Appalachian Higher Education Network Meeting SummariesApril 2011 The meeting began with a session with Maria Kefalas, professor of sociology at Saint Joseph's University and co-author of Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America. Kefalas described the study and led a discussion on its implications for the AHE Network's programs. In sessions focused on the network, each of the eight AHE Network center directors discussed sustainability challenges, with a focus on the development of business plans, annual reports, newsletters, brochures, and Web sites. They reported on their efforts to generate support for their programs through grant proposal writing, relationship building with potential donors and other stakeholders, and collection and analysis of data to demonstrate program effectiveness. In addition, they highlighted activities of their states' Principals Networks, which support the professional development of school principals in Appalachia. The WPS sessions attended by the AHE Network members examined the actors, institutions, and forces influencing federal education policy making and featured speakers from a range of viewpoints. Representatives from the administration, congressional committees, and a lobbying firm provided insight into the likely timing and shape of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, provided an insider's view of Washington legislative processes, highlighting Congress's current efforts to reach consensus. Center directors spent the following day on Capitol Hill meeting with their states' congressional delegation and/or staff. The meeting closed with a lecture by Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland–Baltimore County, on the leadership necessary to ensure a quality education for all of Appalachia's youth. |
