Higher Education

Educational Resources Group HARRISBURG, Pa. - Fred Baer of Hagerstown has been named vice president of education and business development at the Educational Resources Group, a division of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in Harrisburg. Baer will direct implementation of work force and economic development initiatives and expansion of online learning programs. He will also maintain his role as state director of the Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania, a consortium of 35 Pennsylvania educational institutions.

laurae@herald-mail.com Hagerstown is getting a new higher education center downtown, but local business leaders are worried it won't have the state support it needs to succeed. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has already raided the University System's proposed $2.9 billion budget next year and the legislature is considering another $40 million in cuts. "Our operating budget is under great stress and they're talking about significant cuts," University System Chancellor William E. Kirwan said last week.

ANNAPOLIS -- The University System of Maryland at Hagerstown would get a 1 percent increase in funding under a recommendation adopted Friday by a Senate committee. The Senate committee also decided to strike down a budget amendment approved by the House that would create a task force to study USM-H's viability. Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr., R-Washington/Allegany, who offered the amendment, said even if the task force is not approved by the General Assembly, he still plans to pursue a study of how the center could be improved.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Eastern Panhandle lawmakers gave Gov. Joe Manchin high marks for his forward-looking - and first - State of the State address Wednesday night, with one lawmaker saying he was "almost in a state of euphoria. " Local lawmakers said they liked Manchin's plans to tackle lawsuit abuse, his interest in giving local governments more operating flexibility, building infrastructure and spurring business growth. Manchin's speech before legislators in Charleston, W.Va.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - When workers in the Eastern Panhandle want to get specialized training in computer information technology or other fields, they complain that they have to go to West Virginia University in Morgantown or colleges in Washington, D.C., to get what they need, state Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, said Tuesday. "They say there are no programs for them," Unger said. To determine how the Eastern Panhandle can better fill the higher education needs of its residents, Unger, Del. Dale Manuel, D-Jefferson, and Shepherd College President David L. Dunlop are asking Gov. Cecil Underwood for a higher education needs study for the area.

Last week's question: In the wake of a renewed attack on its funding, Del. Christopher Shank has proposed changes to University System of Maryland-Hagerstown to make it more like a center in Southern Maryland, where the Hagerstown center's chief critic hails from. What's your view? o Do it. If we can't beat 'em, we might as well try to be like them. - 2 votes (7 percent) o Good idea. When it comes to education, elected officials always know better than people who work in the field.

ANNAPOLIS - Washington County lawmakers liked Gov. Parris Glendening's message Thursday about making education the top priority for Maryland, but parts of the State of the State message rubbed some Republican lawmakers the wrong way. "I thought it was a rather uplifting speech. I thought this was a good road map to the future," said Sen. Donald F. Munson, R-Washington. Glendening outlined his agenda, including a cigarette tax increase, more funding for worker training, a Patients Bill of Rights and a civil rights bill.

Dr. Atlee Kepler certainly left his mark on our little corner of the world. Perhaps more than anyone else, Kepler, who died April 28 at the age of 88, was one of a handful of local leaders responsible for the early development and later success of Hagerstown Junior College, now Hagerstown Community College. He was the chief officer of the college, initially as dean and then as president, from January 1953 to the summer of 1986. Long on vision and determination, Kepler's life's passion was HJC. For more than 30 years, he worked to establish and build a dynamic two-year college in Washington County.

As you read this column, it is Feb. 22, which is George Washington’s birthday. Monday was Presidents Day, which is the observance of the birthdays of Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Both men were intimately involved in agriculture and education. Most people know Washington’s connection to agriculture if for no other reason than for Mount Vernon, his plantation on the banks of the Potomac in Northern Virginia. If you visit there, you will see that he was a man ahead of his time.

The West Virginia Legislature successfully balanced the state's budget this past Sunday, but not with increased taxes, as Gov. Bob Wise had proposed. Instead, lawmakers cut agency budgets and more troubling, relied on a number of funding sources that can only be used once. As long as lawmakers keep avoiding the hard choices, the state's budget will continue to be a cobbled-together attempt to get through each year instead of being a real spending plan for the future. On the plus side, the $3.07 billion budget passed Sunday provided $269 million for higher education, more than the governor had sought.