FTC....Robocalls Illegal

FTC Action Puts Robocallers Out of the Telemarketing Business

Defendants Allegedly Responsible for Billions of Calls; Will Give Up Assets Totaling Roughly $3 Million

The Federal Trade Commission put a robocall operation out of the telemarketing business under a settlement resolving FTC charges that it bombarded consumers with more than two billion calls pitching a variety of products and services, including worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs.

The final settlement order against SBN Peripherals, based near Los Angeles, which did business as Asia Pacific Telecom Inc., is part of the FTC's ongoing crackdown on deceptive robocallers. The order bans the defendants from telemarketing and requires them to give up roughly $3 million in assets.

The FTC's complaint alleged that the defendants delivered illegal prerecorded phone calls falsely claiming the caller had urgent information about the consumer's auto warranty or credit card interest rate. Consumers who pressed "1" for more information were transferred to telemarketers who used fraudulent practices to sell inferior extended auto service contracts or worthless debt-reduction services. According to court papers filed by the court-appointed receiver, from January 2008 through August 2009, the defendants completed approximately 2.6 billion outbound robocalls that were answered by approximately 1.6 billion consumers, approximately 12.8 million of whom were connected to a sales agent.

As alleged in the complaint, the defendants violated the law by using robocalls to contact consumers without their written permission and called telephones listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. To make it difficult for consumers to identify the seller, the FTC also alleged that the defendants' robocalls often transmitted caller ID information vaguely identifying the caller as "SALES DEPT" and displaying telephone numbers registered to an offshore company it controlled called Asia Pacific Telecom.

Under the proposed settlement order, Repo B.V.; SBN Peripherals Inc., doing business as SBN Dials; Johan Hendrik Smit Duyzentkunst; and Janneke Bakker-Smit Duyzentkunst are banned from telemarketing. The order also prohibits them from misrepresenting any good or service, and from selling or otherwise benefitting from customers' personal information, and requires them to properly dispose of customers' personal information within 30 days. The order imposes a $5.3 million judgment that will be suspended, based on their inability to pay, when they have surrendered assets valued at approximately $3 million, including more than $1 million obtained from a bank account in Hong Kong, a $375,000 lien on a home, a 50 percent interest in an office building in Saipan, the defendants' interest in seven parcels of undeveloped land, as well as three cars and a recreational vehicle. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The Commission vote approving the proposed consent order was 4-0. It is subject to court approval. The FTC filed the proposed consent order in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

To hear telemarketing sales pitches used in this case, clickAuto Warranty audio 1, Auto Warranty audio 2, Credit Card audio 1, and Credit Card audio 2.

To learn more about telemarketing scams, read Who's Calling? Recognize and Report Phone Fraud, You Make the Call: The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the FTC's new consumer alert, Robocalls are Illegal: Scammers Use False Caller IDs to Hide. The FTC also offers How to Steer Clear of Auto Warranty Scams and Credit Card Interest Rate Reduction Scams. To inform business owners, the FTC offers Reining in Robocalls and Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

NOTE: This consent order is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the defendants that the law has been violated. Consent orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC's online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC's website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Frank Dorman
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2674

STAFF CONTACT:

Steven M. Wernikoff
FTC's Midwest Region
312-960-5634

Joint Base provides guidance, support to FEMA response team

Photos 1 of 5 Members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency board a 305th Air Mobility Wing C-17 Globemaster III during a mobility exercise March 20, 2012, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. Approximately 30 incident management assistance team members from FEMA Region II, based in New York, N.Y., and FEMA Region III, from Philadelphia, Pa., simulated a hurricane response deployment to Puerto Rico with the help of the 621st Contingency Response Wing and the 305th Air Mobility Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres) Download HiRes http://www.jointbasemdl.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123294970 by Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs 3/22/2012 - JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Airmen from three wings across Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst came together March 20 through 23 to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency with an Operational Readiness Exercise here. Approximately 30 incident management assistance team members from FEMA Region II, based in New York, N.Y., and FEMA Region III, from Philadelphia, Pa., converged on the 621st Contingency Response Wing's Global Reach Deployment Center for a simulated hurricane response deployment to Puerto Rico. This exercise was observed for training by members of FEMA's National IMAT based in Herndon, Va., and by members of New York City's Urban Search and Rescue Team. "We hope to gain familiarity with DOD procedures in the event we use military airlift to respond to a disaster," said Mike Sharon, FEMA Region III IMAT leader. "For example, the security and specialized loading requirements are completely different than if we were to show up at Philadelphia International Airport." "If FEMA needs to use military airlift in the future, we would most likely be flying out of (JB MDL), so learning the layout of the base now will save valuable time in a real-world emergency," Sharon added. IMATs are FEMA's rapidly deployable emergency response teams. These full-time, rapid-response cells have a dedicated staff able to deploy within two hours and arrive at an incident within 12 hours to support a local incident commander. They support the initial establishment of a unified command and provide situational awareness for federal and state decision-makers, crucial to determining the level and type of immediate federal support that may be required. The seeds for this interagency training and mobility partnership exercise began back in 2010, explains Master Sgt. Steve Dirksen, 621st CRW affiliation lead and wing plans superintendent. "The 621st CRW has been teaching load planning, pallet buildup, weighing and cargo marking to FEMA and other federal partners since 2010," said Dirksen. "Recently, they called us and asked if they could come out and put their military airlift plans into action. We agreed, and felt it was a great opportunity to strengthen our training partnership." Soon, a plan came together that would test the mobility processes of FEMA and call upon an increasing number of Joint Base resources. Just as it would in a real-world deployment, the 87th Air Base Wing Deployment Control Center stood up; they became the base focal point responsible for coordinating the flow of information, passengers and cargo between FEMA, the CRW and the 305th Air Mobility Wing. "A lack of user expertise and cargo preparation knowledge often delays the joint inspection process, potentially leading to late aircraft departures," said Karen Lamphere, 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron installation deployment officer. "Working closely with our federal partners during exercises like this is essential to preventing delays during an actual mobilization." Airmen from the CRW were tasked to provide cargo preparation and joint inspection expertise and a sheltered working area for FEMA to set up a mobile command center and test its equipment, explains Tech. Sgt. David Lund, 621st CRW wing plans NCO in charge. Two IMAT response vehicles full of equipment were then processed for air shipment by members of the 305th Aerial Port Squadron and loaded onto a 305th AMW C-17 Globemaster III to provide familiarity with military cargo procedures to the FEMA observers. Finally, all exercise participants boarded the cargo-loaded C-17 and were provided a safety and familiarization briefing. The entire process was helpful and informative, said Michael Anama, FEMA Region II equipment manager. "We are finding and fixing a number of kinks in the process, but have had no real surprises," said Anama. "By the end of this week, I'm sure we will have a lot more information we can use to streamline our internal procedures and work more efficiently with the DOD airlift system on future deployments." For the FEMA IMAT leadership, seeing it all come together was a rewarding and eye-opening experience. "It's been a great partnership and we enjoyed the opportunity for our civilian personnel to go through the mobility process and experience what the conditions will be like in the back of an aircraft," said Sharon. "This is the kind of real world, hands-on training we can't get in a regional office. It's just great to be out here and experience everything from start to finish."

Health IT Teaching Curriculum components Available at No Cost

Enhanced Health IT teaching materials now available to the public

ONC is pleased to announce that an enhanced set of 20 curriculum components is now available to the public at no cost, including all institutions of higher education nationwide and internationally. Funded by the $10M ONC Curriculum Development Centers program, these teaching materials have been in use since 2010 with great success by the 82 member colleges of the ONC Community College Consortia program. Based on the enthusiastic response when first released publicly in June 2011, these materials clearly fill an urgent need in the educational marketplace.

Tell me more about the materials.

Designed around the six mobile workforce roles identified by ONC, the components form the building blocks of health IT courses at community colleges and universities. Each component is made up of several units that can be modified and combined to meet the needs of instructors as they design their courses. The components include slide-based lectures with professional audio narration and transcripts, learning activities, self-assessment questions with answer keys, and instructor manuals.

The components cover topics such as workflow process redesign, technical support, networking, usability, and project management, among others. Three of the components offer a hands-on lab experience for students supported by the VistA for Education EHR software package, also available at no cost.

What has changed since the previous version?

This new version contains many improvements over the previous version in both content and formatting. Of particular note, accessibility for people with disabilities has been increased substantially. Content across the components has been streamlined. And new information has been added in the areas of meaningful use as well as privacy and security.

How do I access the materials?

To obtain the materials, go to http://www.onc-ntdc.org or http://www.onc-ntdc.info to set up a profile and download the components.

Visit the ONC website to learn more about the Curriculum Development Centers program and other ONC health IT workforce development programs.

How long will the materials remain available?

The materials will continue to be made available through this program until the end of the calendar year but earlier versions will no longer be supported. Planning is underway for self-sustainability of the materials in 2013 and beyond.

Totaling over 9 gigabytes of information across more than 200 units, these innovative teaching materials offer a robust set of tools for health IT instructors.

For questions relating to the Curriculum Development Centers Program, email HITCurriculum@hhs.gov. 

Diversity: HHS announces new members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

Diversity..........

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/03/20120329a.html FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 29, 2012

Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343

HHS announces new members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that she has invited 15 individuals to serve as public members on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).
The IACC is a federal advisory committee established by the Combating Autism Act of 2006 and reauthorized by the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011.  The committee is composed of both federal officials and public members, and is charged with (1) coordinating all efforts within HHS concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), (2) developing and annually updating a strategic plan for ASD, and (3) providing advice to the Secretary on matters related to ASD.

Membership of the committee includes a wide array of federal agencies involved in ASD research and services, as well as public stakeholders who represent a variety of perspectives from within the autism community.  This makeup of the IACC membership is designed to ensure that the committee is equipped to address the wide range of issues and challenges faced by families and individuals affected by autism.

“The individuals invited to serve on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee represent people on the autism spectrum, autism advocates, parents, clinicians, and researchers from across the country,” Secretary Sebelius said. “I look forward to working with the committee members to make a real difference in the lives of people with autism and their families.”

The individuals invited to serve on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, subject to prescribed appointment procedures, include:

Idil Abdull
Ms. Idil Abdull is the parent of a son with autism and Co-Founder of the Somali American Autism Foundation. As a Somali-American mother, she has worked to raise awareness about the high prevalence of autism among Somali immigrants living in Minnesota and has helped to change autism policies in the state. She also has a special interest in serving as a voice for underrepresented groups more broadly, including those that are struggling with language, cultural, and economic barriers as they seek ways to help their family members with disabilities. Ms. Abdull holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Care Administration.

James Ball
Dr. Jim Ball is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) who is the President and CEO of JB Autism Consulting. He has worked in the private sector field of autism for more than 25 years, providing educational, employment, and residential services to children and adults affected with autism. He is a Board member of the Autism Society's (AS) Board of Directors and is currently the Chair of the National Board. He received his doctorate of education from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Anshu Batra
Dr. Anshu Batra is a developmental pediatrician specializing in autism and early childhood developmental disorders and is the mother of two sons with autism spectrum disorder. She currently works in a private practice that provides medical services to more than 600 patients with developmental disabilities, the majority of whom have an autism diagnosis. The practice is unique not only in terms of the racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity of its patients, but also in its scope. Dr. Batra has become an outspoken advocate to educate both the professional and lay communities about autism and considers how to best integrate a growing subpopulation of individuals on the spectrum into society. She received her M.D. from the University of Michigan and trained in Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Noah Britton
Mr. Britton was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome a decade ago as a freshman in college and has spent every year since working directly with people on the spectrum. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Bunker Hill Community College and has presented on autism as a guest lecturer at the University of Virginia and Tufts University. Prior to that Mr. Britton worked directly with teenagers on the spectrum as head counselor for the Northeast ARC’s Spotlight program and as a drama teacher at the New England Academy in Massachusetts. Mr. Britton currently serves on the scientific/educational advisory board of the Autism Higher Education Foundation. He received his master’s degree in psychology from Hunter College in 2010.  

Sally Burton-Hoyle
Dr. Sally Burton-Hoyle, sister to a person on the autism spectrum, has focused her life and career on improving the education of people with autism and other challenging behaviors. She serves as area coordinator of the Masters of Autism Spectrum Disorders program at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). This program is based on Positive Behavioral Supports and family/community involvement. Dr. Burton-Hoyle has been at EMU since 2006 and was Executive Director of the Autism Society of Michigan prior to EMU. In addition, she has classroom experience as a special education teacher. Dr. Burton-Hoyle holds a doctorate in education from the University of Idaho and a master’s degree in special education from the University of Kansas.

Matthew Carey
Dr. Matthew Carey is the father of a young child with multiple disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, and is a frequent contributor to the Left Brain/Right Brain blog and the Autism Science Foundation Blog. His writing focuses on reviewing current autism research in an understandable way for the public and he is deeply committed to communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism. He is also interested in analyzing trends in health and education public datasets.  Dr. Carey is an active industrial researcher in computer hardware whose current research interests include magnetic thin films, spintronics, and magnetic nanostructures. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego, and his M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Dennis Choi
Dr. Dennis Choi is the Executive Vice President of the Simons Foundation, the second largest funder of autism research, and he was previously a member of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. His past positions have included Vice President of Academic Health Affairs at Emory University, Executive Vice President of Neuroscience at Merck Research Labs, and professor and head of Neurology at Washington University Medical School. His research experience has included work on the physiological mechanism of action of benzodiazepine drugs and the processes responsible for nerve cell death after ischemic or traumatic insults. His research on mechanisms of brain and spinal cord injury has been recognized with several awards. Dr. Choi received his M.D. from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program, as well as a Ph.D. in pharmacology and neurology residency/fellowship training from Harvard University, before joining the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine from 1983-1991.

Jose Cordero
Dr. Corderois the Dean of the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Puerto Rico. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Cordero was an Assistant Surgeon General of the Public Health Service and the Founding Director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. He served in this capacity since the establishment of the center on April 16, 2001. Dr. Cordero worked for 27 years at the CDC and has extensive public health experience in the fields of birth defects, developmental disabilities, and child health.  He obtained his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico in 1973, completing residency training in pediatrics at Boston City Hospital and a fellowship in medical genetics at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1979, Dr. Cordero obtained a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University.

Jan Crandy
Ms. Jan Crandy is a case manager for the Nevada State Autism Treatment Assistance Program (ATAP) and has been a leader in raising awareness and treating autism spectrum disorders in Nevada for more than 15 years. She is a dedicated advocate and parent of a child with autism. In her current position at ATAP, Ms. Crandy manages and develops programs for more than 65 children with ASD. In 2007, Ms. Crandy was appointed to the Nevada Autism Task Force by Governor Jim Gibbons. In that role, Ms. Crandy helped develop policy recommendations for state policymakers on ways to improve the delivery and coordination of autism services in Nevada. She also serves as Chair of the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Ms. Crandy began her career in advocacy in 1996 when her daughter was diagnosed with autism. With the support of family and friends, Ms. Crandy started a nonprofit organization called Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT) to help parents of children with ASD in Southern Nevada.

Geraldine Dawson
Dr. Dawson is the Chief Science Officer for Autism Speaks, where she works with the scientific community and other stakeholders to shape and expand the organization's scientific vision. In addition to her work with Autism Speaks, Dr. Dawson holds the positions of Research Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University of Washington. Dr. Dawson is a licensed clinical psychologist who has published extensively on autism spectrum disorders, focusing on early detection and intervention and early patterns of brain dysfunction. In collaboration with Dr. Sally Rogers, Dawson helped to develop and empirically-validated the Early Start Denver Model, the first comprehensive early intervention program for toddlers with autism. She has collaborated on numerous studies of brain development and function and genetic risk factors in autism. From 1996-2008, Dr. Dawson was Founding Director of the University of Washington Autism Center where she directed three NIH Autism Center of Excellence Award programs of research focusing on genetics, neuroimaging, early diagnosis, and clinical trials. Dr. Dawson has served as a public member on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee since 2010 and has been invited to continue her service.  Dr. Dawson received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with a minor in Child Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington.

David Mandell
Dr. David Mandell is a health services researcher and psychiatric epidemiologist who seeks to identify the best ways to organize, finance and deliver services to children with psychiatric and developmental disabilities. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. The goal of his current research is to improve care for children with autism and their families by developing successful interventions at the individual, provider and system levels to decrease the age at which children with autism are recognized and enter treatment, and to improve the services and supports available to them and their families.  Dr. Mandell holds a bachelor of arts in psychology from Columbia University and a doctorate of science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Lyn Redwood
Ms. Lyn Redwood is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for SafeMinds and Co-Founder of the National Autism Association (NAA). She became interested in autism research and advocacy when her son was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Ms. Redwood served on the Department of Defense Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Program from 2007-2009 and was acknowledged for a decade of service by Spectrum Magazine as their Person of the Year in 2009. Ms. Redwood has served as a public member on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee since 2007 and has been invited to continue her service.  Ms. Redwood holds a Master’s of Science in Nursing from University of Alabama and is a registered nurse in the state of Georgia.

Scott Michael Robertson
Mr. Scott Michael Robertson co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) in 2006 and currently serves as ASAN’s Vice Chair of Development. Mr. Robertson, an adult on the autism spectrum, is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in information sciences and technology at Penn State University’s University Park campus. His research pursuits in the fields of disability studies, human-computer interaction, and computer supported work/learning focus on understanding and improving the lives of people with neurological and developmental disabilities. Beyond his research, Mr. Robertson has actively served the cross-disability and autism communities as a mentor, teacher, advocate, public speaker, and writer. Mr. Robertson holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University.

John Elder Robison
John Elder Robison is an adult on the autism spectrum who grew up in the 1960s before the Asperger diagnosis came into common use. At age sixteen, Mr. Robison left high school to join his first band as a sound engineer. Within a few years he was building equipment for Pink Floyd's sound company, touring the hockey rinks of Canada with April Wine, and creating the signature special effects guitars for the rock band, KISS. John went on to design sound effects and other circuits for some of the most popular electronic games and toys of the era before moving into more conventional engineering management. In the late 1980s, John left electronics for a new career - cars. His company, J E Robison Service, grew to be one of the largest independent restoration and service specialists for BMW, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce cars. Mr. Robison is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts; speaks publicly about his experience as a person on the autism spectrum; and is the author of popular books about living life with autism, Look Me in the Eye, My Life with Asperger's, and Be Different, Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian.

Alison Singer
Ms. Alison Singer is Co-Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation, a not-for-profit organization launched in April 2009 to support autism research. The Autism Science Foundation supports autism research by providing funding and other assistance to scientists and organizations conducting, facilitating, publicizing and disseminating autism research. Ms. Singer is the mother of a daughter with autism and legal guardian of her adult brother with autism. From 2005-2009 she served as Executive Vice President and a Member of the Board of Directors at Autism Speaks. Ms. Singer has served as a public member on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee since 2007 and has been invited to continue her service.  Ms. Singer graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Public announcement of the formal appointments of federal and public members to the IACC will follow in the coming weeks.

More information about the Interagency Autism Coordinating committee is available at: http://iacc.hhs.gov/.

When does the healing start? For the world.

The healing starts when we begin to discuss it with others openly.

Not just within the U.S., but the world.

Click here to view the video titled "Tim Wise White Privilage Racism America Part 1 of 6"

Health is the Answer

http://www.healthistheanswer.com/index.html  WELCOME
Health Is The Answer Is a community-based program to promote positive health practices, health attitudes and to increase healthy lifestyles. Health awareness of each individual and family is a complete state of physical, mental and social well being not merely the absence of disease and disorder. The goals of Health Is The Answer IS THE ANSWER is to encourage individuals to live a healthy lifestyle in order to add more years to life. Healthy is the answer through public services, forums and other support endeavors within the community will provide appropriate behavioral strategies to individual and communities.  Robin Willis, a new author has provided us with a Journal full of inspirations and a health record keeper for you and your family for empowerment. Click here to order from amazon.com Robin's mother Maria was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 1970. During her mothers' long illness, the Wellness Journal was being created, in thought. In 2009, Robin was diagnosed with thyroid cancer this further led the journey to begin writing the Wellness Journal. Robin needed a place to organize and document health information, medical exams, blood tests, and other vital health information. The Wellness Journal is an active Journal. It is an inspirational and motivational book that can serve as a tool to log health information. It is filled with statements of hopes, inspiration and empowering words. In this book, you'll find ways to better organize medical information; it will encourage documentation of physical exams, health screenings, provider's information and appointments. The Wellness Journal is a health record keeper and organizer for you and your family. Robin Willis a Washingtonian is a graduate of the District of Columbia Public Schools. She graduated from Miner Teacher's College in 1979 majoring in health education. In 1984, she received her Master's of Arts and Science in Counseling and Mental Health from The University of the District of Columbia. Robin has been for over twenty five years a counselor with the District of Columbia Mental Health system. In 1998, she created, "Health is the Answer", a health education and wellness program. This program greatly enriched and stabilized the lives of those with varying medical concerns. Robin continues to work as a Social Worker in the private sector in the District of Columbia. Presently, she actively in the Health Ministry of her local church, a member of the District of Columbia Board of Social Work and belongs to the Thyroid and Cancer Survivors Association. Upcoming Events Wellness Journal Book Signing March 20, 2012 Time: 6:30-8:00pm BusBoys and Poets 14th & Vst NW Washington, DC Walk For Multiple Sclerosis  April 14, 15, and 21, 2012 For more information click here

Howard in flux: An HBCU reinvents itself

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121305784.html

CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE
This article about changes at Howard University incorrectly said that Howard has the only freestanding philosophy department at a historically black college. There is at least one other, at Xavier University of Louisiana.

By Daniel de Vise.  Washington Post Staff Writer  Monday, December 13, 2010; 10:23 PM

Howard University is concluding the broadest academic review in its 143-year history, hoping to shed weak programs and bolster strong ones in order to compete in the increasingly fierce contest for America's top black scholars.

Howard offers 171 academic programs, an uncommonly large number for a university of 10,500 students. The range is a product of the institution's historic role as the epicenter of African American scholarship. But university leaders believe that the sheer number of offerings has become unwieldy, draining resources better spent pursuing excellence in core areas.

Howard will still turn out many of the nation's African American doctors and dentists, psychologists and engineers. But the university is considering cutting its undergraduate programs in philosophy, anthropology, the classics and even African studies - a specialty with symbolic importance to many in the Howard community. The school is keeping African American studies.

Altogether, Howard President Sidney Ribeau has proposed closing or reducing 20 undergraduate degree programs and at least that many graduate programs, based on recommendations forwarded by a Presidential Commission on Academic Renewal after a year-long review.

"You can't do everything at once," said Ribeau, who became the university's president in 2008.
Similar exercises in "academic renewal," driven by market forces and dwindling state funds, have happened at other colleges. But few have been so closely watched.

"The direction Howard goes in, that's the direction the African American community and the diaspora will go in. There's a lot of weight on it," said Brandon Harris, 21, a junior who is president of Howard's student association.

The tough choices at Howard reflect changing times for the nation's 105 historically black colleges and universities. Black colleges once held a monopoly on black students. Today,HBCUs compete with everyone else for the college-bound African American.

Top-tier schools - including Howard, Hampton University and Spelman and Morehouse colleges - vie with Harvard and Princeton for top black students and faculty. "Howard has positioned itself as a college that wants to attract the best and the brightest," said Michael Lomax, CEO of the United Negro College Fund. "There is a lot of competition for those students."

Some of the programs identified for possible reduction at Howard turn out only one or two degrees a year. Others have a faint pulse of academic scholarship, or duplicate the offerings of other departments. Some simply don't fit the school's mission as a hub of scholarship for the African diaspora.

Academic renewal has sparked passionate debate on campus. Few dispute the need to pare down the 171 programs. But when it comes to defending their own turf, some faculty members are less than magnanimous.

Ribeau proposes to close the bachelor's program in African studies, which yields about two degrees a year. A larger graduate program would be expanded. Still, some faculty members perceive retrenchment in a signature discipline.

"If it is eliminated, we fear it might send the wrong message to other institutions around the country and around the world as far as what Howard is about, what Howard stands for," said Mbye Cham, the department's chairman.

Ribeau also would discontinue the philosophy major, possibly merging the department with two others devoted to classics and religious studies.

Howard's is the only freestanding philosophy department at a historically black college and a major source of Africana philosophy; it was once chaired by Alain Locke, the first African American Rhodes scholar. A Save Howard Philosophy petition has attracted more than a thousand signatures.

"Any serious university ought to have a philosophy department," said Kwame Anthony Appiah, chairman of the American Philosophical Association.

The classics major is among Howard's oldest, originating with a group of African American intellectuals who met to read Greek and Latin.

Howard is the only historically black school with a classics department. It has produced a Rhodes scholar and engaging events such as a two-day marathon reading of "The Iliad." The department graduates about seven students a year.

Howard leaders say they recognize the university's role as a pipeline of black scholars. Howard is the leading producer of on-campus African American doctorates and the nation's only historically black institution identified as a first-tier "Research I" university.

Critics "make the arguments that without Howard, their disciplines would not be as diverse. To a large extent, that's true, " said Alvin Thornton, a renowned Howard scholar who led the academic review under Ribeau. "The question is, can Howard continue to be the source of that diversity across such a broad list of disciplines?"

The consensus is that it cannot. Instead, university leaders want to concentrate limited resources on a shorter list of programs with high-quality faculty and research, sustainable enrollment and adequate facilities.

Howard's academic programs multiplied during the two-decade tenure of President James Cheek, who tripled graduate programs while building the university into a major research institution in the 1970s and 1980s. But some programs, stymied by inadequate resources and archaic facilities, struggled from the start.

Howard is known today for professional programs in medicine and law, dentistry and nursing. Other strong graduate programs include social work, psychology, business and pharmacology.

To compete, Ribeau said, those programs need modern classrooms, state-of-the-art labs and first-rate, well-paid faculty. That can come only at the cost of running fewer programs and paying fewer professors, he said. He has promised that all cuts to tenured faculty will come through attrition.

Many of the proposed reductions come in areas, such as hospitality management and nutritional sciences, that Howard students might study at nearby community colleges. Ribeau said he wants to explore similar partnerships with four-year colleges.

The final academic renewal plan will be published next month. It will refocus Howard on research that resonates among Africans and African Americans: clean water, AIDS and cancer, urban education, public policy.

Ribeau also wants to stress science, technology, engineering and math, answering the national call for more minority scholars in those fields. That is a controversial stance, particularly among humanities scholars. Disciplines such as philosophy and classics are essential, they say, to the character-building at the core of a Howard education.

"I'm just worried about the conception of education that's being put forward here," said Eddie Glaude, chairman of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton.

Ribeau and Thornton, the architects of Howard's transformation plan, feel all the talk of cuts has overshadowed significant proposed improvements.

One goal, universally embraced, is to break down the strict divisions between the school's academic departments and usher in a new era of "interdisciplinarity," with departments sharing faculty and dollars, collaborating on teaching and research, and eliminating duplication.
Another proposal would build on Howard's elaborate system of academic checks and balances to ensure students learn the basics. New summer and winter "bridge" programs and first-year English and math seminars would push all freshmen toward proficiency, with progress measured in frequent assessments. Every student would have a mentor in a field of interest. More faculty would live near campus.

"We wanted to make sure that we were the best," Ribeau said, "so that we could attract and prepare the best."