2009 Archived News
December 2009
December 7, 2009 -- Business-Higher Education Forum to Expand Use of STEM Education Model
December 2, 2009 -- BHEF Supports National Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 6 - 12
November 2009
November 23, 2009 -- BHEF Supports White House Effort To Boost U.S. STEM Achievement
November 23, 2009 -- BHEF Supports Launch of National Lab Day
November 18, 2009 -- Time Magazine Names Four BHEF Members as Top Educators
October 2009
October 30, 2009 -- Pamela Lessard and Alexander Sittig join the Business-Higher Education Forum.
October 20, 2009 -- Business-Higher Education Forum Releases Case Study on Exemplary Efforts to Increase College Readiness
September 2009
September 30, 2009 -- Carnegie Corporation Honors BHEF’s William Kirwan with Leadership Award
September 28, 2009 -- Business-Higher Education Forum Urges Senate HELP Committee to Include Key Provisions in Education Bill
July 2009
July 8, 2009 -- Raytheon develops first-ever modeling and simulation tool to help advance U.S. science, technology, engineering and math education
April 2009
Constantine “Taki” Papadakis, president of Drexel University and BHEF member, died on April 5, 2009. In his 14 years as president of Drexel, he raised the endowment, enrollment, and profile of the university and oversaw the addition of medical, nursing, public health, and law schools. On campus, he was well known both for his determined pragmatism and gregarious personality.
Taki’s enthusiasm for education was also evident in his work with BHEF. Since joining in 2001, he tirelessly served on numerous committees and working groups. At the time of his death, he was a member of BHEF’s executive committee and its finance and audit committee, roles that brought his excellent leadership abilities to BHEF. He also served on working groups for the STEM Initiative and the Math and Science Initiative, helping to produce the reports An American Imperative and A Commitment to America’s Future, and he was actively involved in BHEF’s current college readiness and access member-led local projects in Philadelphia.
BHEF and its members are deeply saddened by his passing. His eight-year contribution and dedication to BHEF was invaluable, and BHEF is a stronger organization because of the time, wisdom, and humor he brought to all that he did.
February 2009
BHEF Co-Sponsors a Congressional Briefing: "Building a Diverse Scientific Workforce"
In conjunction with a variety of organizations, BHEF co-sponsored a briefing on collaboration for a competitive and healthy nation on March 12, 2009. Speakers included individuals from Education Counsel LLC, National Institutes of Health, Society for Research in Child Development, and the National Science Foundation. See the invitation (with full list of sponsors) here (pdf).
BHEF outlines key education policy priorities for the Obama Administration.
At BHEF’s February 2009 member meeting, members committed to advancing four education policy priorities that align with the Obama Administration’s education agenda. These priorities were shared recently with President Obama and Secretary Duncan in letters signed by BHEF Chairman David Skorton (president of Cornell), Vice Chair William Swanson (chairman and CEO of Raytheon) and Executive Director Brian Fitzgerald. Read the letter to President Obama here (pdf) and the letter to Secretary Duncan here (pdf).
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