SAS® Global Forum Executive Conference 2008
Successfully Navigating "The World as It Will Be"
Making Business Transformation a Sustainable Strategy
Education Track
Keeping Pace with Change: Innovation and Transformation in Education
Ensuring that graduates remain competitive in the 21st century will require sweeping changes in the way most schools and systems do business today. From stronger K-12 preparation to improved high school standards and elevated expectations for college, leading institutions are mining their vast data stores and applying advanced analytics to improve and measure performance, demonstrate accountability, and find ways to make education more affordable and accessible.
Industry experts will detail how you can evolve your use of data to create powerful strategic intelligence that guides more effective and efficient decision making, improves institutional effectiveness, assists with strategic resource allocation, enhances student achievement and more.
SESSIONS
The following sessions highlight the education industry but are open to all attendees. Please view the full agenda to learn about the rest of the conference.| 11:00 a.m. | Accelerating Innovation and Driving Transformation in Education The global marketplace requires school transformation, and the millennial generation demands it. This session will cover how the millennial generation is different from Baby Boomers and Generations X and Y. Join us and find out how to transform education to meet 21st-century demands. |
| 1:45 p.m. | Creating Strategic Intelligence with Analytics
This panel of industry executives will share best practices on leveraging data from across the organization to create intelligence and predict outcomes. They will explain how technology makes it possible to consolidate, cleanse and analyze data across departments – enabling you to make informed decisions quickly. You will learn how to align offerings and resources to match your organizational needs and how to identify indicators that tell you the potential for success versus risk. |
| 3:00 p.m. | The Value of Financial Transparency in the World of Education Learn how to improve the accuracy, relevance and timeliness of financial plans, budgets, reports and more. Ensure financial transparency by identifying opportunities for improvement and devising strategies for success, tracking the cost of programs and services, and aligning resources and strategies. |
SPEAKERS
John Alawneh
Executive Director of Technology Operations
Plano Independent School District
Plano, Texas
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| John Alawneh |
John Alawneh worked in the healthcare industry for more than 15 years – as an IT executive for Tenet Healthcare Corporation and HCA Inc. – before joining Plano Independent School District. Alawneh published several journal articles in the areas of process optimization, efficient utilization of resources, computer algorithms and placement and routing problems. He earned his doctoral degree in computer engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso and a master’s degree in business administration with a focus on operations management in 2003 from New Mexico State University.
Randie Allen
Assistant Superintendent
Coronado Unified School District
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| Randie Allen |
Randie Allen supervises the District Business Department. Her areas of oversight include finance, maintenance and operations, construction, child nutrition, and purchasing and transportation.
Allen previously served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Poway Unified School District from 2003 through October 2007.
Other prior experience includes working as a consultant for the San Diego County Office of Education’s Business Advisory Services; serving as Fiscal Services Manager for the Ramona Unified School District; and a position as Business Assistant for the Lakeside Union School District.
Business Finance magazine gave Allen the2006 Vision Award for Excellence in Business Performance Management in recognition of her extensive experience in school finance administration and her knowledge of technology.
Allen has been involved in school finance for 30 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA in technology management from the University of Phoenix.
June St. Clair Atkinson, EdD
North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction
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| June Atkinson |
June St. Clair Atkinson, EdD, is the first woman elected to the post of State Superintendent. She oversees more than 1.4 million students in more than 2,300 public schools.
As State Superintendent, Atkinson heads the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, an agency that she served for nearly 30 years as a Chief Consultant and Director in the areas of business education, career and technical education, and instructional services. A former business education teacher, Atkinson has been involved in instruction and curriculum development throughout her career. Improving instructional quality and student learning, creating environments that enable teachers' and students' success, and ensuring that education is modern and relevant are key priorities for Atkinson.
Atkinson has received numerous awards and held many professional offices. In addition to her many honors, she has been published many times and has authored two books related to technology.
She received a bachelor’s degree in business education from Radford University in 1969, a master’s degree in vocational and technical education from Virginia Tech in 1974, and a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy from North Carolina State University in 1996. After graduating from Radford, Atkinson taught high school in Roanoke, VA, and Charlotte, NC. In Charlotte, Atkinson's teaching assignments required that she work with businesspeople to find meaningful employment for her students. Seeing that her students were prepared for both further education and work became her passion.
Patti Barney
Vice President for Information Technology
Broward Community College
Broward County, Florida
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| Patti Barney |
Patti Barney has 25 years of higher education and technology experience at the college and has been instrumental in leading change in the industry through collaborative efforts and successful partnerships.
Broward Community College (BCC) is a public, comprehensive two-year college that is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is a large, three-campus, four-center urban institution with international overseas affiliates, serving 58,720 credit/noncredit students, plus 25,403 students served by the Center for Economic Development.
Barney is a BCC distinguished alumna. She received her bachelor’s degree from Barry University and earned a Master of Science degree from Florida State University in library and information studies.
Carrie Birckbichler
Director of Institutional Research
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
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| Carrie Birckbichler |
Carrie Birckbichler has nearly 23 years’ experience in higher education. Her wide-ranging work includes roles in finance, information technology, planning and budgeting, and institutional research. At Slippery Rock, her areas of responsibility include institutional reporting for both internal and external constituencies; accountability and performance measurement; resource management and allocation; analytical studies and surveys; and data research, analysis and reporting functions. Birckbichler currently serves as the university’s SAS Project Manager.
James Riha, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Oklahoma City Community College
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| James Riha |
In his role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC), Riha provides senior leadership for the strategic use of information and instructional technology (IT) resources in support of OCCC’s mission and goals.
Since coming to OCCC in 2005, Riha has led the institution into a new era of leveraging information technology to deliver value to all stakeholders. Under his leadership, OCCC is on a path to becoming an IT leader and a premier community college. The college’s IT initiatives have enabled behavior change within the organization and garnered strong interest from technology leaders across the state. Riha’s focus on converting IT investment into direct customer value has led to community excitement for creating personalized services and total lifetime customer value.
During his 30-year career in higher education, Riha has served in both administrative and faculty roles. Riha has served as a CIO/CTO for 20 years and has led major IT and organizational re-engineering projects at five institutions of higher education. His faculty experience includes a tenure track, full time graduate appointment at Northern Illinois University’s College of Business and adjunct appointments.
Riha holds a master’s degree in cognitive psychology and a doctorate degree in MIS from the Claremont Graduate University. His research focused on user interface design, decision support systems, decision making and exploratory data analysis.
Amanda Yale, PhD
Associate Provost for Enrollment Services
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
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| Amanda Yale |
Amanda Yale has nearly 25 years’ experience in higher education. At Slippery Rock, she has wide-ranging responsibilities, including undergraduate and graduate admissions, orientation, financial aid, academic records and summer school, retention services and academic services, career services, and services for students with disabilities. Yale has presented nationally on issues related to first-year advisement, first-year transition and intervention services, freshman seminar, learning communities, academic support services and early intervention programs, orientation programming, SEM planning and leading an enrollment management division. She led several initiatives that produced national awards and recognitions for exemplary programs and services related to marketing and recruitment initiatives, retention programming, first-year initiatives and academic advisement for Slippery Rock University. Yale has served as a consultant in these areas for many higher education institutions.
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