June 2010

NOCHE News

Table of Contents
 

• NEOintern Dashboard Launches in June
• NEOintern Registers 10,000th Student
• More on internships...
• NOCHE Joins Ohio STEM Learning Network as New Partner
• Off and Running: The Talent Dividend
• Chancellor Touts Northeast Ohio Progress
• Chief Academic Officers Meet, Discuss Policy Matters Report
• Thank You for Your Third Frontier Support!
• NOCHE Bids Adieu to Associate Director Richelle Kidder
• Upcoming Events
• NOCHE Members in the News

NEOintern Dashboard Launches in June

NOCHE's newest resource to promote the important role of internships to Northeast Ohio is the NEOintern "Dashboard," located at www.noche.org/dashboard.

This website displays current data on nine metrics related to internships in NEOintern. The site displays data such as the number of students or employers registered on NEOintern, average hourly wages for regional internships, and the prime locations and industries for internships. The site also contains links to the region's colleges and universities and other resources that help to connect students and employers. Check out this new resource, learn something new about internships, and let us know what you think by emailing Kacie Beck at kbeck@noche.org.

NEOintern Registers 10,000th Student

NOCHE has reached a milestone in its regional internship program, NEOintern. On May 18, 2010, NOCHE announced that Ms. Elisha Eberhardt, a student at Cuyahoga Community College's Metro Campus, recently became NEOintern's 10,000th student registrant.

NEOintern is a program that focuses on talent development in Northeast Ohio by promoting internships and offering an online tool (www.NEOintern.net) to connect students and employers with internships, all at no cost to either party. The program continues to reach more and more students and employers to promote the importance of internships. Reaching the 10,000th student demonstrates that the region is recognizing the value of internships to students' careers and the region's economic development.

Eberhardt joins thousands of students who are seeking to enhance their education and improve their career opportunities through an internship experience. Upon learning of the milestone, she said,

I am eager to take advantage of the opportunities that Tri-C offers on campus, such as the Key Career Place. NEOintern is another great tool. I never knew there were so many different types of internships at so many kinds of companies right here in Northeast Ohio.

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More on Internships...

Results from the 2010 ERC/NOCHE Internship Pay Rates and Practices Survey are just in. Among key findings is that the vast majority of Northeast Ohio employers - 91% - expect to maintain or increase the number of interns they employ in 2010. In addition, intern pay rates have remained fairly stable since last year. To view the full report, go to http://www.ercnet.org/research/studies/10internsurvey.pdf.

NOCHE Joins Ohio STEM Learning Network as New Partner

NOCHE is pleased to begin its new collaboration as part of the Metropolitan Cleveland Consortium for STEM-Cleveland hub of the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN). This summer, NOCHE will work with Youth Opportunities Unlimited to achieve a project goal of placing at least 50 students from MC2STEM and DesignLab with STEM internships. Students will earn $1,000 for their summer internship—and the students' wages are 100% subsidized for employers. If you know of a company that would like to build its talent pipeline and be a part of this exciting (and FREE) program, click here to learn more or contact Sean McKinniss (smckinniss@noche.org) ASAP!

Off and Running: The Talent Dividend

June 22, 2010, is the date for a meeting of the regional Steering Committee for The Talent Dividend, the exciting initiative to increase college attainment in Northeast Ohio. The Talent Dividend is the movement to increase adult bachelor's degrees by one percentage point, which in Northeast Ohio means fewer than 26,000 people. The "Talent Dividend" itself is the economic benefit, or dividend, resulting from such an increase in talent and translates to $2.8 billion in new income across the region each year. The Steering Committee will encourage local stakeholders working on various strategies to attain the Talent Dividend and will help shape successes for this ambitious project.

You may have seen the recent debate on the New York Times blog, Economix, about the value of a college education in the first place. Regardless of debaters, the statistics are persuasive. As Economix writer David Leonhardt pointed out, the pay of college graduates has increased in the last 25 years while that of all other groups has dropped, and the unemployment rate of those with college degrees is less than half that of the national average of 10% in this recession.

Meanwhile, NOCHE has hired the national education consultant Public Agenda and local public relations firm Thundertech to assist with the initiative. NOCHE is also plugged in to the national Talent Dividend Network to share experiences with other cities across the nation embarking on a Talent Dividend program. For more information, contact Sean McKinniss at smckinniss@noche.org.

Chancellor Touts Northeast Ohio Progress

NOCHE hosted with Chancellor Eric Fingerhut the trustees of the public universities in Northeast Ohio at a meeting on April 29, 2010 to review higher education progress in the region. The event was targeted in the Chancellor's Strategic Plan for Higher Education published in 2009, and served to update the recommendations and accomplishments addressed in the 2007 report of the Northeast Ohio Universities Innovation and Collaboration Study Commission. Present were representatives of Cleveland State University, Kent State University, Northeast Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM), The University of Akron, and Youngstown State University, as well as stakeholder organizations in the region such as NorTech, MAGNET, and JumpStart.

Chancellor Fingerhut outlined accomplishments in Northeast Ohio, including the establishment of Centers of Excellence in advanced energy, bioscience, advanced materials, and health care. Research collaboration was highlighted as evidenced by the Austen BioInnovation Institute formed by The University of Akron, NEOUCOM, and regional hospitals. Further, a model for statewide adoption has been provided by the Innovation Alliance between The University of Akron and Lorain County Community College to share administrative support services.

Progress has also been made in record time in the reorganization of NEOUCOM's governance structure and the addition of Cleveland State University to the NEOUCOM collaboration (through House Bill 562 in July 2008), as well as in the establishment of Eastern Gateway Community College, which began serving students in the Mahoning Valley in Fall 2009 under the leadership of President Laura Meeks.

Statewide accomplishments the Chancellor noted include performance-based higher education funding, effective for FY 2009-2010, and the transition to a common semester-based academic calendar for Ohio's public institutions.

A panel presentation followed with Dr. Jay Gershen, President of NEOUCOM; Dr. Bob Frank, Kent State Senior Vice President and Provost; Dr. George Walker, Vice President of Research at Cleveland State; Dr. Frank Douglas, president of the Austen BioInnovation Institute; Ms. Jonelle Beatrice, Youngstown State's Director of The Center for Student Progress; and Ms. Stacia Edwards, Director of Workforce Development at the Ohio Board of Regents. The group discussed strategies to increase research output, the importance of collaboration, and progress in the alignment between university talent and education and workforce needs. In highlighting the importance of continuing education and training, Ms. Edwards noted that two-thirds of the workforce we will need by 2020 is already in the workforce.

Chief Academic Officers Meet, Discuss Policy Matters Report

NOCHE's Chief Academic Officers Committee met in Cleveland on May 21, 2010. The group heard a presentation from Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research institute dedicated to examining issues that impact working families in Ohio. Highlights from the organization's recent publication, Building Ohio's Future Middle Class, were presented for discussion. As detailed in the report, access to college has improved over the past 30 years, whereas bachelor's degree attainment has leveled off. Financial barriers to completion are of paramount concern: options such as stronger public scholarship funding are critical to improving completion rates and enabling students to pay the variety of expenses attendant to college, such as escalating day care and transportation costs.
 

Thank You for Your Third Frontier Support!

With your help, Ohio's most successful economic development and jobs creation program, the Ohio Third Frontier initiative, was renewed on the May 4 ballot. According to the Ohio Business Roundtable, the average return on investment for Third Frontier has been 21.8% per year. NOCHE's Letter to the Editor in support of the program was published in the Akron Beacon Journal and Crain's Cleveland Business. In addition, the NOCHE Board of Trustees voted to endorse the ballot initiative, and NOCHE also financially supported the campaign. The statewide measure passed with the support of 62% of Ohio voters.

NOCHE Bids Adieu to Associate Director Richelle Kidder

Pursuing a promising family opportunity, Richelle Kidder will be leaving NOCHE in June for Memphis, Tennessee. Her two-year tenure has been marked by great progress at NOCHE including the revitalization of NOCHE's peer committees – the Chief Academic Officers, Chief Financial Officers, and PR – and new and stronger collaborations across the region such as with the Ohio Co-Op Internship Program efforts and The Talent Dividend initiative. We wish her well!

Upcoming Events

NOCHE Members in the News
 

• Cleveland State University picks developer for $50 million first phase of North Campus Neighborhood

• Cuyahoga Community College to open Hospitality Management Center

• CWRU: Cleveland research will fight oil spills

• LCCC key to tapping emerging Lake Erie wind turbine industry

• Goodbye, Mr. Sweet

• Akron: Scientists say spider glue could eventually repair wounds, oil pipes

• Music institute's piano department steers young talent toward success

Attention NOCHE Members:
If your college or university would like to be listed here, let us know! Contact Kacie Beck at kbeck@noche.org to have your story included in NOCHE News.