Bobbie

WOW, I can’t believe this year marks the fifth Showcase.  This is our signature event which brings our partners and (hopefully) future partners in business, government, and non-profit sectors to campus to meet and mingle with the faculty and professional outreach staff working on exciting projects aimed at helping organizations work better and faster.  This year, our exhibitors range from the Family Studies Community Services and Internship Network to the Center for Applied IT!

The event is this Wednesday from 12:00 – 2:00 in the Minnegan Room. In addition to great speakers & fabulous networking, we also provide a delicious lunch and will be doing a drawing for a Kindle Fire–oh and the event is FREE!

One of the highlights each year for me is the President’s remarks, and this year I know a lot of people are looking forward to meeting our new President for the first time.  She is really committed to furthering the university’s public mission in economic development and community engagement.

If you would like to learn more about the event click here.

Bobbie

The Division of Economic and Community Outreach (DECO) is home to a wide array of centers that provide solutions ranging from GIS to Economic Forecasting, additionally DECO has a diverse set of partner organizations that are committed to sharing best practices.  University Economic Development Association (UEDA) is a national organization of higher education, business and economic development professionals. UEDA provides learning opportunities, comprehensive representation of entire education landscape and open networks for collaboration and opportunities.

One of the learning opportunities UEDA is best known for is the Annual Summit where attendees can

• Gain the latest strategic insights on the roles of colleges and universities in economic development.
• Examine the leading practices of colleagues as they compete for Awards of Excellence.
• Build learning networks of colleagues to spot opportunities faster and develop partnerships faster.
• Share success stories and lessons learned with economic developers from colleges and universities nationwide.

In the video below, Leslie Pachol, UEDA’s executive director, talks with our very own Dyan Brasington about the upcoming UEDA Summit.

Bobbie

The Edward V. Badolato Homeland Security Speaker Series is holding its next FREE event on Monday, August 29, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  The event will take place in the newly opened College of Liberal Arts room 3150 and the theme is “The Role of Democracy in Homeland Security.”

The event features speakers who are professionals in the homeland security field, as well as a networking reception with faculty from Towson University’s Integrated Homeland Security Masters Program.

College of Liberal Arts

Agenda 

5:00-5:30
Keynote Speaker: Professor Joseph Rudolph  

5:30-5:45
Question and Answer Session

5:45-6:00
Remarks from Darian Scott-Carter, a graduate of the Integrated Homeland Security Masters Program and an Emergency Planner with Baltimore City

6:00-7:00
Networking Reception and Meet and Greet with the Integrated Homeland Security Management Faculty & Students 

Learn more about the event and register here!

Bobbie

Every year, the Division of Economic and Community Outreach (DECO) looks forward  to the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) conference.  This annual 2-day meeting provides us with a unique opportunity to interact with almost all of our state and local government partners.  Throughout the year we work with over 30 different state and local entities on projects ranging from mapping applications to fiscal impact studies.  This year we will be located in the GIS Discovery Zone at booths #531 and #532. 

In addition to great networking and exciting presentations on how government can be more efficient and better serve the citizens of Maryland, our team looks forward to the booth decorating contest which we won last year (for Best State Booth).  This year’s theme is “Pirates of the Chesapeake” and we have some creative and exciting pirate themed ideas in store for our visitors.  While we don’t want to give away too much, take a look at the teaser below.  Looking forward to seeing you down at the shore!

Keynote Speaker: Lenora Gant
Deputy Assistant DNI, Intelligence Community Human Capital
Director, ODNI IC Policy and Strategic Mission Outreach

See the full agenda and register for this free event!

Bobbie

With just over three weeks to go before the 4^th annual Solutions Showcase on April 13^th I wanted to share a couple of the event’s highlights with our readers.

First, our Exhibitors! This year we are so excited to have 15 exhibitors representing Towson’s most exciting research and educational programs in the area of technology, STEM, and community outreach.  Here are just a few:

Adolescent and Adult Language and Literacy Clinic (ALL)

• Provides spoken and written language assessments to adolescents and adults struggling with speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
• Offers intervention services to individuals with spoken and written language disorders including dyslexia
• Provides a unique professional preparation opportunity for graduate students training to become speech-language pathologists

Center for Applied IT & MAISA

• Cyber security consulting and seminars
• External graduate assistantship program for business
• Research partnerships in information assurance and applied IT

Bioscience Education and Outreach Program

• Field-trip destination, providing hands-on, inquiry based bioscience lab activities to Maryland’s secondary science students
• Providing a variety of professional development opportunities to teachers throughout Maryland
• Equipment loan program to assist Maryland educator’s in delivering high quality, hands-on bioscience laboratory activities in their own classroom

Showcase 2010 Exhibitors

Second, our Speakers! This year the Showcase will feature two fantastic keynote speakers.  Ms. Kathleen Oliver, Assistant State Superintendent for Maryland, responsible for Career Technology and College Readiness, will highlight educational and outreach programs that are focused on regional workforce needs and provide opportunities for business, government, and education to work together to meet those needs. Mr. Dickie George, Senior Technical Director for Information Assurance with the NSA, will discuss the changes in Information Assurance in the last forty years, what the challenge is, how the cyber cold war compares to the cold war of the 1960’s, what skills are sought after in new hires, and opportunities at the Agency.

This free event is the best opportunity for business, education, and government partners interested in working with Towson University faculty, researchers, and professional outreach centers to meet the right people and identify opportunities for collaboration!

Bobbie

It all began when fellow blogger, Allie Pyzik, received a comment on her blog post “TU’s CISCO regional Training Academies.”  The comment was from the Vice President of the Edenwald Residents Association and expressed their interest in the “possibility of setting up a web site.”

The Integrated Marketing Team kicked off the website development project with the Edenwald Residents Association (ERA) in September focused on the development of an informational website for the 400 residents of Edenwald.   Sharyn Kuczka and I served as the project managers and worked with a dynamic group of Edenwald Residents who came to be known as the “web committee.”

The Edenwald Residents Association website launched just over a week ago and has already had over 1600 hits!  Some of the website features include:

• An Events Calendar
• Online Residents Bulletin Board
• Dining Menus
• Request forms for maintenance and equipment reservations

The President of the ERA stated in her welcome message:

“We are very proud to highlight the activities and socialization available to our residents. The website gives those interested a view of a remarkable group of senior citizens doing remarkable things. The rapid communication it provides will become a valuable tool for interaction with residents.”

We look forward to staying in touch with the ERA, and I will be teaching a three-week course on Social Media this May through the Continuing Education Committee.

Contact us to learn how the Integrated Marketing Team can help take your business or organization online, design a blog, or provide consultation on implementing a social media strategy.

Bobbie

On January 31^st, one of my favorite think-tanks, CEOs for Cities, kicked-off the $1 Million Talent Dividend Competition.  The Talent Dividend is a nation-wide initiative driven by CEOs for Cities with the very basic premise that if you increase college attainment by 1% in your community the financial return or dividend is HUGE!

The four key strategies for attaining the Talent Dividend are:

1. Re-engage adults with some college, no 4-year degree
2. Increase transfer rate of students in 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions
3. Retain current students for timely completion
4. Encourage college-going behavior in high school students

“Research shows that 58 percent of any city’s success, as measured by per capita income, can be explained by the percentage of college graduates in its population,” explained Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities.  “There are huge financial gains to a city that can be achieved through small improvements in educational attainment alone.”

How will the competition work?
The winning city will be announced in September of 2014.  The criteria to win is pretty simple—the winning city will have exhibited the greatest increase in the number of post secondary degrees granted per one thousand population over a four-year period and achieved its Talent Dividend.

What’s next?
To be eligible for the prize your metro area must have a population of at least 500,000, based off of the 2009 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As you’d guess our metropolitan community identified as “Baltimore/Towson” is among the eligible cities! Registration is now open for eligible cities; the deadline for registration is May 1^st.

As of today, Baltimore has not registered but, when we do I know TU will be an active partner!  The Baltimore Business journal published an article on the Baltimore Talent Dividend that was held in November of 2009.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, I serve as the Executive Director of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) which is partnering with CEOs for Cities to spread the word about this fantastic competition.  With over 80 member universities residing in eligible urban/metropolitan communities, we hope our members will be partnering with their city government, industry leaders, and education institutions to get involved in the competition!

Bobbie

Mark your calendars for April 13th for Towson University’s fourth annual Solutions Showcase event!  The event will take place from 12:00-2:00 in the Minnegan Room and will include plenty of time for networking with TU’s faculty and staff exhibitors and two dynamic keynote speakers (stay tuned for that announcement).  What makes this event so exciting every year is the diversity of attendees–education leaders, business executives, government leaders, non-profit directors, and of course TU’s leading faculty and professional researchers!

Registration is OPEN and did I mention this free event includes a great lunch–it doesn’t really get any better than that!