. The specific projects receiving grants are:

• $43,615 for Loyola University Maryland’s Computer Science Boot Camp for Career Change. Loyola will deliver an intensive boot camp program to retrain degree-holding professionals in core software development capabilities. Students will be able to obtain Sun Microsystems’ Java certification after completion of the program.

• $44,908 for Towson University’s development of an online post-baccalaureate certificate program in technical writing and information design. Towson plans to use the funding to develop online graduate-level courses designed for technical writers and editors and information technology specialists and managers.

• $50,054 for Baltimore City Community College to develop a new Cisco Certification Training and Security Specialist Training program, expanding the College’s capacity for the Maryland Center for Construction Technologies. Specifically, the program will provide training for Cisco Certified Network Associates and training for Security Specialists as Information Systems Security Officers or Information Systems Security Managers/Information Assurance Managers.

• $74,060 for the InnovaBio-BD partnership at Hagerstown Community College. This innovative internship program provides for greater collaboration between the College and Fort Detrick research agencies.

• $78,697 for Howard Community College’s efforts to expand its adult learner network security classes, improve enrollment through the use of the pre-existing lab in innovative ways and make laboratory education available online.

• $80,234 for Anne Arundel Community College to create a new mobile device forensic program. The program will provide introductory training in mobile device forensics.

• $83,280 for the University of Maryland Baltimore County to establish of a Center for Cybersecurity Training.

• $87,350 to create an online electrical engineering program at Morgan State University. The program aims to increase the number of qualified entry-level electrical and electronic engineers for the BRAC workforce. Morgan State will deliver internet-based instruction using mobile technology that will provide students with hands-on laboratory experiences.

• $92,482 for a geospatial technology training program at Washington College. The program will utilize a virtual learning environment and web meeting software to develop an innovative combination of distance learning techniques.

• $92,992 to expand the Information Assurance laboratory capacity at Capitol College. The cyber battle laboratory will train students to simulate, detect, analyze and defeat hacker attacks, preparing students for jobs in cyber security and IT.

• And $136,997 for two grants to Cecil College: $71,204 to develop engineering technology software skills certifications for the BRAC workforce and $65,793 for a new Office Specialist Diploma for the Emerging BRAC Workforce program to help students develop computer skills sets to compete for entry and tertiary jobs coming to the northeastern Maryland region.

“Our BRAC Higher Education Fund grant will allow Baltimore City Community College to expand its role in meeting BRAC-related workforce demands, while providing a wonderful opportunity for more students to train or re-tool themselves for great jobs in high-demand Information Technology career fields,” said Dr. Carolane Williams, President of Baltimore City Community College. “We thank the O’Malley-Brown administration for its commitment to ensuring that BCCC remains an integral part of Maryland’s BRAC initiative.”

The 2005 decisions by the Commission on BRAC will create as many as 60,000 new jobs across Maryland, including jobs in communications, intelligence and other high-skilled fields. To fully grasp the potential of this expanding economy, Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly created the BRAC Subcabinet, which Lt. Governor Brown chairs. In 2008, the General Assembly passed an administration bill that funds the BRAC Higher Education Grant program. This is the second year grants have been awarded to colleges and universities across the state. Last year, 16 grants totaling $2 million were awarded to 13 different institutions of higher education.

“We are very pleased to receive these two grants,” said Dr. W. Stephen Pannill, President of Cecil Community College. “They are going to help prepare us for future and immediate workforce needs associated with BRAC. We are very pleased at this point that the office specialist program will help with the needs of BRAC workers and also help address the needs of relocating spouses. The engineering technology program will help enhance the skills of incumbent workers, but also complement our programming for STEM education. These grants show that the O’Malley-Brown administration is focusing its resources to help us move our economy in North East, Maryland forward as rapidly as possible.”

Every Maryland institution of higher learning is eligible to apply for the BRAC Higher Education Fund grants, including two- and four-year public or independent colleges or universities, Maryland research institutions, regional higher education centers and private career schools.

“The manpower need for electrical engineering associated with BRAC is probably the most pressing in the State and this grant will provide resources Morgan needs to extend the program from campus to the areas that will be affected by BRAC,” said Dr. Earl S. Richardson, President of Morgan State University. “We want to thank the administration for supporting us in this effort.”

The BRAC Subcabinet will release the 2009 BRAC Progress Report later this month, providing matrices and documentation based on the action items detailed in the BRAC Action Plan that was presented to Governor O’Malley in 2007. Throughout 2009, Lt. Governor Brown presided over a series of five Subcabinet meetings that were held throughout the state to discuss BRAC progress and issues facing affected communities. Last week, Governor O’Malley announced the state’s investment of $42.6 million to make a key interchange improvement at Aberdeen Proving Ground, which will alleviate road congestion following the influx of thousands of families expected to be moving to and commuting in Harford County due to BRAC.

 

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