The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has announced that Bellarmine University President Joseph “Jay” McGowan has been named treasurer of the national nonprofit organization. McGowan was elected by the NAICU membership to serve as treasurer during NAICU’s annual meeting on February 6. Congratulations and thanks to President McGowan for serving in this important national leadership position.

NAICU, with nearly 1,000 members,  serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education. Since 1976, the association has represented private colleges and universities on policy issues with the federal government, such as those affecting student aid, taxation, and government regulation.

Read: NAICU Membership Elects 2008-09 Officers, Board

The Spotlight Job & Internship Fair, a collaborative job and internship fair for students from AIKCU’s twenty member institutions and Hanover College (IN), will be held on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, from 2-6 PM eastern at the Lexington Center (next to Rupp Arena). For details visit http://asp.symplicity.com/spotlight.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Since its inception in 1999, the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine’s Professional Education Preparation Program (PCSOM-PEPP) has helped more than 300 high school students in rural Kentucky pursue their interests in studying medicine.

The program’s success was recognized in the September issue of The Advisor, the journal of the National Association of the Advisors for Health Professions, a resource for the professional development of heath professions advisors.

The article, titled “A Rural Kentucky Osteopathic Professional Education Preparation Program,” was co-authored by Stephen M. Payson, M.S., PCSOM’s associate dean for student services, and Meg Wright Sidle, Ph.D., director of institutional research and effectiveness at Pikeville College.

PCSOM-PEPP is an intensive two-week academic program where students spend time in both medical education and hospital settings. Classes in basic human physiology and anatomy are taught by second-year PCSOM students, who also serve as mentors. At PCSOM, the program is designed to provide a better understanding of rural medicine, what it takes to get into a medical education program, and the dedication needed to succeed in the medical profession. It also helps to build confidence and self-esteem and provides students with the encouragement to seek challenging course work as they prepare for higher education.

“Early interaction with students is important,” said Payson. “PCSOM recognized that in order to produce physicians for rural Kentucky – who are from rural Kentucky – a strong pre-professional program would need to become part of the long-term recruitment strategy.”

Research shows that rural Kentucky residents have been underrepresented in medical school admissions for decades. By 2010, the projected growth rate for physicians in the surrounding five-county region is 3.4 percent. According to Payson, those statistics equate to a need for 881 new physicians in these rural Kentucky counties alone.

PCSOM’s mission is to provide an osteopathic medical education that emphasizes primary care, encourage research, promote lifelong scholarly activity, and produce graduates who are committed to serving the health care needs of communities in Eastern Kentucky and other Appalachian regions.

Citing PCSOM’s success with PEPP, Payson encouraged other osteopathic medical schools to develop similar innovative approaches to help fill the needs of rural areas. Sixty-eight percent of first-year PCSOM students who came from hometowns with less than 10,000 residents remained in rural medically underserved areas six years later to practice medicine.

“The students who have participated in the program judge it very successful,” said Payson. “We know that many of our students have gone on to medical school and eight of our PEPP students have matriculated at PCSOM.”

Courtesy of Pikeville College public relations.

The Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine accepted its first class of students in September 1997. The medical school’s leadership role in health care has expanded greatly over the last decade, producing more than 400 physicians in the first seven graduating classes. Approximately 150 of the new physicians have now finished their residence requirements and started practicing medicine. In keeping with our mission, many of them have located in the Central Appalachian region.

Representatives from member campuses are invited to join AIKCU on February 28, from 9 AM-3PM (EST) for a free Facility Management Training. The program is designed to help campuses become more energy efficient - lessening the impact on both the environment and upon the institution’s bottom line. There is no cost for AIKCU member campuses to participate. Lunch will be provided.

The training will be held at the Kentucky Broadcasters Association Building (101 Enterprise Drive,Frankfort, KY 40601) across the street from AIKCU . Please park in one of the AIKCU parking lots and walk over.

Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., is presenting the training. Siemens is an AIKCU business partner and a leading provider of energy and environmental solutions, building controls, and fire safety and security system solutions.

Topics to be covered include:

• Importance of Energy Efficiency - utility costs, environmental impacts, public relations, student recruitment and expectations
• Energy Efficiency basics - terms, concepts, cost management and comparison
• Energy Efficient Lighting - fluorescent and LED; financial and environmental impact
• Central Plant Systems - energy saving strategies and new technologies
• Energy Peformance Saving Contracting - who, what, when, where, why and how?
• HVAC Systems - energy saving strategies, new technologies
• Direct Digital Controls - current and future technologies, strategies, maintenance
• And more…

Download a printable AIKCU Facility Management Training brochure.

The 2008 AIKCU Legislative Day in Frankfort will be held Wednesday, February 13. Students from AIKCU member campuses will set up displays on the second floor of the Capitol during the afternoon to greet legislators and meet with other independent college friends and alumni.

AIKCU Legislative Day
Wednesday, February 13
11:00 - 1:00 EST – Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History
1:00 - 3:00 EST – Kentucky State Capitol, 2nd Floor
Directions/Parking

Directions to the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601.

Parking - is available in the lot directly across Broadway from the History Center. Map of the Kentucky Historical Society campus.

We will travel directly to the Capitol from the History Center at the conclusion of the kick-off luncheon. Parking around the Capitol can be challenging. Visitors may park on the street in front of the Capitol (on Capitol Avenue or State Street), on the drive that circles the Capitol, in various lots around the drive, in the lot behind the Capitol and to the left of the annex, in the garage (to the left of the annex) except on the second level. Do not park in any spaces marked “reserved.” All parking is free.

Schedule of Events

10:00-11:00 AM – Arrival at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. There will be a registration table outside the Brown-Forman Room. (If you come in through the main entrance proceed down the Hall of Governors.)

The Kentucky Historical Society has graciously offered free admission to the center’s exhibits for any campus delegations that choose to arrive early. Passes will be included in registration packets.

11:00 AM -1:00 PM – Legislative Day kick-off luncheon in the Brown-Forman room of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.

We’ll enjoy pizza (generously provided by Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut), fellowship, and some opening remarks to start the day off. Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo, a Transylvania alum, is scheduled to speak and make a special presentation at 12:30.

All legislators have been invited by AIKCU. Campuses should have followed up with their delegations, alumni and friends.

1:00 PM – Proceed to the Capitol. Enter through the east visitor entrance (the Governor’s Mansion side). You will need to pass through the metal detectors, provide photo identification, and sign in.

Proceed to the 2nd floor of the Capitol and find your campus station. Stations will be indicated by a poster mounted on an easel.

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Meet and greet legislators. You and your students may wish to review your legislators’ bios and pictures to make it easier to recognize them (you can find these through the directory in AIKCU’s online policy center or on the LRC website. AIKCU staff will do our best to steer legislators to your delegations and make sure we capture those photo-ops while in the Capitol.

3 PM – Wrap-up and head home.

Highlights and photos of the 2006 AIKCU Legislative Day.

This Financial Aid Tip of the Month comes courtesy of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (http://www.kheaa.com).

High school seniors who are thinking about going to an AIKCU college or university this fall are encouraged to gather the information required to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more often called the FAFSA.

The FAFSA is the form students fill out to see if they qualify for federal and state grants and loans. Financial aid professionals advise students to send in the FAFSA even if they don’t think they qualify for aid. Many colleges use information from the FAFSA to determine who is eligible for grants and scholarships administered by the school.

The FAFSA asks for information about income, assets and expenses. A formula set by Congress is applied to the information to determine the student’s eligibility for federal and state aid. If the student is considered dependent under federal guidelines, both the student and parents must provide financial information. Nearly all students going directly to college from high school will be considered dependent.

Parents and students who need help filling out the FAFSA should attend the nearest College Goal Sunday location on January 27. Financial aid professionals will go over the FAFSA in detail and answer questions, free of charge. The sessions are sponsored by the Kentucky Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, in cooperation with the Lumina Foundation, The Student Loan People and the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA). To find a College Goal Sunday site near you, visit www.kasfaa.com/cgs.

Students who submit the FAFSA online usually get a response a week or two faster than those who mail in a paper FAFSA.

To learn how to plan and prepare for higher education and to access the FAFSA, go to www.GoHigherKY.org. For more information about Kentucky scholarships and grants, visit www.kheaa.com or call (800) 928-8926, extension 7381. For information about low-cost student loans, visit www.studentloanpeople.com or call (888) 678-4625.

Siemens presents check to Lindsey Wilson for career academy planning, originally uploaded by aikcu.

COLUMBIA, Ky. – Area high school students may soon have a chance to prepare for high demand careers in the energy field.

Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., in partnership with AIKCU, has awarded Lindsey Wilson College a $10,000 planning grant to develop a career academy focused on the rapidly growing field of energy and facilities management. Lindsey Wilson will partner with the Adair and Russell county School Districts to plan the career academy during this school year. Lindsey Wilson’s proposal was chosen from responses to a request for proposals offered to Kentucky’s twenty private colleges and universities.

“Siemens is delighted to partner in this one of a kind program in a rural area where demands for new energy technologies are just as important as in urban areas,” said Dr. Marc McCulloch, Director of Siemens’ K-12 Education Division. McCulloch met with local education officials throughout the proposal’s review process.

The Energy and Facilities Management Career Academy establishes a clear pathway for high school students interested in energy-related careers. Beginning in the sophomore year, the career academy will combine hands-on instruction with academics to prepare students for postsecondary studies in facilities management, engineering, and other areas related to energy use and efficiency.

The planning grant allows Lindsey Wilson administrators and faculty to work with leaders from Adair and Russell county high schools and local businesses to develop a career academy concept. Funding resources to implement the career academy are currently being identified. Pending the development of a successful career academy concept and adequate funding, the career academy will be implemented at the sophomore level at the participating high schools in an upcoming year.

“The energy field and the career academy model both have a lot of potential to benefit people across Kentucky, and we’re very pleased to partner with Siemens to provide this opportunity,” said AIKCU President Gary S. Cox. “We’re confident that Lindsey Wilson and these high schools will develop an outstanding program that can be replicated in other communities around the state.”

Energy/facilities management technology is a rapidly evolving profession with high growth potential for future careers. As organizations look to curb energy consumption and make buildings and workplaces more energy and cost efficient, the role of the energy/facilities manager will only grow.

“Last summer’s special energy legislation shows that that energy and stewardship of our resources have joined education as statewide priorities for Kentucky,” said AIKCU’s Cox. “We see this effort at Lindsey Wilson as another example of independent higher education’s commitment to meeting the needs of the Commonwealth.”

Career academies are an integrated approach to career and technical education with academic education, designed to simultaneously prepare students for career and postsecondary options.

“Career academies are organized as small learning communities in which students traditionally stay with a core group of teachers over the years they are in high school,” said Lindsey Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Bettie Starr. “Career academies help students connect what they learn in school with their career aspirations and goals.”

In addition to the two area high schools, Lindsey Wilson will also work with Green Mechanical Construction of Glasgow, Ky., and Wind Energy Corp. of Elizabethtown, Ky.

Green Mechanical Construction is one of Kentucky’s leading mechanical contractors in plumbing, heating, ventilating and air conditioning; and Wind Energy is a high-tech company that develops low-cost, high-yield wind turbines.

“Creative uses and creative sources of energy are two of our nation’s leading challenges, and these two companies are both on the cutting edge of their respective fields,” Starr said.

One of the major benefits of establishing a career academy is that it brings area high schools, businesses and local higher education together, Starr said.

“By working together, high schools, colleges and industry can better prepare students to compete and thrive in the new economy,” Starr said.

Georgetown College President Bill Crouch is profiled on the front page of today’s Louisville Courier-Journal. In “Georgetown College head has a vision of diversity,” writer Chris Kenning looks at the college’s diversity efforts and their ties to Crouch’s upbringing in the segregated South. Crouch is spearheading efforts to increase minority enrollment at the Baptist college from 6 to 17 percent through a number of initiatives, including new scholarships, new efforts to recruit minority faculty, and an innovative partnership with Bishop College alumni to serve as the “foster home” of the historically black Dallas college that closed in 1988.

GEORGETOWN, Ky. — Growing up as a white pastor’s son in 1950s Mississippi, William Crouch came to loathe segregated restaurants, bathrooms and schools.

As a teen, he witnessed forced busing in Charlotte, N.C. As a young country preacher, he battled the belief that black families should remain separate from whites.

Today, Crouch is in his 17th year as president of Georgetown College, gaining notice for his push to expand the enrollment of African Americans, and hoping to change the face of the mostly white, 1,300-student Baptist college near Lexington.

“I used to tell my parents that one day I wanted to do something about what I saw, but, before, I was never in a position where I could,” said Crouch, who cultivates relationships with black students, and even sought instruction to broaden his understanding of black culture.

Continue reading the complete article at Courier-Journal.com

Georgetown’s diversity efforts have previously been covered in the Courier-Journal and Inside Higher Ed.

College Goal Sunday will take place Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 2 p.m. at 20 sites in 19 Kentucky Communities. College Goal Sunday is a free service for Kentucky students and families who need help filling out their financial aid forms. CGS is sponsored by
College Goal Sunday is brought to you by the not-for-profit Kentucky Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (KASFAA), in cooperation with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA). The event is staffed by financial aid professionals from all sectors of postsecondary education and community members who are dedicated to helping students achieve their college goals. For more information, visit http://www.kasfaa.com/cgs or call 1-888-4-KASFAA.

Off with the old, originally uploaded by aikcu.

The wait is over. The new Kentucky “Independent Higher Education” license plates are now available at County Clerks offices across Kentucky. Redesigned plates are now available for all twenty AIKCU member institutions and the Association.

This is the first time that campuses were able to design their own distinct Kentucky license plates for purchase by alumni, students, faculty, staff, and other supporters of their institutions.

The license plates are designed to increase awareness of independent higher education options in Kentucky and to raise funds for student scholarships; $10 from the sale of each plate goes directly back to the campus to support student scholarships.

Read the previous entry about the new license plates here.