MBA Announces 10th Annual Financial Education Award Recipients
The Maryland Bankers Association (MBA) Financial Education Awards program recognizes the outstanding efforts of member banks that are actively engaged in financial education outreach across Maryland. The awards are given for programs and activities that reinforce financial education concepts such as developing good savings, budgeting techniques, money management skills, establishing and managing credit, understanding mortgage and consumer lending products and a variety of consumer protection practices.
The entries were reviewed by MBA’s Financial Education Council based on various criteria: program, presentation materials, community impact, financial literacy concepts and development. Award recipients were honored at an awards luncheon held in conjunction with MBA’s BankNext event on Nov. 7 at the BWI Marriott in Linthicum.
The award recipients were as follows.
• School-Age Children Category (bank assets less than $1 billion)
First place: New Windsor State Bank
Second place: Community Bank of the Chesapeake
• School-Age Children Category (bank assets greater than $1 billion)
First place: The Columbia Bank
Second place: PNC Bank N.A.
• Young Adults Category
First place: Wells Fargo Bank N.A.
Second place: Capital One Bank, N.A.
• Adults and Seniors Category
First place: PNC Bank, N.A.
Second place: The National Bank of Cambridge
CA Accepting Applications for Maggie J. Brown Spirit of Columbia Scholarship
Applications are now being accepted for the 2014 Maggie J. Brown Spirit of Columbia Scholarship Award.
Up to six $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to graduating local high school seniors who have shown a history of providing community service to benefit Columbia residents and those in the Columbia area. For more than 20 years, Columbia Association (CA) has been recognizing high school seniors for outstanding service to their community.
The students must live on CA-assessed property, or have a parent/guardian who owns CA-assessed property or works full-time on CA-assessed property. Applicants must be graduating in May/June 2014 from an accredited public, private or parochial high school and need to have a minimum of a “C” (2.0) cumulative grade point average.
CA employees, members of the board of directors or family members of employees or members of the board of directors are not eligible to receive the award.
Applications are available online at ColumbiaAssociation.org/Scholarship. Completed applications must be submitted by March 15, 2014.
For more information, call 410-715-3161.
Unified Community Connections Presents Can Do Award
Unified Community Connections, a nonprofit that serves children and adults with disabilities throughout Maryland, has presented the Samuel A. Tucker Memorial Can Do Award to Jarred Aaron Jones. Jones, who’s 16 years old, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at an early age, attended the agency’s Delrey School and currently attends Kenwood High School in Essex, Md.
“This award is being presented to a person with a disability who has shown extraordinary drive and determination to achieve their goals,” said O.J. Brigance, who presented the award to Jones at Unified Community Connections’ annual Hoodstock fundraiser. Brigance, an agency board member and senior adviser to player development for the Baltimore Ravens, has Lou Gehrig’s disease, a degenerative motor neuron disease.
The Samuel A. Tucker Memorial Can Do Award recognizes an individual with disabilities who receives support from Unified Community Connections and exemplifies the drive and determination of Samuel Tucker. Tucker, a former Unified Community Connections participant who had cerebral palsy, overcame the challenges of his disability, attended college, married and practiced law.
“Jarred is the personification of strength, courage and resilience,” Brigance said. “We don’t get to pick the cards we are dealt in life, but we most certainly have a choice in how we play the hand. This young man is a living testimony to the human spirit.”
Jones attended Unified Community Connections’ Delrey School, where he learned to interact with children with similar disabilities through group therapy and classroom activities. He transitioned to public school in third grade and has since co-managed basketball and baseball teams and joined Kenwood High School’s sports science program.
Jones plans to graduate from high school and attend the Community College of Baltimore County to study mass communication with a concentration in sports. He wants to become a sports analyst or commentator.
“I live my life to the best of my ability and do not allow my disabilities to define my limitations or my possibilities to achieve greatness,” Jones said.
Howard County Announces the Winners of Recycling Coloring Book Contest
In celebration of “America Recycles Day,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and the Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Environmental Services congratulate the winners of the county’s 2013 Recycling Coloring Book Contest.
“We have some amazingly talented students in Howard County who are also very dedicated to making our Earth a cleaner, healthier place to live,” said Ulman. “They practice the ‘three R’s’ — reduce, reuse, recycle — at school and at home, and are doing their part to help protect the environment. I want to thank everyone who participated in the contest and congratulate this year’s winners.”
The winners are:
• Atholton Elementary School – Kate Rossmark
• Bellows Spring Elementary School – Varshini Suresh
• Bollman Bridge Elementary School – Olivia Davis and Neha Rehman
• Bryant Woods Elementary School – Maya Classon
• Bushy Park Elementary School – Zoe Gonzalez
• Dayton Oaks Elementary School – Jocelyn Baker, Gabriela Ramos Benavides, Marley Cosgrove, Eunice Kim and Taylor Leonard
• Forest Ridge Elementary School – Nishtha Gupta
• Northfield Elementary School – Ally Kolp and Kate Plunkett
• Worthington Elementary School – Abbas Bharmal
The drawing selected for the cover was created by Jocelyn Baker.
Sponsored by the Bureau’s Recycling Division, the contest was open to all county third, fourth and fifth graders and encouraged students to promote the idea of “reduce, reuse, recycle” by expressing their ideas through art. Each entry was judged on creativity, originality and appropriateness for a coloring book.
Beginning in early December, these coloring books will be available for free at the offices of the Bureau of Environmental Services, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 514, in Columbia, and also will be offered at select public events scheduled throughout the year.
Howard Community College to Offer 60 New Noncredit Courses This Winter
This winter, Howard Community College is offering more than 60 new noncredit continuing education courses; subjects include business and communication, computers and information technology, entrepreneurship and self-employment, project management, lifelong learning and test preparation. All county residents have the opportunity to explore additional topics online.
A series of three-hour classes has been added to help child care professionals align their programs with Maryland EXCELS as well as to help child care providers reach higher Maryland child care credential levels. For health care professionals, medical office skills courses have been added for medical coders/billers to learn CPT & HCPS medical coding and to prepare for the ICD-10-CM proficiency assessment.
For students ages 7 through 10, a design and construction course has been added for Feb. 17, when Howard County Public Schools are closed, and a hands-on beginning electronics class for Lego fanatics has been added for students ages 11 through 15.
Most classes are grade-free and exam-free, except licensure/certification offerings.
For more information, call HCC’s Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development at 443-518-1700 or visit coned.howardcc.edu.
IMPAQ Acquires Berkeley Policy Associates
IMPAQ International, a research, evaluation, survey and technical assistance firm, has acquired Berkeley Policy Associates (BPA), a public policy research and consulting firm that is based in Oakland, Calif. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to company officials, the acquisition comes as part of IMPAQ’s continuing growth strategy, which has seen the company expand over the last 12 years into a firm with close to 300 employees and offices in both Columbia and Washington, D.C.
“IMPAQ is fully invested in a growth strategy that expands our national presence and enhances the quality and scope of the services we offer our clients,” said Avi Benus, IMPAQ’s chief operating officer.
Benus noted that a key element of IMPAQ’s success to date has been the company’s ability to acquire and retain a diverse pool of the highest quality research talent available. “With this acquisition, IMPAQ will be able to offer potential employees the option of being based on either the West or East Coasts,” said Benus.
To that end, he added that, while the exact number of new jobs the acquisition will create has yet to be determined, the company will move quickly to recruit a significant number of researchers and operational staff in the coming months. Benus also encouraged prospective candidates to visit www.impaqint.com/careers for more information about available opportunities.
Manufacturers Host Roundtable Discussion on Manufacturing Jobs in State
At the behest of local manufacturers, fiber optics equipment manufacturer FiberPlex Technologies LLC hosted an informal roundtable discussion on Nov. 13 between Maryland business executives and government officials to address the erosion of manufacturing jobs in the state and the overall U.S.
Among those present were manufacturers and small business owners representing communications hardware, corporate apparel and bulk transport industries as well as Maryland 2014 gubernatorial candidate Charles Lollar; Paul Matino, trade specialist for the U.S. Commercial Service, Department of Commerce; Vasillios Peros, legal council specializing in manufacturing and technology companies; and Carl Livesay, manufacturing program manager for Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development and chair for the District Export Council.
“As manufacturers, we live the policies that affect how we produce products in Maryland and in the U.S. as a whole. We know first-hand the obstacles that are holding our manufacturing plants back. By opening up the dialog with our officials, as we’ve done this week, we hope to return the U.S. to the global manufacturing center it once was,” said Buddy Oliver, CEO of FiberPlex Technologies, which manufactures optical products in Annapolis Junction for use in secure government and corporate networks.
On the table for discussion were health care costs, access to capital and government regulations believed to contribute to the eroding manufacturing base in the U.S.
Comptroller Presents Three Howard County Students With Maryland Masters Awards
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot presented his Maryland Masters Awards to three Howard County students in elementary, middle and high schools at a ceremony on Nov. 13 at the Rockburn Elementary School Media Center in Eldridge.
Jayden Kelly, a second-grader at Rockburn Elementary School, did a colored pencil artwork titled, “Talking About Lines.” Sarah Cooper, an eighth-grade student at Glenwood Middle School, did a production print titled “Macaws.” Kaitlynn Motley, a senior at Howard High School, did a self-portrait using acrylics.
The Maryland Master Award recognizes youngsters who have displayed extraordinary artistic skills, reflecting the vision of Maryland’s future. Franchot initiated the awards program to celebrate the achievements and talents of students from throughout the state enrolled in public schools from kindergarten to 12th grade.
The students’ art will be on exhibit for two months at the Comptroller’s Office in Annapolis.
McCormick’s Wilson Honored as Business Leader of the Year
McCormick and Co. Chairman, President and CEO Alan Wilson was named Business Leader of the Year by Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management at a dinner on Nov. 21 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore.
This year marks the 30-year anniversary of the Business Leader of the Year award, which recognizes those whose vision, effort and commitment to business ideals have distinguished them and their organizations as among the best in the nation.
“Alan Wilson’s commitment to excellence is something we value deeply at Loyola, and we as an institution, along with our students, are extraordinarily fortunate to remain strongly tied to a company of McCormick’s prestige,” said Karyl B. Leggio, dean of the Sellinger School.
Wilson has led McCormick and Co. since 2008. McCormick closed 2012 with a record $4 billion in sales.
New Data Reveal Maryland’s Achievement Gaps Still Among Worst in Nation
MarylandCAN: The Maryland Campaign for Achievement Now recently released analysis of Maryland’s student performance on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card.
The scores show evidence that Maryland’s fourth-grade math and reading achievement gaps between black and white students are among the worst in the nation, and that over the course of the past decade, those gaps have grown across both subjects in both grades.
“The gap in average math scores between black and white fourth-graders in Maryland is fifth-worst in the nation, and in reading the gap is ninth-worst,” said MarylandCAN Executive Director Jason Botel. “We are clearly not preparing tens of thousands of public school students for a successful future. This is an enormous problem, not just for the students we are under-educating but for the quality and economy of our entire state. We have to enact the policies necessary to close these gaps.”
The analysis indicated that the low-income/non-low-income achievement gap in proficiency rates is larger than the national average across all grades and subjects in the state. Additionally, the black-white achievement gap in proficiency rates is larger than the national average in fourth- and eighth-grade math and fourth-grade reading, and low-income fourth-graders scored worse than the national average in math proficiency rates among low-income test-takers. Between 2011 and 2013, Maryland fourth- and eighth-graders regressed in math. This bucked the national trend, which saw fourth-graders improve their proficiency levels in math.
NAEP was created by Congress in 1969 and is overseen by the U.S. Department of Education. Administered every two years to fourth- and eighth-graders in math and reading and periodically in other subjects, NAEP provides a common yardstick that allows for side-by-side comparisons of student academic achievement from different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and between students from different states.
MUIH
Partners With the
Institute for Integrative Nutrition
Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) has formed a new partnership with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).
Through an academic articulation agreement between the two organizations, MUIH will offer 6–6.5 credits of advanced standing to graduates of IIN’s Health Coach Training Program. IIN graduates must hold a bachelor’s degree and meet MUIH’s admission requirements in order to be guaranteed admission to the following programs.
• Master of Arts in Health Coaching with Nutrition concentration
• Master of Science in Health Promotion with Coaching concentration
• Master of Science in Nutrition and Integrative Health
IIN graduates may apply for admission to MUIH immediately and begin their degrees as early as January 2014.
“We are pleased to join with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in this new venture,” said Frank Vitale, president and CEO of MUIH. “For nearly 40 years, we have been committed to whole-person, relationship-centered education and clinical care. Our faculty and graduates are leaders and advocates in the field of integrative health, and our progressive academic programs combine wisdom traditions with contemporary science. This partnership represents a more formalized alignment of organizational values and goals and creates a bond for our respective communities.”
Network 2000 Accepting Applications for Mentoring Program
Network 2000, a Baltimore-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the advancement of women in professional and executive roles, is accepting applications for the 2014 class of its mentoring program, Effective Impact, a year-long program for mid-career professional women designed to enhance business expertise and maintain life balance.
Effective Impact provides participants with an orientation, formal and informal one-on-one consultation sessions, four professional development sessions and networking opportunities. The program pairs participants with Network 2000 members based on career fields and professional goals. Network 2000 mentors are corporate executives, entrepreneurs, law partners and nonprofit leaders.
Network 2000 will select approximately 10 women who demonstrate leadership and communication skills to participate in the program. The application, due Jan. 15, 2014, is available online at www.network2000md.org.
Effective Impact costs $1,500 per participant. Financial aid scholarships are available.
Loyola’s Sellinger School Adds Seven Faculty Members
Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management, with campuses in Baltimore, Columbia and Timonium, added seven new faculty members who started in the fall semester.
• Jay Brown is an assistant professor of Information Systems and Operations Management. He was the associate director of admissions at The University of Akron.
• Nune Hovhannisyan is an assistant professor of Economics. She was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver/International College Beijing.
• Theresa Jefferson is an assistant professor of Information Systems and Operations Management. She was an associate research professor and visiting associate professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
• Patricia Kanashiro is an assistant professor of Management and International Business. She was an adjunct professor and teacher assistant at The George Washington University.
• Fabio Mendez is the Hanway Chair in Global Studies for Economics. He was an associate professor of economics and director of graduate studies at the University of Arkansas.
• Matthew Sopha is an instructor of Information Systems and Operations Management. He is a doctoral candidate in business administration with a concentration in information systems.
• Marie Yeh is an instructor of Marketing. She has taught at Kent State University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Old Dominion University and Howard Community College.
New Building Planned for Wilde Lake Middle School
The Howard County Board of Education has approved a recommendation by Superintendent Renee A. Foose to replace Wilde Lake Middle School with a new, high-performance, energy-efficient building. Pending approval by the Maryland Interagency Committee on School Construction, the new school will be constructed alongside the existing school, located at 10481 Cross Fox Lane in Columbia.
The existing facility will remain in use throughout the construction process, then demolished upon completion of the new school. With a capacity of 662 students, the new building will satisfy the need for additional space that is anticipated due to significant population growth expected in the Columbia Town Center area.
The superintendent’s recommendation followed a feasibility study that examined three proposals ranging from minor renovations and an addition to the current building, to a complete demolition and replacement. New construction offers significant advantages, including virtually no disruption to students or teachers during the building process. In addition, all spaces in the facility will be constructed to best accommodate their intended uses.
The building is intended to be one of the first “Net Zero Energy” public school buildings to be constructed in Maryland and will provide significant energy cost savings over the existing facility. A Net Zero designation indicates that the amount of energy consumed at the facility over one year is equal to the energy produced on-site through renewable energy technologies such as solar panels.
Energy savings also will be realized through highly efficient geothermal and energy recovery technologies, natural daylight throughout 90% of the occupied space and solar hot water heating. The building will be eligible to achieve U.S. Green Building Council LEED Gold Certification.
Total project costs are estimated to be approximately $36.6 million. Pending approval, building design is scheduled for presentation to the board in April 2014, with construction expected to begin in July 2015 and completed by August 2017.
Sellinger School Dean Karyl Leggio Receives GEDCO Leadership Award
Karyl B. Leggio, dean of the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University, received the GEDCO Leadership Award at GEDCO’s annual Thanksgiving Tribute, held on Nov. 14. GEDCO, a nonprofit supporting affordable housing and providing community, senior and homeless services in North Baltimore, selected Leggio for leading her students in creating a sustainable business plan for GEDCO.
“The work of Dean Leggio’s Sellinger School students, under her guidance, will help GEDCO to continue to provide caring and compassionate communities for years to come,” said Nicole Battle, CEO of GEDCO and a Sellinger School 2008 graduate. “This award honors individuals who have shown extraordinary commitment to the fulfillment of the mission of GEDCO and to the advancement and well-being of the Baltimore community.”
Pictured left to right: Terry Sawyer, vice president for administration at Loyola University Maryland; Karyl Leggio, dean of Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business and Management; and Sal Leggio
AACC Child Development Center Receives Top State Rating
Anne Arundel Community College’s Child Development Center recently was awarded the highest rating, a Maryland EXCELS Level 5, from the Maryland State Department of Education indicating high-quality education for preschool-aged children.
According to the Maryland EXCELS web site, www.marylandexcels.org, “Advertising an EXCELS level demonstrates to parents and the community that you are committed to excellence and are continually working toward greater achievements.”
Maryland EXCELS is the state’s new Quality Rating and Improvement System that awards ratings to child care and public prekindergarten programs that meet standards over and above those required by state licensing regulations and public school requirements. The Maryland EXCELS program ratings include licensing and compliance, staffing and professional development, rating scales and accreditation, developmentally appropriate learning and practice, and administrative policies and practices.
AACC’s Child Development Center is accredited by both the Maryland State Department of Education and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It recently expanded its age range to serve 2- to 5-year-olds for year-round preschool education and child care from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It offers full-time or part-time schedules in a state-approved core curriculum taught by staff with early education degrees. Evening drop-in child care for children aged 2 to 10 also is available from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday–Thursday.
The center has current openings and will have an open house on Jan. 15 for parents interested in future enrollment. For information, visit www.aacc.edu/cdc or contact LaVette Curtis at lvcurtis@aacc.edu or 410-777-2450.
HCPSS Partners With Howard County Chinese School
The Howard County Public School System has joined into a new partnership with the Howard County Chinese School (HCCS), which will offer opportunities to develop mutual understanding and greater collaboration between the two.
Under the terms of the partnership agreement, the HCCS will collaborate with HCPSS to enhance the Chinese Language curriculum with cultural experiences and will assist in building a cadre of Chinese language teachers. HCCS also will share HCPSS event and activity information with Chinese-speaking students and families and will assist with translating documents.
HCPSS will attend events at HCCS to share information about parent and community education programs, certification requirements for becoming a public school teacher and professional development ideas for effective language instruction.
The Howard County Chinese School (www.hccs-md.org), established in December 1998 and located in Columbia, is a nonprofit, non-political, non-religious Chinese school. Its mission is to promote the Chinese ethnic and linguistic culture by educating the young generation to learn Chinese.