DHS academic panel to meet in DC on Oct. 24

Dr. Wallace Loh, advisory panel chairman

The DHS Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council will hold a public meeting in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, on Oct. 24 at which it will explore a wide range of academic questions, including how DHS can attract student interns, student veterans and recent graduates to jobs at the department.

According to a DHS notice in the Federal Register on Oct. 9, the academic advisory panel will meet at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Floor B, Room B1.5-10, Washington, DC 20004 from 10 AM to 4 PM.

The group will hear updates from five of its subcommittees -- student and recent graduate recruitment, homeland security academic programs, academic research and faculty exchange, international students, and campus resilience -- and explore a number of pressing questions, including:

• How Black, Hispanic and Native American graduates can take advantage of DHS internship and job opportunities;
• How to enhance existing relationships between FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute and the higher education community;
• How universities can effectively communicate to DHS their emerging scientific findings and technologies.

Last March, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed Dr. Wallace Loh, the president of the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, as the advisory panel’s first chairman. Here are the names and affiliations of the panel’s members, as of March 2012: 

• Dr. Joseph E. Aoun, President of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts
• Dr. Lezli Baskerville, President and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D.C.¹
• Ms. Carrie L. Billy, President of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in Alexandria, Virginia
• Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C.
• Dr. David M. Dooley, President of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island
• Dr. Royce C. Engstrom, President of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana
• Dr. Antonio R. Flores, President and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities in San Antonio, Texas
• Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor of the Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Arizona
• Dr. Jay Gogue, President of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama
• Ms. Marlene M. Johnson, Executive Director and CEO of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA) in Washington, D.C.
• Dr. Eric W. Kaler, President of the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, Minnesota
• Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, President of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
• Dr. Wallace Loh, President of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland
• Dr. Gail O. Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York
• Hon. Ruby G. Moy, President and CEO of the Asian Pacific Islander American Association of Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C.
• Dr. Hunter R. Rawlings, III, President of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C.
• Dr. John Sexton, President of New York University in New York City, New York
• Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut
• Dr. Dianne Boardley Suber, President of Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina
• Dr. Holden Thorp, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 Further information is available from Lindsay Burton, of the DHS office of academic engagement, at 202-447-4686 or AcademicEngagement@hq.dhs.gov.