November 2009 Governors Report

December 2009 Press Release

For immediate release: December 1, 2009 Media Contact: Christopher Falkenhagen
Communications: (410) 260-4511

cfalkenh@mhec.state.md.us

MHEC's November 2009 Report for Governor O'Malley

November 1-30, 2009: MHEC Communications Associate responded to 57 letters and emails sent to the Governor on higher education issues.

November 1, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in College Success Task Force meeting at MHEC. The College Success Task Force, co-chaired by Secretary Lyons with MSDE Superintendent Dr. Nancy Grasmick reviews relevant issues and make recommendations for statewide change. A report from the task force is expected by December of 2009.

November 3, 2009: Director of Finance Policy presented State funding/Budget briefing on Community Colleges, Independent Colleges and Universities and State Financial Aid programs to Joint Committee on the Management of Public Funds.

November 4, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended the Maryland Independent College and University Association’s reception and dinner at its annual retreat.

November 5, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education's 18th Annual Meeting.

November 5, 2009: Director of Finance Policy represented MHEC at the Morgan State University budget meeting at the Department of Budget and Management.

November 6, 2009: Secretary Lyons and Education Policy Analyst participated in a conference call of the Governor’s P-20 Leadership Council’s Executive Committee. November 7, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in the 2009 Maryland Black Issues forum. The Lt. Governor spoke at the event and Secretary Lyons was part of a panel discussion that included community leaders including Maryland’s African American mayors.

November 9, 2009: Secretary Lyons and MHEC staff participated in a budget meeting at the Department of Budget and Management.

November 10, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in the American Council on Education (ACE) Commission on International Initiatives. The Commission on International Initiatives advises ACE on its initiative in internationalization and global learning using information it gleans from its contacts with other countries.

November 12, 2009: Secretary Lyons and Assistant Secretary for Planning and Academic Affairs attended Morgan State University’s Founders Day Convocation.

November 12, 2009: Director of Communications attended monthly Green Economy Working Group. Items discussed were Maryland Genuine Progress Indicator update, and two presentations by two area “green” businesses: Owens Geothermal Systems, which uses natural heat from the earth to reduce heating, cooling and hot water expenses by up to 60 percent and Bluewing Environmental Solutions and Technologies which develops “floating islands” to clean up polluted waterways.

November 13, 2009: Secretary Lyons spoke at the Maryland Online Conference at Frederick Community College. Maryland Online promotes lifelong learning by listing Maryland colleges and universities offering on-line courses, certificates and degrees.

November 13, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended the Installment of former Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) Secretary Tom Perez as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.

November 16, 2009: Governor O’Malley attended the P-20 Leadership Council at MHEC. The governor said Maryland is very competitive for “Race to the Top” grant funding ranging from $150-$250 million dollars that might come to the State from the U.S. Department of Education. Governor O’Malley also stayed to hear a presentation from Achieve, Inc. This organization was created in 1996 by the nation’s governors and corporate leaders. Achieve is an independent, bipartisan, non-profit education reform organization based in Washington, D.C. that helps states raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments and strengthen accountability. In 2006, Achieve was named by Education Week as one of the most influential education groups in the nation. Achieve is leading the effort to make college and career readiness a national priority so that the transition from high school graduation to postsecondary education and careers is seamless.

November 16, 2009: MHEC’s Segmental Advisory Council met. The council includes representatives of the University System of Maryland (USM), the Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC), the Maryland Independent College and University Association (MICUA), Morgan State University and St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the Maryland Association of Private Colleges and Career School (MAPCCS). Items discussed were an update on a grant MHEC has applied for from the Lumina Foundation, a discussion on how to proceed with implementing financial literacy programs at the segments institutions and a discussion of what might be coming out of the 2010 General Assembly Session.

November 18, 2009: MHEC’s full commission met. Items discussed included FY 2011 Consolidated Operating Budget Recommendations, FY 2011 Consolidated Capital Budget Recommendations, a report on the auditing of community college enrollments, a presentation of MDgo4it.org’s project and MHEC’s new-state-of-the-art Maryland College Aid Processing System (MD CAPS). 2009 fall opening enrollment was also presented as well as reports on programs reviewed from Aug. 1-Oct. 31, 2009 and a report on private career school approval actions from Aug. 22-Oct. 31, 2009.

November 18, 2009: Director of Communications met with communications colleagues at MHEC for monthly BRAC coordinators/marketing meeting. DOC discussed green jobs and the success of MHEC Twittering about BRAC updates.

November 19, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in meeting with Governor O’Malley’s senior staff to discuss StateStat and the Governor’s Delivery Unit.

November 19, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended retirement dinner for Morgan State President Earl Richardson who is leaving after 25 years as president of the prominent Historically Black Institution (HBI).

November 19, 2009: Director of Communications attended monthly Smart, Green and Growing communications group meeting at Department of Natural Resources. He reported that the University System of Maryland’s 11 universities have all signed on to the Maryland Green Registry, eight of 16 community colleges have signed on and at MICUA’s retreat, per Director of Communication’s request, MICUA’s Vice President asked independent college presidents to join the Green Registry. DOC is also working with the Maryland Catholic Conference, MACO and MML asking their members to join the Green Registry.

November 19, 2009: Director of Finance Policy attended meeting of the Finance Committee of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

November 20, 2009: Director of Communications met with Congressman Ruppersberger’s press secretary at MHEC to go over details of upcoming press conference with Congressman Ruppersberger and Secretary Lyons to announce a $381,000 National Security STEM initiative in Anne Arundel County. Congressman Ruppersberger secured the earmark in last year’s budget and asked Secretary Lyons to be the project director for the initiative.

November 20, 2009: Director of Finance Policy presented MHEC and State update to the Business Officers affinity group of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges.

November 23, 2009: Secretary Lyons convened a full MHEC staff meeting to discuss the State budget and other matters affecting the agency.

November 23, 2009: Director of Finance Policy received and reviewed Mandatory MHEC Community College Financial Reports for accuracy and use in calculating FY 2011 State aid.

November 24, 2009: Secretary Lyons and Congressman Ruppersberger participated in press conference which included invited guests from the National Security Agency, officials and teachers with the Anne Arundel County School System including Superintendent Dr. Kevin Maxwell and Board Chairman Ned Carey. A middle school teacher and high school student discussed the value of STEM education from their different perspectives. See link for coverage of press conference by WBAL TV: http://www.wbaltv.com/video/21715277/index.html

November 25, 2009: Director of Finance Policy Reviewed transmittals and processed payments for Community College grant programs.

Office of Grants

November 4, 2009: Conducted a site visit at Capitol College for the College Preparation Intervention Program (CPIP), and drafted guidelines for the Nurse Support Program II presented to the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC).

November 5, 2009: Attended the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education Annual Meeting.

November 6, 2009: Attended the Prince George's County Regional GEAR UP meeting

November 6, 2009: Met with Coppin State University faculty to discuss ways to improve their Improving Teacher Quality State Grant program applications

November 7, 2009: Presented information about MDgo4it.org for Engineering Day at University of Maryland, College Park

November 10, 2009: Presented a technical assistance meeting for those interested in responding to the Request for Applications for the Nursing Support Program (NSP) II

November 13, 2009: Attended a meeting held at the HSCRC for those who responded to public comments on proposed guidelines

November 17, 2009: Conducted a conference call with Mary Alexander from the Maryland Historical Trust to discuss the status of the Institute for Museum, Preservation, and Archaeology Research and Training (IMPART) grant program, report due dates, and no cost extension requests.

November 18, 2009: Attended a Community of Interest meeting at the UMB School of Nursing for their re-accreditation

November 18, 2009: Attended the Maryland Higher Education Commission meeting; staff member presented information about the MDgo4it.org program

November 20, 2009: Participated in a post award conference call for the recent federal appropriation from the Fund for the Improvement of Education for the Commission’s National Security STEM Initiative

November 30, 2009: Attended a meeting with the Assistant Director of the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology to discuss the status of FY 2010 funding.

November 1-30, 2009 through out the month: Finalized Health Personnel Shortage Incentive Grant (HPSIG) awards and prepared invoices for signature

November 1-30, 2009 through out the month: Negotiated award amounts and program activities with seven grant recipients of the federally funded Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) State Grant program and issued formal grant award or decline letters to all 17 ITQ grant applicants. Updated and issued the mandatory grant provisions, invoices for payment and grant award notice to five of seven ITQ grant recipients (two projects still in negotiation).

Private Career Schools and Workforce Development

November 3, 2009: Associate Director for Workforce Development participated in the GWIB Board retreat.

November 4, 2009: Associate Director for Workforce Development represented MHEC in a CTE conference call.

November 10, 2009: Associate Director for Workforce Development compiled and prepared additional Workforce Shortage statistics for the Advisory Council on Workforce Shortages meeting (MHEC Scholarships and Grants) that compared DLLR occupational demand projections with associated 2008 graduation statistics from Maryland higher education institutions, then with the council’s January 2008 report. The Associate Director for Workforce Development also met with and presented findings to the MSDE CTE Leadership Council on the Career and Technical Education Consortium summit that was held in October.

November 12, 2009: Associate Director for Workforce Development discussed at length with the GWIB reporting measures for the GWIB 2010 Workforce Indicators report, then provided statistics on postsecondary institutions.

November 13, 2009: Representing MHEC, Associate Director for Workforce Development met with the Maryland Community College Association Continuing Education and Training committee (deans and vice presidents) at their retreat.

November 19, 2009: As the MHEC representative, Associate Director for Workforce Development attended the GWIB Interagency Workgroup meeting.

November 23, 2009: Workforce Development and WIA staff reviewed the draft modifications of the GWIB-WIA Training Provider evaluation parameters to more accurately take into account the availability of employment data (to be implemented in December).

November 24, 2009: The Associate Director for Workforce Development represented MHEC in a MSDE Perkins IV institutional monitoring conference call to develop strategies for 2010 monitoring visits.
Throughout the month of November:
• Seven State Solicitor Permits were reviewed, processed, and issued.
• Three-hundred seven community college continuing education course applications for FTE funding were reviewed and processed.
• Nineteen requests for transcripts from closed schools and nine education verification requests were processed.

Ongoing:
• MHEC staff continues to test the online CC-10 community college continuing education course application for State funding. When fully implemented, it will be a paperless process which will allow the MHEC inventory of continuing education courses to be publicly viewable online after approval. Testing will occur throughout FY2010, with the anticipated date for going paperless as March 1, 2010.
• In accordance with the 2009 State Plan for Higher Education, MHEC continues to develop standardized annual reports for each GWIB Industry Sector that will provide yearly data comparing DOL occupational demand projections with Maryland postsecondary graduation data in related programs.

Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA)

November 1-30, 2009: OSFA staff participated in 10 financial aid outreach activities held at various venues in Baltimore City, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County. These activities were directed toward college bound secondary school students, their parents and members of professional associations.

November 1-30, 2009: Select staff worked with members of the Legislative Auditing team conducting a three year audit of all financial aid programs administered by OSFA.

November 1-30, 2009: Continued to make awards in the Howard P. Rawlings Guaranteed Access Grant Program for the 2009-2010 academic year.

November 11, 2009: Associate Director of OSFA, who is a member of the Executive Board of the DE-DC-MD Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, presented bylaw changes to Association members during Fall Business Meeting. In addition MHEC program updates were provided to the Maryland Financial Aid personnel.

BRAC

November 4, 2009: Secretary Lyons and BRAC Coordinator attended a BRACStat meeting at the Jeffrey Building in Annapolis.

November 4, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended the MICUA retreat and discussed BRAC-related issues.

November 9, 2009: BRAC Coordinator attended the Maryland Military Council Meeting in Crownsville.

November 17, 2009: BRAC Coordinator and Annabelle Sher of DBED, met with Baltimore Business Roundtable leadership to discuss the internship website under construction.

November 18, 2009: BRAC Coordinator and MHEC Director of Communications hosted the monthly BRAC Coordinators/Communications Monthly Meeting at MHEC.

November 19, 2009: BRAC Coordinator attended a meeting of the BRAC Subcabinet meeting in Bethesda.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities and private career schools. It serves as an advocate for more than 350,000 college students in Maryland, for the State and its needs, and for business and industry in Maryland.

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