Mr. Pundmann will participate at the invitation of U.S. Department of Education Under
Secretary for Postsecondary Education Initiatives Martha Kanter, who plans to assemble
a group of leaders in education, philanthropy, business, and labor to meet at Ivy
Tech Community College in Indianapolis on March 23. The event is one of four regional
summits aimed at significantly increasing the number of college graduates prepared
for the twenty-first century workforce, with the ultimate goal of meeting President
Obama's challenge to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world
by 2020.
The group will develop recommendations on ways industry-education partnerships can
help students get high-quality credentials from community colleges. The recommendations
will be presented at a national virtual symposium in April.
Joining Mr. Pundmann at the summit will be other Missouri community college leaders;
representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the
Kresge Foundation, the National Science Foundation; and experts in workforce and economic
development.
Mr. Pundmann was nominated for participation in the summit by the Missouri Community
College Association (MCCA). Mr. Pundmann is also a member of MCCA's board of directors.
For more information, contact Zora Mulligan, MCCA Executive Director, (573) 634-8787 (office), (573) 230-9318 (mobile), or zora.mulligan@mccatoday.org.