ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Advocacy Day to be Held Feb. 11 in Annapolis

ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Faculty, Staff and Students to Rally for Budget Support

 

Adelphi, Md. (Feb. 7, 2015) -- ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø (ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø) leadership councils representing students, faculty, and staff are urging members of the ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø community to participate in ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Advocacy Day in Annapolis on Thursday, February 11.

The Council of University System Faculty (CUSF), Council of University System Staff (CUSS) and ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Student Council (ϡȱÁÔÆæÍøSC) will meet as a group with key legislators during the morning of Feb. 11 to discuss the issues that are important to faculty and staff.

The day will begin with a welcome and briefing by ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Vice Chancellor for Government Relations Patrick N. Hogan in the Miller Senate Office Building (Conference Room West I & II) at 9:30 a.m., followed by recognition of the respective councils on the floors of both the House and the Senate.

All students in the ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø are encouraged to join this group, and to follow updates on Twitter at #students4MD.

A reception for all ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Advocacy Day participants will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Miller Senate Office Building. Reception attendees will hear remarks from the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House. The ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Foundation is sponsoring the reception.

CUSF, CUSS, and the ϡȱÁÔÆæÍøSC will urge legislators to remember that strong budgetary support of the ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø helps to ensure continued economic development and improvement in the quality of life for ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø citizens, advance commercialization and technology transfer, and foster cutting-edge research and discovery in such areas as health care, energy, and cybersecurity.

A critical message during ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø Advocacy Day is that an investment in the ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø is an investment in the state of ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø. The ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø drives the state's economic and workforce development by:

   Increasing the number of STEM graduates to meet the state's workforce and innovation needs;

   Working with public schools to increase the number of STEM teachers and enhance STEM teaching skills;

   Aligning academic programs across the system to meet the state's workforce needs.

The ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø leadership groups will focus on lawmakers who sit on influential committees and represent ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø institutions. The ϡȱÁÔÆæÍøSC's legislative agenda centers on the advancement of ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø students, on campus and in the work place, to ensure that ϡȱÁÔÆæÍø's excellent public higher education institutions remain as accessible and affordable as possible for students of all backgrounds, while maintaining their high quality.

Students interested in participating can contact the following email address: usmsc.md@gmail.com.

Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu