higher education and how to become more engaged in the process.  Deputy Secretary of Higher Education Gregg Edwards also visited the campus and provided insight into the budgetary process and various policy choices involving higher education. 

The CCM Cyber Centurions, students who are members of the college's Cyber Security Club, placed in the top 10 after the virtual qualifier round, advancing to the regional finals at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Maryland at the end of March.

Not only is this the first time CCM is competing, but the college's team was the only group from any New Jersey college or university to enter the competition.

"The success of this team is a testament to the quality of our Information Security curriculum, faculty and students," says Nancy Binowski, chair of the Information Technologies program at CCM. "I congratulate the CCM Cyber Centurions on their significant accomplishment and wish them continued success as they represent County College of Morris and the state of New Jersey in the regional finals in Maryland."

The winner of the MACCDC will represent the region at the national Cyber Defense Competition in San Antonio, Texas, in April.

The accomplishment is even more meaningful as the team only began practicing in February. In order to prepare in such a short period of time, the students met regularly at the home of Professors Patricia and Joseph Tamburelli, who coach the team. Practices took place late into the night during the week and on weekends.

To create a welcoming environment, the Tamburellis cooked the team meals and even increased their home Internet speed to allow students to practice in an ideal environment. The CCM Information Systems department also helped by providing switches and fast cables for the team to use.

The team is made up of students Alexander Zielinski, of Lake Hiawatha; Brian Seligson, of Parsippany; Jared Rudow, of Wayne; Mihir Kansagra, of Rockaway; Sergiy Tsysarchuk, of Wharton; Shaun Carroll, of Landing; Patrick McGrath, of Towaco; Kimberly Monka, of Denville; Ryan Bednar, of Denville; and Rayne Cafaro, of Denville.

"I'm so proud of our team," Patricia Tamburelli says. "My husband and I believe our students have a great chance of winning the regional finals because the students have learned from their experiences through debriefing sessions and are preparing for their next challenge."

The Board of Trustees of Berkeley College has named Michael J. Smith as President, effective July 1, 2015. Mr. Smith currently serves as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of BES Inc., the corporate office of Berkeley College. Mr. Smith will succeed Dario A. Cortes, PhD, who announced his retirement earlier this year and has served as President since July 2008.

"We are both pleased and excited to promote from within," said Kevin Luing, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. "Michael Smith's institutional knowledge and proven leadership ability, along with his concern for student success, will drive Berkeley College to new heights."

Mr. Smith's career at Berkeley began in 1996. During his tenure, Mr. Smith transformed the technology infrastructure for human resources at the College and emphasized a centralized approach toward organizational management and services. He conceptualized systems and processes to implement sophisticated planning and budgeting, forecasting, balance sheet and working capital management, capital budgeting and external reporting.

Under Mr. Smith's leadership Berkeley College has garnered numerous best workplace and best employer awards. Mr. Smith has also served as Treasurer, Berkeley College Board of Trustees, and as Chief Operating Officer, Berkeley College, White Plains, NY. He was also a member of evaluation teams for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a regional accrediting organization covering the mid-Atlantic region in the United States.

Prior to joining Berkeley College, Mr. Smith was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of MetLife Realty Group, a company of which he was a founder. That organization provided value-added investment management for $1.5 billion of real estate. Mr. Smith is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst.

The Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) is a new citywide postsecondary network, committed to increasing the percentage of residents with postsecondary degrees, certificates, and quality credentials from the current 17% to 25% by 2025.

To achieve this goal, the NCLC, in collaboration with vital partners, proposes five strategies.

1. Build awareness of the broader issue by gathering and sharing data that tracks readiness, enrollment, retention, and completion of Newark residents.
2. Enhance and support college readiness initiatives by developing a high school to college postsecondary pipeline through alignment and collaboration with the Newark public schools and local charter schools.
3. Increase postsecondary enrollment, retention, and completion through two- and four-year higher education institution alignments.
4. Engage and support adult learners to degree completion.
5. Develop financial support opportunities to assist with postsecondary attainment while developing linkages between education and future career opportunities.

To support these strategies, the city must focus on increasing college enrollment, retention, and completion rates of Newark residents; provide greater incentives to attract and retain college graduates; encourage adult learners to return to school; provide more support to traditional high school students to increase college knowledge; create scholarship opportunities to lower financial barriers to college; place greater focus on ensuring higher transfer rates from two-year to four-year schools; support data articulation agreements between the secondary and higher education institutions to better track students; and create more internship opportunities as a way to increase retention and direct students to growing career fields in the area.

The collaborative is composed of over 60 organizations, including higher educational institutions, the City of Newark, the Newark Workforce Investment Board, the Newark Housing Authority, the private sector, philanthropic organizations, college attainment programs, and community based organizations.

The backbone organization for the NCLC is the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies. The Cornwall Center provides a full-time project coordinator who manages the NCLC advisory board comprised of the leaders of major partner institutions, a 25 member steering committee, and four learning teams (internships and scholarships, college readiness, data and evaluation, and postsecondary/adult learners). The Cornwall Center also serves as the depository of information and data and is in the process of developing a website and communications plan for the work of the NCLC.

For more information

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's 1.6 million grant to Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute (UCI) is supporting work on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal, an online toolkit and resource center to support ocean planning in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The grant supports UCI's work with several academic, government, private and public sector partners to implement the project. In addition to UCI, the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal team includes investigators from the Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, The Nature Conservancy, and Point 97.

The work is being done in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean

(MARCO). MARCO is a regional ocean partnership established by the governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia for shared action to improve health and contribute to the high quality of life and economic vitality in the region. The Portal consolidates best available data and enables state and federal agencies and the public to visualize and analyze ocean resources and human use information such as fishing grounds, recreational areas, shipping lanes, habitats and offshore wind energy areas.

The Ocean Data Portal serves as a platform for working collaboratively with ocean users and stakeholders in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Portal organizes the complex ocean data related to the region in one place and puts essential information and state-of-the-art mapping and visualization technology into the hands of the states, agencies, industry, community leaders and the public.

"We are extremely grateful to the Moore Foundation for this support, which enables Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute to continue this important work in collaboration with other partners on issues of critical importance to the state and region. This is an excellent example of how science and technology can be coupled with public engagement to inform important ocean policy and management decisions," said Monmouth University President Paul R. Brown, Ph.D.

The grant enables the Portal Team to coordinate efforts with MARCO to:

1.    Effectively engage ocean stakeholders across the region;

2.     Continue the development of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal to deliver a state-of-the-art data platform and the tools and features necessary to meet the needs of the region;

3.     Collaborate with ocean users, scientists and local experts to develop a regional ocean assessment, and improve understanding and awareness of the importance of Mid-Atlantic ocean resources to the region's economy and environment.