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state exchange
Pennsylvania
Outreach Scholarship Conference to Feature
Frank Mayadas of Sloan Foundation
Mon, 01 Oct 2001 15:25:56 -0400
Celena Kusch cxk33@outreach.psu.edu
Penn State to host national conference on university
outreach
and community service
University Park, PA-This fall, a national conference on Outreach Scholarship will showcase university programs and partnerships that have a significant and positive impact on communities. Highlighting examples from community health, economic development, violence prevention, youth development, and lifelong learning opportunities delivered to people around the world, the conference is designed to promote and assist the development of more such collaborations nationwide. It is sponsored through a partnership between Penn State University, The Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin-Extension to support university outreach and engagement.
The Outreach Scholarship: Learning, Discovery and Engagement conference is the first event in a series of national conferences sponsored by the three universities. The goal is to share and explore best practices for institutions of higher education that conduct outreach and public service through business management education, continuing education, Cooperative Extension, distance education, public broadcasting, technology transfer and other programs. The conference will be held October 14-16, 2001, at The Penn State Conference Center Hotel, University Park, Pa.
"In today's information society, our communities need access to relevant university research and education now more than ever before. Through innovative university initiatives in public broadcasting, Internet-based education, and traditional extension and lifelong learning programs, American colleges and universities are striving to meet that demand," James H. Ryan, vice president for Penn State Outreach and Cooperative Extension, said.
The conference offers information about a wide variety of outreach and public service initiatives in such areas as agricultural and natural resources, public health, community and economic development, and services in disadvantaged communities. Two keynote speeches and many presentations focus on the use of technology in outreach, with an emphasis on online and distance education, radio and television broadcasting in a digital climate and other technology-based delivery systems for targeted community education.
Keynote speaker Pat Mitchell, president of the Public Broadcasting System, will speak about the impact of digital technology on strengthening communities. Frank Mayadas of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will address new directions in online learning. Other presentations include programs on meeting the e-business needs of small business by PENNTAP (Penn State's Pennsylvania Technology Assistance Program); computer-based education of industrial workers by the University of Michigan and the United Auto Workers-Ford National Program Center; Web-based training for child care providers by Penn State professor James E. Van Horn; biotechnology science education for teachers and students by Ohio State, The Ohio Academy of Science, Chip Rx, Inc. and the Edison Biotechnology Center, Inc.; building the capacity of nonprofit organizations through distance education with the Society for Nonprofit Organizations and UW-Extension; and best practices of the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center with UW-Extension and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
This is the second conference at Penn State to focus on best practices in outreach and public service. The first conference in 1999 attracted over 300 people to more than seventy sessions, including keynote addresses, and a variety of special events.
For more information about this conference, please visit the Web site at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/OutreachScholarship2001/
** **
Contact: Jeri Childers, Conference Chair and Interim Director of the Outreach Office of Program Development at Penn State University, Phone: 814-865-7679, Email: jyc4@outreach.psu.edu
Spokespersons for the partner institutions are as follows: …
James H. Ryan, Vice President for Outreach and Cooperative Extension at Penn State University, at 814-865-7581 or jhr1@outreach.psu.edu. …
Bobby D. Moser, Vice President of Agricultural Administration and University Outreach and Dean of the College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University, available at moser.2@osu.edu. …
Kevin P. Reilly, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, available through UW-Extension Public Information at 608-262-9871.
Tapes and/or transcripts of select speeches may be available for members of the media who cannot attend the conference.
To arrange an interview with any of the
speakers during the conference,
please contact Tracey DeBlase Huston, director of Outreach
Communications, at 814-865-8108 or tdh7@outreach.psu.edu.
Celena E. Kusch
Writer/Editor, Outreach Communications
Penn State University
508 Keller Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-8108, fax: 814-863-2765