Lorain County Comm. College President Joins National Forum to Promote E-ship
Friday, May 11, 2012
(0 Comments)
Posted by: Kristina Moy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Heather Van Sickle vansickle@nacce.com (413) 306-3131 ext. 303 DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION
LORAIN COUNTY COMMUNITY
COLLEGE PRESIDENT & PROVOST JOIN NATIONAL FORUM TO PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
National Association for
Community College Entrepreneurship Promotes Entrepreneurship by Engaging
Community Colleges to Join New Presidents
for Entrepreneurship Forum
ELYRIA –
May 11, 2012 -- The National
Association of Community College Entrepreneurship
(NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting
entrepreneurship through community colleges, has announced that President Roy
Church and Provost Marcia Ballinger of Lorain
County Community College have joined its new Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum.
Through the program, presidents of community colleges throughout the country
commit to increase the focus on entrepreneurship at their institutions and the
impact these colleges have on the economic well being of the communities they
serve. Officials from four other Ohio community colleges have also joined the
new forum.
With the economy still lagging in many regions
of the United States, more than 170 community colleges have joined
the entrepreneurship forum, and by doing so, have committed to playing a
greater role in stimulating economic development in the communities they serve.
"Community colleges can and should take a
leading role in growing their regions’ economies by placing entrepreneurship at
the forefront of their offerings,” said Dr. Church. "We’ve taken this
grow-your-own approach at Lorain County Community College for more than 10
years now, supplementing our entrepreneurial education programs with a
continuum of support for our region’s entrepreneurs. In doing so, we are
responding to one of the greatest needs within our and any community—and that’s
job creation.”
Other Ohio community college officials joining
the forum are President O’dell Owens of Cincinnati State Technical and
Community College in Cincinnati; President Cristobal Valdez of Edison Community
College in Piqua and Greenville; President Kevin Boys, Southern State Community
College, serving Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette and Highland counties; and
President Laura Meeks, Eastern Gateway Community College, serving Columbiana,
Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
About
the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum
The Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum is in
response to the Obama Administration’s Startup
America call to action to stimulate economic growth state by state by
encouraging entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. NACCE is a founding
affiliate of the Startup America
Partnership, an alliance of the country’s most innovative entrepreneurs,
corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders.
According
to NACCE Executive Director Heather Van Sickle, the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum is a way for community
colleges to advance entrepreneurship and create jobs across the country.
Community college presidents who join the Forum make five commitments:
• Develop transparency of
community college and community assets
• Create internal and external
teams dedicated to entrepreneurship
• Increase entrepreneurs’
engagement in community colleges
• Engage in industry cluster
development
• Create broad exposure to
their college’s commitment to entrepreneurship.
"The five commitments were developed based on
NACCE’s observations of what was working best on member campuses,” said Van
Sickle. "After observing the entrepreneurship-related activities of our members
over a period of years, we started to see commonalities among the more
successful institutions,” she said. "One of the major things that clearly makes
a difference is the commitment by leadership to entrepreneurship.”
About
NACCE
The National Association for Community College
Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is an organization of educators, entrepreneurs, and
distinguished business development professionals providing quality programs and
services in entrepreneurship education and serving as advocates for
"entrepreneurship movement.”
Through membership, an annual conference and
exhibition, a quarterly journal, monthly webinars and podcasts, a dynamic
list-serv, and other resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination
and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding
entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These programs and
courses advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member
colleges.
For more information about the Presidents
for Entrepreneurship Forum, or to
join NACCE, visit http://www.nacce.com. Follow
NACCE on Twitter at @NACCE and like the NACCE – National Association for
Community College Entrepreneurship page on Facebook.
###
|