Five hundred students grades 5-8, over 100 STEM professionals, and approximately 200 teachers and school district representatives converged on Bridgewater State University to attend the May 24 SE MA STEM Expo. Twenty-seven school districts from Canton to the Cape were represented.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. CONNECT administers the SE MA STEM Network, one of seven networks statewide. Its goal: to promote interest and achievement in STEM so that more of our state's students are ready and willing to enter the high-tech workforce.

All six CONNECT colleges and universities participated in the event, with hands-on demos such as cleaning up a mock oil spill (Mass Maritime Academy), steering an underwater robot vehicle (Bristol Community College), and learning how math moves us (UMass Dartmouth). BSU president Dana Mohler-Faria welcomed the students, along with Daniel Pratt of the MA State Police Crime Scene Response Unit, who is also featured in a Dept. of Higher Education video profiling the variety of STEM-focused professions in our state.

Education Secretary Paul Reville welcomed the adults in attendance by emphasizing the importance of a skilled STEM workforce to Massachusetts' innovation economy.

To view Sec. Reville's presentation, become involved with the STEM Network, or to learn more about the Expo, visit the SE MA STEM Network website at http://www.connectsemass.org/stem.

The SE MA STEM Network will work with school districts who attended the Expo throughout the 2012-13 year.

CONNECT's College Readiness work continued May 18 at Bristol Community College with a meeting between college Math and English faculty and high school Math and English teachers. The goal: to align high school and college curriculum so that more students graduate prepared to enroll in college-level courses. Tim Dunbar, Durfee High School's Math Department chair, noted the necessity for math staff to continually review skills needed for college success. "We have a class specifically geared toward getting kids ready to take the Accuplacer college placement exam; meetings like this allow us to take a look at the class content and tweak where needed." Added Fonda McKight, a Math teacher at Durfee, "The skills we're talking about are what kids need not just for Accuplacer, but to succeed in life." New Bedford High School educators also participated in the session.    

The final CONNECT Math Seminar was held Wednesday March 23, 2012 at BSU's Conant Science and Mathematics Building. Thirty-eight faculty members from five CONNECT schools attended Prof. Frank Morgan's presentation on Optimal Tilings. During the reception, Becky Metcalf (BSU) and Greg Sthares (BCC), co-facilitators of CONNECT Math, thanked colleagues for their contributions to the overall collaboration and shared experiences from the last six years. The Math Group wrapped up its articulation and alignment work in Spring 2012.

The end of the 2011-2012 school year also marks the retirement of two of CONNECT's founding leaders.

Cape Cod Community College president Kathleen Schatzberg retires after 14 years of service. Her leadership brought a multitude of advances to the institution, among them the founding of the Zammer Institute for Hospitality and Culinary Studies, the Cotton Center for Real Estate Studies, an Academy for Lifelong Learning, partnerships bringing baccalaureate and master's opportunities from eight institutions of higher learning, and commitment to sustainability and renewable energy initiatives. To read more about her many achievements, visit:

http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/home2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28984&Itemid=30

and http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120524/NEWS/205240338.

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean MacCormack's 13-year tenure oversaw the opening of the state's first public law school, the founding of a high-tech incubator at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River, and as recently as May 16, 2012, the beginning of a $28 million biomanufacturing center in the SouthCoast Life Science and Technology Park. Enrollment has grown to 9,400 students and research funding has increased from $7 million to $26 million yearly. To read more about Chancellor MaCormack's exceptional leadership, visit:

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1069108945/UMD-Chancellor-Jean-MacCormack-to-retire-at-end-of-school-year#ixzz1x7adFBDi

or http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1367607617/Retiring-UMD-Chancellor-MacCormack-earns-praise-for-legacy#ixzz1x7WjL1F4.

CONNECT thanks Chancellor MacCormack and President Schatzberg for their service and their vision, and looks forward to welcoming two news CEOs, Chancellor Divina Grossman and President John Cox, in July.