Keynote Session: October 14, 1:00-2:00pm
Navigating Uncharted Waters: What Does It Take To Stay On Course?In today's complex, constantly shifting higher education environment, professional and continuing education faces unfamiliar challenges: technological disruption, global competition, new workforce needs, and many more. Overcoming them means embracing change and seizing opportunities for growth as they arise. Our survival depends on our ability to integrate with the core of our universities and position ourselves to meet evolving learner and market demands. Are we ready? Are we willing?
Bio
Dr. Nelson Baker, dean of Professional Education at the Georgia Institute of Technology and associate professor in the university’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, leads a multifaceted operation at Georgia Tech Professional Education. The division is comprised of the Global Learning Center, Georgia Tech-Savannah, the Language Institute, and an extensive program of professional education courses in science, technology, engineering, and math, with online professional master’s degrees, as well as an array of distance learning courses, both credit and noncredit.
Baker particularly seeks to create and assess ways in which technology impacts the learning of engineering students. His award-winning work has generated projects such as multi-lingual web-based intelligent simulations for problem solving; intelligent tutors; student models; an online faculty assistant tool for creating course objectives; and a variety of technology-based assessments and virtual reality interfaces for education.In addition to his role as dean, Baker serves as the U.S. principal investigator for a FIPSE Atlantis programme grant (P116J090074), an international activity exploring quality management and benchmarking of continuing engineering education programs; and also as a co-principal investigator on a five-year NASA project, Electronic Professional Development Network (ePDN), which develops and delivers STEM content to high school teachers.
In February 2012, Baker was appointed by Chancellor Huckaby to serve on the University System of Georgia's (USG) Distance Education Task Force to create a framework to better coordinate and guide the future use of distance education for the 35 colleges and universities within the USG system. He currently serves as the President of the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education, and is past-chair of the Georgia Board of Regents Administrative Committee on Public Service and Continuing Education. Baker is a board member for the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, and is an active member of ASEE and ASCE.
Closing General Session: October 16, 9:45-10:45am
Mark F. Lytle- Vice Chancellor for Economic Development; Board of Regents- University System of Georgia
In his current role Mr. Lytle is responsible for identifying and enhancing access to the research and economic development assets of all the institutions of the University System of Georgia. He is also responsible for utilizing those assets to create an ecosystem of innovation, discovery and entrepreneurship with the mission to create new businesses and support Georgia’s early stage companies, existing industries, communities, researchers, students and faculty.
Mr. Lytle is also the USG representative to Governor Deal’s High Demand Careers Initiative, wherein validated industry workforce needs are identified. Mark then establishes the industry relationships and creates collaborations with industry groups and companies to align existing or create new academic programs to meet the requirements.
Prior to joining the University System of Georgia in April 2013, he was the Division Director for the Georgia Centers of Innovation, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. In that role he had overall managerial responsibilities for Georgia’s Six Centers of Innovation, connecting Georgia businesses with university researchers, essential contacts and matching grants to help companies compete and grow.
Before managing the Centers of Innovation, Mark held several positions within the Georgia Department of Economic Development including Director of Foreign Investment Projects, Director of Statewide Projects, Manager of the Kia Supplier Initiative and Sr. Project Manager, all focusing on global recruitment of businesses to bring jobs and investment into the state of Georgia.
Mark has also been the president of a nationally recognized heavy industrial contracting business, has worked in Georgia QuickStart (Georgia’s globally recognized workforce development organization) and has owned and operated a small business.
Mark is a member of Georgia Economic Developers Association, and holds a B.S. in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He and his wife live in Brookhaven and have two adult children.
Chris Young, a native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, is a sought-after keynote speaker and
trainer, featured presenter, and subject-matter expert in leadership and organizational
dynamics, international protocol, cross-cultural literacy, negotiations, and global
business etiquette. His clients include Fortune 500 companies; major universities;
national, state, and municipal governments; chambers of commerce and economic
development agencies; professional associations; and global sporting events.
By day, he serves as the Executive Director of CIFAL Atlanta, an arm of the United Nations’ Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and is a Fellow with UNITAR. The center focuses on capacity building for local governments and civil society leaders, with programmatic emphases on economic development, good governance, water, and disaster preparation and recovery. Its work largely targets emerging democracies and economies within the Americas.
For seven years, he led Protocol & Diplomacy
International – Protocol Officers Association (PDIPOA),
the worldwide professional organization for
those in those related fields, as its elected president. During his tenure, the organization
increased its membership almost 400% to include people from 30 nations. Today he
serves as the past president and chair of the committee on governance and ethics.
In August 2014, he was honored by his peers from around the world with the PDI-POA Ann Beard Achievement Award, the highest in his profession. Mr. Young’s career also includes service as the Executive Director of The Protocol School of Washington and Chief of Protocol and Director of International Affairs for the State of Georgia, the latter of which he started and operated for two successive administrations.
His work has taken to him to almost 100 countries. Over the past decade, Mr. Young has
organized visits for over 200 presidents, vice presidents, ministers, and ambassadors, as
well as planned and executed more than 50 full-scale international business
development trips. During his tenure with the State, he liaised directly with the
international consular corps and trade community in Georgia, which, under his
stewardship, enjoyed unparalleled growth, over 60%.
In 2010, Georgia Trend magazine tapped him as one of the State’s “40 Under 40,”
Georgia’s forty rising stars and influential leaders under the age of forty.
Mr. Young graduated with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology,
entering as a President’s Scholar and earning a BS degree in History. He received his law
degree (Juris Doctor), with honor, from the University of Georgia. In 1999 he was
appointed as a nationally prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholar. In March 2006, Mr.
Young was named as the recipient of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Alumni Legacy Award.
An inveterate traveler and avid pianist, he attends Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta and is a
member of their choir.