National Educator Opens Innovations 2010 Conference

BALTIMORE, March 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A top U.S. Department of Education official today called President Obama's goal of doubling the number of college graduates ambitious, but "necessary to keep America competitive"

DR. FRANK CHONG, deputy assistant secretary for community colleges in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education, spoke to about 1,500 community college educators as he opened Innovations 2010, the annual national conference of the 800-member League for Innovation in the Community College. The conference continues through March 31, at the Hilton Baltimore, 401 West Pratt St., Baltimore.

Dr. Chong charged community colleges to align students' paths to higher education, to move them along that path by forging more articulation (transfer) agreements with four-year institutions and to practice accountability along the way.

Dr. Chong knows about community colleges. He was president of Laney College, the flagship of the Peralta Community College District in Oakland, Calif., president of Mission College in Santa Clara, Calif., and dean of student affairs at City College of San Francisco. At Laney, he forged partnerships with the Oakland Green Jobs Initiative and Gateway to College funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led efforts to create the East Bay Career Advancement Academy, a partnership among seven Bay-area colleges funded by California's Career Technical Education Initiative.

Monday and Tuesday general sessions begin at 9 a.m.

Monday's session focuses on community colleges' role in developing tomorrow's workforce.  Panelists include: GERRI FIALA, U.S. Department of Labor Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training; RICHARD KAZIS, Jobs for the Future senior vice president; MARTHA A. SMITH, Ph.D., president of Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland); JERRY SUE THORNTON, Ph.D., president of Cuyahoga Community College (Ohio); P. ANTHONY ZEISS, Ed.D., president of Central Piedmont Community College (North Carolina), past board chair of the American Association of Community Colleges and the League for Innovation in the Community College.

At Tuesday's session, "The Nature of Innovation in the Community College," TERRY O'BANION, Ph.D., director of Walden University's Community College Leadership Program, and LAURA WEIDNER, Ph.D., dean of workforce development at the Center for Workforce Solutions at Anne Arundel Community College, will present the findings of a yearlong study giving examples of innovation and their impact on colleges.

For information or to arrange interviews, contact Susan Gross, [email protected] or 410-777-7252.

SOURCE League for Innovation in the Community College