Maryland Higher Education Commission

July 2009 Press Release

 

 

For immediate release: July 1, 2009                                                          Media Contact: Christopher Falkenhagen

                                                                                                                           Communications: (410) 260-4511

 

 

June 2009 MHEC Report to Governor O'Malley

June 1-30: Director of Finance Policy processed forms for FY 2011 payment of Sellinger funds to Independent Colleges and Universities.

June 1-30: Director of Finance Policy processed forms and payments for first installment of Cade formula funds to community colleges.

June 1-30, 2009: Management Associate sent out 250 congratulatory letters from Governor O’Malley to new awardees of MHEC’s Delegate Howard P. Rawlings Guaranteed Access Grant.

June 1-30, 2009: Management Associate responded to 27 inquiries sent to the Governor about financial aid opportunities, problems or concerns related to higher education.

June 1, 2009: Assistant Secretary for Finance Policy and Director of Communications attended the orientation of the Governor’s Summer Internship Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s (UMBC) Albin O’Kuhn Library. This program places interns at various State agencies. Two interns will work for MHEC. One will work on new media communications strategies with Director of Communications, the other will work to help implement major new financial aid data computer program that will streamline the extraordinary amount of paper that MHEC sends out to students, cut down on postage and basically move everything related to the agency’s Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) from paper to paperless (on-line).

June 1, 2009: Director of Finance Policy attended June meeting of Maryland Association of Community College affinity groups (Facility Planning Officers) to discuss actions pertaining to community college in the 2009 session and to be trained on the Capital Budget Information System (CBIS) for the fiscal 2011 budget.

June 2, 2009: Assistant Secretary for Finance Policy attended and participated in the Early Intervention Website Design meeting to discuss the final website branding requirements; the first meeting with Sidus Group; the Project Management (e.g., internal review process for deliverables, feedback, etc); and other considerations.

June 2, 2009: Director of Communications attended Smart, Green and Growing Partnership/Volunteer Development subcommittee meeting in Baltimore City to discuss ways to engage community volunteers such as college students to spread Governor O’Malley’s Smart, Green and Growing message at summer events such as festivals, county fairs and farmer’s markets.

June 4, 2009: Director of Finance Policy attended meeting of Maryland Association of Community College affinity groups (Business Officers) to discuss actions pertaining to community college in the 2009 session and to be trained on the Capital Budget Information System (CBIS) for the fiscal 2011 budget.

June 5, 2009: Director of Communications and Governor’s Summer Intern began establishing a Facebook page for MHEC. Currently, the Maryland Department of Veteran’s Affairs and other State agencies are using Facebook as a new way of communicating their message more effectively to as many Marylanders as possible – especially young people. The MHEC Facebook page features Governor O’Malley and Lt. Governor Brown’s official Facebook pages.

June 5, 2009: Director of Finance Policy held preparatory meeting for determining the cost of construction at Maryland public colleges and universities in response to Committee Narrative in the 2009 session. Also continued working with University System of Maryland to determine some preliminary estimates.

June 8, 2009: Assistant Secretary for Finance Policy attended and participated in MHEC Website Branding and Feedback Initial Meeting. Discussions were on the Final Website Branding requirements and considerations; Website Examples and Feedback, as well as some websites that were reviewed.

June 8, 2009: Director of Finance Policy attended meeting for the Board of the College Savings Plans of Maryland where he went to the Audit and Finance Committee to meet with the auditors regarding the upcoming audit and to discuss risk-free options to add to the College Investment Plan.

June 9-11, 2009: Secretary Lyons, MHEC Commissioner Dr. Joann Boughman, MHEC’s Director of Academic Affairs, Dr. Sue Blanshan, and MHEC’s Director of Research, Dr. Danette Howard attended the Lumina Foundation’s Making Opportunity Affordable Summit in Denver, Colorado. They joined teams from the other 10 states that are competing with Maryland as awardees for the planning year of this project. Out time was spent preparing for the next stage’s competition for approximately $2M for a four year period to advance Maryland to first place in the country in the number of college degree holders by 2025.

June 9, 2009: Director of Communications and Governor’s Summer Intern attended a Maryland Greener Economy Jobs Deliverables meeting chaired by DLLR Assistant Secretary Andy Moser. Communications Director provided information on The Construction and Energy Technologies Education Consortium of the Maryland Community Colleges (CETEC). The CETEC addresses the training and workforce recruitment needs of Maryland businesses through the collaborative efforts of Maryland’s community colleges.

June 10, 2009: Attended and participated in the biweekly update meeting with Goldbridge Partners, Inc. (GBPI) to discuss: news, progress & schedule, previous meeting follow up, user acceptance testing questions and answers, payments, Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) reporting, System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) documents, planned visits or other events that require coordination, and other topics as required.

June 11, 2009: Director of Finance Policy made site visit to St. Mary’s College of Maryland to discuss operating and capital budget issues and the current status of St. Mary’s College and Historic St. Mary’s City.

June 11, 2009: Director of Communications attended Smart, Green and Growing communications and marketing meeting. Among the issues addressed were getting more businesses and institutions involved in Maryland Green Registry program in which they will receive a window decal for agreeing to become a “green business.” Also, various members of the committee volunteered to serve at various community events across the State to spread the Smart, Green and Growing message.

June 15, 2009: MHEC’s Segmental Advisory Council met. Issues discussed included the Governor’s interest in the State creating a K-20 Longitudinal Data System; MHEC enrollment projections and an update on MHEC’s Lumina Grant application.

June 16, 2009: Attended the University System of Maryland’s (USM) Board of Regents Finance Committee Meeting where the Regents discussed a financial aid study, FY 2011 Capital Budget Request, and other items.

June 17, 2009: MHEC’s full commission met. Items included discussion of the 2009 Maryland State Plan for Postsecondary Education and a subsequent unanimous vote to accept the Plan. Also, MHEC’s Education Policy Committee presented enrollment projections for Maryland Public Colleges and Universities, retention and graduation rates at Maryland Four-Year Institutions and retention, graduation and transfer rates at Maryland’s community colleges. MHEC’s Finance Policy Committee presented guideline revisions for State financial aid programs, FY 2011 Operating Budget Priorities, FY 2011 community colleges capital budget priorities, FY 2011 capital budget priorities for public four-year colleges and universities, FY 2010 Higher Education Budget Summary, FY 2011 community college construction grant program State and local cost sharing formula, report on the Private Donation Incentive Grant Program, FY 2010 Educational Excellence Award, College Access Challenge Grant Awards, and Nurse Support Program II Competitive Institutional Grant Awards.

June 17, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board meeting.

June 18, 2009: Secretary Lyons and Lt. Governor Brown met with representatives from Washington Bible College College/Capital Bible Seminary. The College wants to expand its mission and add more programs which will, if implemented, have to be approved by MHEC.

June 19, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in Governor O’Malley’s Capital for a Day initiative in Calvert County. He visited the Prince Frederick campus of the College of Southern Maryland where he met with CSM President Brad Gottfried, Senator Roy Dyson, acting dean of the Prince Frederick campus Irvin Clark and members of the college’s board of trustees. After that, Secretary Lyons visited and toured the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons with Executive Director Margaret Palmer and other staff members before attending and participating in the Governor’s cabinet meeting at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard.

June 21, 2009: Secretary Lyons received the Richard Allen Man of the Year Award from Bethel African American Methodist Episcopal Church. Bethel AME, located in Baltimore City, is a prominent church in the State.

June 21-23, 2009: Secretary Lyons attended the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) annual meeting. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

June 22, 2009: Assistant Secretary for Finance Policy attended and participated in the “WHO WILL CARE?” meeting. Stakeholders including the Maryland Hospital Association, health care leaders, and academic leaders, established Who Will Care? with the goal of doubling the number of Maryland students obtaining their first nursing degree. The campaign plans to raise money from public and private sources to underwrite the cost of enrolling an additional 1,500 students per year in nursing programs.

Contributions to this effort will support the recruitment and retention of qualified nurse faculty, availability of clinical nursing instruction sites, implementation of educational technologies, and the development of nursing student retention programs. Who Will Care? will allocate grants to Maryland nursing programs on a rolling basis beginning in June 2009.

June 23, 2009: Director of Finance Policy held first meeting of Workgroup to Study the University System of Maryland Hagerstown regional higher education center. Items discussed included the Governance, Business Plan and budget of USMH as well as an overview of the six centers outside the University System of Maryland.

June 25, 2009: Secretary Lyons, along with University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan, State Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy Grasmick, and Dr. Carl Roberts, Executive Director of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland, testified in a briefing before the State Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on the progress of implementing an Educational Longitudinal Data System to track student progress from K-12 grades through college.

June 25, 2009: Director of Finance Policy attended full meeting for the Board of the College Savings Plans of Maryland to discuss Marketing Plan and Budget, investment manager presentations and other items.

June 29, 2009: Secretary Lyons and other MHEC staff members attended the Global Education Competitiveness Summit on behalf of Governor O’Malley at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

June 29-30, 2009: Drs. Blanshan and Tom Tynan and Brian Gibbons of MHEC’s academic affairs staff conducted a Stage Two Application for approval as a new Maryland degree-granting institution by Medix-South in Landover, Maryland. If approved it will be renamed to Medix College and will offer associate degrees in biotechnology and dental hygiene.

June 29, 2009: MHEC’s Outreach Committee met. Discussion centered around two “new media” sites that MHEC’s Director of Communications and GEAR-UP/CPIP Coordinator are both working on to extend outreach to middle school and high school students via a youth-friendly link on MHEC’s general website via MySpace. Facebook will also attempt to reach out to college-age students, their parents, veterans and others who use Facebook. An update was also presented on the update of the College 411 Student Guide to Higher Education and Financial Aid in Maryland – MHEC’s most significant publication as well as other outreach activities MHEC staff is participating in.

June 30, 2009: Secretary Lyons participated in a College Success Task Force Meeting held at MHEC.

Private Career Schools

Dean Kendall, Associate Director for Workforce Development and PCS Education Analyst, met with:

• one private career school applicant (Baltimore Allied Health Training Center, 6/25);

• two private career schools about changes of ownership (Madison, 6/15; Camelot, 6/18);

• one school on-site (Baltimore School of Massage, 6/26).

Mr. Kendall, as the staff member responsible for Solicitor’s Permits, reviewed and submitted to Assistant Secretary for Planning and Academic Affairs Dr. George Reid two Solicitor’s Permits for renewal.

On June 15th, Mr. Kendall supplied MHEC scholarship/grant staff with listings of private career schools that are eligible to participate in the Jack F. Tolbert Memorial Grant for FY2010.

Community College Continuing Education

• Dean Kendall, Associate Director for Workforce Development, with data entry by Administrative Assistant Alice Legum, processed 1,470 continuing education course applications for FTE funding.

• On 6/4, Mr. Kendall distributed the MHEC CC-2 and CC-3 Reporting materials/instructions and requirements to all 16 community colleges.

• Mr. Kendall, attended two meetings with community colleges concerning continuing education:

o 6/8: professional development for continuing education staff members and the upcoming electronic CC10 application process;

o 6/23: to review proposed revisions to the continuing education manual.

• ONGOING: Mr. Kendall, in conjunction with MHEC IT staff, continues to develop a process for continuing education course applications for FTE funding to be available online. The practice CC10 Word form continues to be tested. Ultimately, this online process will allow the MHEC inventory of continuing education courses to be publicly viewable online. Target implementation date October 1, 2009, with testing throughout FY2010.

• ONGOING: The continuing education manual is being updated as the above process evolves with preliminary chapter ready to distribution by August 1st. It will be put online when the electronic online application process is complete. Target implementation date: October 1, 2009, with testing throughout FY2010.

Workforce Development / WIA

• Dean Kendall, Associate Director for Workforce Development, attended five (5) workforce related meetings/conferences:

o 6/16: pre-apprenticeship meeting between GWIB, DLLR and MHEC;

o 6/17: GWIB Board meeting;

o 6/18: GWIB Interagency Workgroup meeting;

o 6/23-24: NGA/GWIB Sector Strategies workshop;

o 6/25: GWIB/LWIB Sector Strategies information and training conference.

Miscellaneous

• On 6/22, Dean Kendall and Les Bennett met with Michael Rubenstein from DLS regarding the review of the Board of Cosmetologists/Board of Barbering sunset evaluation.
 

• Records from Closed Institutions of Postsecondary Education:
Alice Legum, under Dean Kendall’s signature, responded to 19 requests for transcripts from closed schools and 7 education verification request
 

• Academic Common Market:
Alice Legum responded to 53 calls concerning Academic Common Market.

Office of Grants
 

June 1 – 20, 2009 – Revised Title IIA Improving Teacher Quality Request for Applications

June 3, 2009 - Attended the Health Services Cost Review Commission meeting to update the Commissioners on the three-year results of NSP II

June 12, 2009 - Attended the Schools of Nursing Deans and Directors meeting to discuss nursing scholarships and update them on NSP II

June 15, 2009 – Collected Improving Teacher Quality interim reports from all 6 FY 2009 sub-grantees

June 23, 2009 – Released FY 2010 (Phase 9 funding cycle) of the Title IIA Improving Teacher Quality Grant Request for Applications

June 23-24, 2009 – Attended US Dept. of Education Title IIA Coordinator meeting

Nurse Support Program II (NSP II) site visits conducted with program directors throughout June:

• 6/1 – Wor-Wic Community College

 

• 6/9 – Dimensions Health System/Columbia Union College

 

• 6/16 – Shady Grove Adventist Hospital

 

• 6/23 – Salisbury University

 

• 6/24 – University of Maryland, Baltimore

 

• 6/26 – College of Notre Dame of Maryland

 

• 6/30 – Community College of Baltimore County

Improving Teacher Quality site visits conducted with program directors throughout June:

• 6/11 – Baltimore City School Board for project Literacy Coaches

 

• 6/18 – Johns Hopkins University for project Mathematics and Science Teacher Leaders Institute

 

• 6/25 – Salisbury University for project Eastern Shore Partnership for Real World IT in Science Visualization

 

• 6/26 – Salisbury University for project Transitioning from Elementary to Middle School Mathematics

Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA)

MHEC’s Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) staff participated in four outreach activities in Prince George’s County and Baltimore City during June.

June 1-6, 2009: OSFA staff hosted the 2009 Distinguished Scholar Talent in the Arts Competition at Howard Community College. Approximately 1,000 students competed for 300 scholarships in the areas of dance, drama, visual arts, instrumental music and vocal music during the week.

The Director of OSFA participated in a U.S. Department of Education Forum addressing simplification of the Federal Financial Aid Application Process. Participants included institutional aid personnel from all sectors, lenders and State and Federal Officials. Discussions centered on form revisions and changes to the formula currently used to determine family contribution and need. The discussions also addressed partnerships between the Department, institutions, and community groups to improve early intervention and awareness activities.

The Associate Director of OSFA attended the DE-DC-MD (Delaware-DC-Maryland) Association of Financial Aid Administrators Executive Board meeting to discuss training events for member financial aid professionals and establish goals for the upcoming year.

BRAC

Meetings Attended:
June 10, 2009: BRAC Research Analyst attended the Fort Meade Relocation Fair to disperse materials and literature on Maryland’s higher education institutions and programs to potentially migrating BRAC personnel.

Presentations Given:
June 10: BRAC Research Analyst presented and served on a discussion panel about the initiatives taken by MHEC to accommodate relocating BRAC personnel at the Fort Meade Relocation Fair.

Correspondence Sent:
June 2: BRAC Research Analyst drafted a memo outlining the Higher Education Summit to the Executive Director of the BRAC Sub-cabinet.

June 3: BRAC Research Analyst had continuing discussion with DLLR on available BRAC data.

June 4: BRAC Research Analyst drafted a memo to MHEC Director of Communications providing background information on Maryland’s ROTC programs to Governor O’Malley in preparation for an event at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Visits:
June 10: BRAC Research Analyst and MHEC Outreach Administrator attended the Fort Meade Relocation Fair.

Media Interaction:
June 10: MHEC’s Director of Communications and Management Associate updated MHEC’s BRAC link on its website.

June 11: MHEC Director of Communications released an announcement highlighting major initiatives by the agency including BRAC initiatives.
 

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 337,000 college students in Maryland, for the State and its needs, and for business and industry in Maryland.

 

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