Maryland Higher Education Commission

March 2008 Press Release

 

 

 

Bi-Weekly BRAC Activity Report for Subcabinet*

 

 

Date: March 6-21, 2008

 

Department/Agency: Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC)

 

Meetings Attended:
March 10, 2008: Higher Education Secretary James E. Lyons, Sr.; assistant secretaries Andrea Mansfield and Dr. George Reid, Chief of Staff Kathleen Walton, Grants Director Paula Fitzwater, Government Affairs Director Gareth Murray and Communications Director Christopher Falkenhagen met with Deborah T. Devlin, Human Resources Director for Fort Monmouth. Ms. Devlin gave an in-depth presentation about what programs Fort Monmouth offers and what they can offer to the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Deputy Director Military and Federal Affairs Lisa Swoboda representing the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, also attended the very productive meeting.

March 17, 2008: Secretary Lyons presented MHEC’s Segmental Advisory Council with a substantial breakdown about what our agency is doing to help best implement Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) higher education initiatives. The MHEC Segmental Council is comprised of representatives from the University of Maryland System (USM), the Maryland Independent College and University Association (MICUA), Morgan State University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a representative of the private career schools MHEC regulates. Secretary Lyons told the Segments that MHEC is “more ready every day” to meet BRAC’s higher education needs and goals. He explained what CERDIC and the Defense Information System Agency’s (DISA) needs are as far as focusing on recruiting Maryland’s undergraduate students among other items. Secretary Lyons also told the Segments that he is going to meet with his higher education commission counterparts from Virginia, Delaware, and Washington D.C. to discuss what Maryland is doing and trying to get a feel for what our neighboring states are doing to address BRAC higher education goals.

Visits:
March 17, 2008: Higher Education Secretary James E. Lyons, Sr., Assistant Secretary George Reid and Communications Director Christopher Falkenhagen attended the groundbreaking of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds groundbreaking of their new Army’s Team C4ISR Complex. This $477 million complex is approximately one million square feet of administrative and specialized laboratory space for up to 5,000 personnel. Secretary Lyons was the only cabinet member to attend the groundbreaking and received special plaudits during Lt. Governor Brown’s brief speech for his outstanding efforts on working with the Lt. Governor and others on the Governor’s Sub-cabinet on BRAC. After the event, all three MHEC attendees took a personal tour of the APG complex.

Media Interaction:
March 10, 2008: Director of Communications Christopher Falkenhagen sent the list of Maryland’s two-year and four-year public and private colleges’ and universities’ BRAC coordinators to Ms. Devlin and Ms. Swoboda. Both Ms. Devlin and Ms. Swoboda responded via e-mail that this list would be very helpful to them.

March 14, 2008: Grants Director Paula Fitzwater e-mailed Secretary Lyons, Assistant Secretary Mansfield, Chief of Staff Dr. Walton and Communications Director Christopher Falkenhagen alerting them that since the State’s BRAC Action Plan includes communicating to K-12 students, the impact that their actions can have on getting a security clearance, Paula wanted to include activities related to that in MHEC’s next RFP for the College Preparation Intervention Program which provides college partners for the GEAR UP sites. Paula talked to Mary Gable, MSDE’s BRAC coordinator and found that she is having an internal meeting at MSDE on March 21 to discuss this issue. Dr. Grasmick plans to attend and give opening remarks. Paula plans to attend this important meeting.

March 14, 2008: Personnel Director Esther Danner posted the job description and announcement for MHEC’s BRAC Coordinator on our website as well as sending it to the Department of Budget and Management’s job announcement link on its website and the Maryland Workforce Exchange Network link through the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

March 19: Communications Director Christopher Falkenhagen contacted Elizabeth Tyson at Fort Monmouth. Elizabeth is part of the Maryland Transition team at Fort Monmouth and requested as many MHEC materials as we could provide regarding our financial aid programs, information about our Maryland colleges and universities and anything else related to higher education in Maryland that we could provide her. Working with Sue Koch, Program Specialist – Office of Student Financial Aid, and LaVertia Kelly, Services Specialist – Office of Student Financial Aid, we will be able to provide numerous booklets, brochures and fact sheets for Ms. Tyson. Ms. Tyson was referred to us by Sarah Mumford with the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR).

Two Week Look Ahead at Significant Pending Events:
April 4, 2008: Assistant Secretary Andrea Mansfield or Chief of Staff Kathleen Walton will meet with Asuntha Chiang-Smith in a BRAC Working Group meeting at 45 Calvert Street from 10:30-11:30 a.m.

March 22, 2008-April 4, 2008: Secretary Lyons will be reviewing resumes that have been submitted for MHEC’s BRAC coordinator position. The closing date for applying for the BRAC coordinator position is April 4.

*Submit to DBED Office of Military and Federal Affairs no later than 3pm on every other Thursday to lbell@choosemaryland.org, mhayes@choosemaryland.org, and jwoepke@choosemaryland.org