September 16, 2011

(LANHAM, Md.) –President & CEO Deborah Scott Thomas will present at the White House Initiative and President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities National HBCU Week Conference in Washington, DC on September 19, 2011. The theme of the conference is HBCUs: Engaging The World Anew. 

This year’s conference sessions have been designed to pursue answers to questions, such as how can HBCUs raise quality, control costs, increase aid and extend their reach to serve more students on campus and online? 

The conference is tied to both the fulfillment of Presidential Executive Order 13532 and the pursuit of the goal set by President Barack Obama and Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to have the best-educated and most-competitive and diverse workforce in the world by the year 2020.  To meet this goal, our nation needs roughly 8 million more graduates overall, and nearly 2 million of them would be African Americans.  Thus, HBCUs would need to generate 167,000 graduates above the current base by 2020.  Therefore, the annual rate of graduates from HBCUs must increase from approximately 35.5 thousand to over 54 thousand.

“We want to leave this conference with the ideas, perspectives, plans, relationships and strategies required to engage the world anew,” stated John Silvanus Wilson Jr., executive director, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  “At stake is not just our ability to survive but also our ability to thrive!”

CEO Deborah Scott Thomas will participate in the Working with the Small Business Community session along with the following leaders:

• Marie C. Johns, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
• David Garnett, President, iAM Solutions, LLC
• Daryush Ila, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research in Academic Affairs, Fayetteville State University
• Joshua I. Smith, Chairman & Managing Partner, Joshua Smith Coaching Group, LLC
• Michael A. Stubblefield, Vice Chancellor for the Office of Research and Strategic Initiatives, Southern University and A&M College.

As the nation’s economy recovers from a lingering recession, small businesses will likely play a major role in creating employment and growth opportunities. The panelist will explore whether or not HBCUs are overlooking this sector as they seek to develop and identify public-private partnerships and additional resources for their campuses.  This session will explore some of the distinct opportunities and outreach strategies HBCUs should consider in building relationships with small businesses.

Contact

Tammi L. Thomas, Vice President for Strategic Management
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 301-583-3500
Web: www.dstincorporated.com