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Archive for the ‘Disciplines’ Category

Jewish Version Of TED Talks Launched

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

At last, the Jewish community has its very own version of TED sort of.

TED, whose slogan is ideas worth spreading, began as a conference in 1984 that brought together people from the three disciplines in its acronym (Technology, Entertainment, Design), offering the best 15-to-18-minute talks and performances by experts in their profession or field of interest. Soon it grew to include a free website (www.ted.com), which now has more than 1,100 talks available on everything from science and philosophy to global issues and humor. These presentations are intended to inspire, educate and entertain, and have been seen by millions of people.

After several years of discussions and attempts in the community to launch a Jewish TED, the Avi Chai Foundation has jumped in, getting the effort started last January with six presentations presented and filmed before a group of 200 attendees at the North American Jewish Day School conference in Atlanta.

The project, dubbed ELI talks (for Engagement, Literacy, Identity), comes to New York on May 14, with five 10- to 12-minute talks presented at the JCC Manhattan by Etta Abramson, a Jewish educator, actor and singer; David Bryfman of the Jewish Education Project and an expert of Jewish adolescent identity; Daniel Libenson, head of a new Jewish think tank with an expertise in innovation; Nessa Rapoport, a writer and foundation officer who speaks frequently about Jewish culture and imagination; and Rabbi Ethan Tucker, co-founder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar.

State disciplines two Austin-area doctors, seeks formal hearing on a third …

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

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Envoys see prospects of educational cooperation with Pakistan

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Envoys see prospects of educational cooperation with Pakistan

* Iraqi envoy says his government has announced 100 scholarships for NUML students

* Tunisian envoy offers books for NUML library

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Iraq Rushdi M Rasheed and Ambassador of Tunisia Mourad Bourehla on Tuesday observed that there was a vast room for cooperation in the education sector between their countries and Pakistan.

The ambassadors separately visited the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) and discussed the matters relating to cooperation between NUML and the universities of Iraq and Tunisia with Languages Dean Dr Syed Ali Anwar, Dr Lubna Farah and Director General Brig Azam Jamal. Rasheed told the director general that there was a vast room for improving cooperation in education sectors and Pakistan and NUML offered a very suitable option to the students of Islamic countries.

He said that Iraqi universities were renowned the world over for Arabic language teaching and his government had announced 100 scholarships for NUML students. Besides, he said that the Iraqi students could come to NUML for English language learning and study other disciplines, including engineering, information technology and social sciences. He also told the director general that there was a need to have a formal Memorandum of Understanding with NUML to facilitate student-teacher exchanges between both the countries.

In a separate meeting with the NUML director general, the ambassador of Tunisia to Pakistan said that Pakistan and Tunisia had deep cultural, religious and social ties and both nations had a common dream of progress, development and prosperity through development of democratic norms in the societies.

The post-revolution Tunisia is witnessing high economic growth, literacy rate and development. Therefore, NUML offers a very suitable destination for Tunisian students to learn modern disciplines and languages of the world here. Tunisian and Pakistani governments have an agreement under which Tunisian government offers three scholarships for Pakistani students. The ambassador said he would direct the embassy that next year NUML students be preferred for these scholarships, he added.

Moreover, Bourehla said that the Tunisian embassy would send books of Tunisian writers and other written material for a separate corner of Tunisian literature in the NUML Library so that Pakistani students could know more about the brotherly country.

Brig Azam Jamal, during the meeting, lauded the efforts being made by the ambassadors of respective countries for strengthening the fraternal relations with Pakistan. He said that relations between Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia were historical and there was a great potential for enhanced cooperation with the two countries in a number of fields, especially in academic sector. Moreover, the director general told the visiting guests that the NUML offers a unique platform to many countries of the world to promote and introduce their culture in Pakistan and know more about Pakistani culture, norms and traditions as more than 26 languages of the world are taught at the university. At the end, the director general presented the university shields to the visiting guests. The two ambassadors also visited different departments, including Arabic Department and library where Languages Dean Dr Syed Ali Anwar and Director Library briefed them on various disciplines.

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‘Promotion of social sciences govt’s priority’

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

?Promotion of social sciences govt?s priority?

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is committed to the promotion of education, especially in the disciplines of social sciences in the country, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Saturday.

Addressing the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences and National Testing Service (NTS), he said the promotion of education had always been a priority of the Pakistan People?s Party (PPP) since its inception. Kaira said realising the importance of higher education in Pakistan, the first PPP government, led by its founding chairman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, established the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1974 as a federal body.

The delegates of the second international social sciences conference on ?The Emerging Issues of Social Science in Pakistan? were also present on the occasion. He added that many of the top universities in the country were established to equip young people with modern knowledge and technology.

He hoped that through the MoU, assessment and examination system would be improved in Pakistan, especially in the disciplines of social sciences, arts and humanities and will be instrumental in bringing Pakistan?s education system at par with the international standards.

Lauding the efforts of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the minister said that a culture of seminars and conferences encompassing various current socio-economic challenges helped understand current affairs.

He urged social scientists to play a pivotal role in promoting values of peace, tolerance, harmony, pluralism and culture of dialogue in the country. Needs and aspirations of the people should be the focus of social scientists to guide the government in the right direction, the federal minister added.

He termed the country?s first-ever Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities a remarkable initiative, recently established by eight leading institutions of higher education, under the guidance of HEC. ?Inter-university collaboration will bring the institutions of higher education close to one another for a constructive cause while availing each other?s resources and expertise,? he added.

Earlier, HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi said that realising the importance of social sciences for the socio-economic development of the country and reformation of society, the HEC had given special attention to social sciences through a number of programmes. He said the programmes included establishment of a committee for development of social sciences, arts and humanities; research grant for social sciences; allocating special quota for social sciences in human resources development programmes; strengthening of institutional capacity through improving existing facilities in social science departments of universities and maintaining a close interaction with civil society organisations working in the field of social sciences.

Prof Muhammad Nizamuddin, the chairman of the National Committee on Development of Social Sciences, Prof Muhammad Mukhtar, chairman of the consortium, Prof Masoom Yasinzai, the Quaid-e-Azam University vice chancellor, and Dr Haroon Rashid, the NTS director, also spoke on the occasion.

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SEEDing a New Kind of STEM

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Most agree that the US needs more students studying the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and math. As US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has stated, Inspiring all our students to be capable in math and science will help them contribute in an increasingly technology-based economy, and will also help America prepare the next generation of STEM professionals — scientists, engineers, architects and technology professionals — to ensure our competitiveness.

The Obama administration has initiated a 100Kin10 program intended to train 100,000 new STEM educators over the next 10 years. This comes in response to an expected increase from about 6 million to 9 million jobs over the next decade, according to Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, that will demand STEM-related knowledge.

We need to ask, though, what kind of STEM we want to grow. If we germinate it from the same soil that gave rise to post-World-War-II American industry, we will simply grow more of what we already cannot sustain.

We do not need more scientists creating more high-fat processed foods or more technologists devising more efficient ways of killing people. Nor do we need more engineers figuring out how to enlarge our already enormous ecological footprint or more mathematicians inventing increasingly esoteric forms of financial arbitrage. The STEM fields do indeed contribute to our technology-based economy, but whether they do so for good or ill depends upon how we grow these new educational shoots and to what end.

As the dean of a design college, I find it encouraging that Secretary Duncan mentioned architects along with scientists, engineers, and technologists in his list of next-generation STEM professionals. This brings to mind the work of my colleague, John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design, who has led a national effort to turn STEM to STEAM, with the A expressing the need to add art and design into the mix. He and his colleagues make the excellent point that we not only need more scientific, mathematical, and technological know-how, but also more creativity and innovation skills that enable the future workforce to imagine entirely new ways of thinking, seeing, and making, rather than simply going along our current unsustainable and unhealthy path faster or more efficiently.

The change in abbreviation from STEM to STEAM, though, represents a troubling change in metaphor. STEM has a biological connotation that suggests growth and evolution, with the ability of these fields to adapt to changing conditions, much as the stem of a plant does in response to external stimuli. STEAM, in contrast, carries a mechanistic connotation, not just that of the steam engines that helped prompt the 19th century industrial revolution, but also to the phase change in heated water, which can either get captured as a fuel or evaporate into thin air without much effect.

Such metaphorical differences matter. The arts and design can have the effect of moving the STEM fields in a more sustainable and constructive direction, or they can simply make the increasingly toxic and untenable world we have created for ourselves more attractive and thus more acceptable. STEAM tends to cloud our vision more than clarify it, and I worry that simply adding the arts to STEM may not turn this educational initiative in the direction that it needs to go, however much I applaud the idea behind STEAM.

Instead, let me suggest a metaphor more related to the biological connotation of STEM and one that I think can help us ensure that the STEM fields take us in a better direction. Every STEM arises from a SEED, an abbreviation for Social, Economic, and Environmental Design. The SEED network consists of a group of architects and designers who argue that every decision we make in the future needs to follow the triple-bottom-line of bringing social and environmental benefits as well as economic ones. Had we taken social and environmental impacts into account over the last two hundred years of our industrial development, we would, without question, have created a world more socially just, environmentally friendly, and economically balanced than the one we have now.

So, as we rightly push to increase the number of students in the STEM fields, we need to SEED that growth with a different set of assumptions than the ones that have nourished those fields in the past.

We should do all we can to encourage students to imagine science that enables us not only to understand nature, but also to steward it; to innovate technology that helps us improve the quality of life not only of the wealthy, but also of the worlds poor; to engage in engineering that allows us to do things not only more efficiently, but also in more culturally and climatically appropriate ways; and to devise mathematics that facilitates our ability to work not only smarter, but also more sensibly and sustainably.

This may strike some cynics as entirely too idealistic to take seriously. But for those of us who work with the millennial generation in the classroom everyday, I would argue that germinating STEM from this new SEED is precisely how we will get more students to study science, technology, engineering, and math. The current generation wants to improve the world and not just enrich the fat cats of finance or the captains of industry, and we will attract more students to the STEM disciplines not just with the lure of jobs, but with also a sense of this work having a meaningful and beneficial impact on their future. Millennials strike me as the most practical generation Ive known, and there is nothing more pragmatic — and more pressing — than our designing a more socially just, environmentally sustainable, and economically equitable future for ourselves.

Thomas Fisher is Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.

ServiceMesh Garners Two More Cool Vendor Nods From Leading Analyst Firm

Monday, May 14th, 2012

SANTA MONICA, CA, May 08, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
ServiceMesh, provider of the market-leading enterprise-class cloud
application management platform for Global 2000 companies, today
announced it has been named a 2012 Gartner Cool Vendor in two
additional Gartner reports. The first, published May 1, 2012, is Cool
Vendors in Asia/Pacific 2012, which covers innovative solutions
across a variety of industries and disciplines in the Asia/Pacific
region. The second report, published May 1, 2012, is Cool Vendors:
Key Insight for Investors 2012, which recognizes emerging vendors
that are bringing potentially disruptive innovations to market. The
reports come on the heels of ServiceMesh being named earlier this
year in Gartner’s Cool Vendors in Cloud Management 2012 report.

Cool Vendors in Asia/Pacific 2012 notes that CIOs and other IT
executives looking to deliver cloud-based, on-demand services that
require extensive, yet flexible governance controls may be interested
in ServiceMesh’s Agility Platform. It also states that ServiceMesh’s
cloud management platform enables IT organizations to manage the
plan, build and run cycle of cloud resources leveraging a
sophisticated, policy-based framework. Cool Vendors: Key Insight for
Investors 2012, a report available to Gartner’s investor clientele,
provides an insider’s look at select companies and explains why
investors should give added attention to each one, including a
discussion of their impact on the sector’s investment thesis.

Tweet this: @ServiceMesh garners two more #coolvendor nods from
@gartner_inc.

http://bit.ly/ISx8mS

“We believe the inclusion of ServiceMesh in these additional Gartner
Cool Vendor reports demonstrates the impact that our Agility Platform
is having on the IT industry as we continue to grow our sales and
marketing efforts internationally,” said Steve Henning, vice
president of marketing at ServiceMesh. “More CIOs are recognizing
that new cloud-based IT operating models can provide their
organizations with strategic and operational competitive advantages,
and ServiceMesh’s Agility Platform continues to be identified as a
key enabler for enterprises embarking on their Cloud IT
transformation journey.”

Learn more about the ServiceMesh Agility Platform.

Request a demonstration of the Agility Platform in action.

View short videos of the Agility Platform capabilities.

Join Agile IT operating model conversations on the ServiceMesh blog.

About ServiceMesh

ServiceMesh provides the industry’s only enterprise cloud application
management platform that enables transformative “everything as a
service” IT delivery models for Global 2000 clients. Enterprise
customers select ServiceMesh to design and implement IT strategies
that offer game changing competitive advantages through a federation
of internal and external IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and cloud service
providers. Customers use the Agility Platform to automate their plan,
build, share, and run lifecycle with the security, governance,
transparency, identity management, and policy control required by
large enterprises. Some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated
companies in financial services, health care and other IT-intensive
industries rely on ServiceMesh to realize quantum improvements in
business agility, lower operating costs, and to enable new business
and economic models that support their strategic business
initiatives. To learn more, visit
www.servicemesh.com .

About Gartner’s Cool Vendors Selection Process

Gartner’s listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors
in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight
interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services.
Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies
or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they
couldn’t do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact
(not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have
caught Gartner’s interest or curiosity in approximately the past six
months.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in
its research publications, and does not advise technology users to
select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research
publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research
organization and should not be construed as statements of fact.
Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect
to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose.

PR Contact:
Elyce Ventura
Eastwick
408-470-4870
servicemesh@eastwick.com

SOURCE: ServiceMesh

mailto:servicemesh@eastwick.com

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

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Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Names Jason Kalajainen Inaugural Creative Director

Monday, May 14th, 2012

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation just announced the appointment of Jason Kalajainen as the first creative director of the organizations artist residency program in Captiva, Fla., a new program to support artists in various disciplines while they enjoy the estate that served as Rauschenbergs beach home. 

Mr. Kalajainen, who will be leaving his post as executive director of the Ox-Bow School in Michigan to take on his new role, will be charged with the duty of transforming Robert Rauschenberg’s 26-acre estate on Captiva Island into a creative hub to bring together leaders in the visual arts, music, dance, writing and a range of other disciplines from around the world to live, work and explore the property together. And hell have to do it all by the launch of the pilot program in 2013.

During his time at Ox-Bow, Mr. Kalajainen was responsible  for increasing Ox-Bow’s outreach, and overseeing six new campus facilities. He also is credited with putting 85 wooded acres of Ox-Bow’s property into a conservation easement.

The Captiva property, which has a studio facility and six individual homes, served as Rauschenbergs getaway for more than 40 years. While its recipients have not yet been named, the Captiva Residency will support the foundations mission of nurturing talent while also preserving Rauschenbergs property.

“The development of an Artist Residency on the property where Robert Rauschenberg lived and worked for over 40 years is one of our major strategic initiatives, said Christy MacLear, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, in a statement. Jason is the perfect candidate as a leader in the field of artistic communities to help create a model which builds on this legacy of new ideas, new work and supporting generations of new artists.”

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New Book Released:

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

SALT LAKE CITY, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
It is one thing to establish goals, but quite another thing to execute them. MBA programs focus heavily on strategy, but offer virtually no training in execution — and it’s execution that keeps leaders awake at night.

Coauthors Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling, and the Franklin Covey Company

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have spent more than a decade studying why execution so often fails, what can be done to fix it, and what it takes to achieve Wildly Important Goals (WIGs). They have worked with more than 13,000 teams and 200,000 people in hundreds of organizations in every kind of industry, as well as in schools and in government agencies worldwide.

The result of their findings is an essential new book, THE 4 DISCIPLINES OF EXECUTION: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals, by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling (Free Press/April 24, 2012/$28.00 hardcover /
www.4dxbook.com ). The book provides a simple, repeatable, proven formula for achieving the goals you simply must reach. The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) allow leaders to effectively deal with the most difficult aspect of creating breakthrough results: executing a strategy that requires a change in behavior.

Underlying the 4 Disciplines is the concept of the Whirlwind — the massive amount of energy necessary just to keep an operation going on a day-to-day basis. The Whirlwind is the real enemy of strategic execution. While a new strategy is important, the Whirlwind is urgent, and urgency wins out every time. THE 4 DISCIPLINES OF EXECUTION shows how to separate Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) from the Whirlwind so that breakthrough results can be achieved, while still sustaining the urgent work necessary to keep the organization running.

Clayton Christensen, Professor, Harvard Business School and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, who wrote the forward for the book said, “The 4 Disciplines of Execution offers more than theories for making strategic organizational change. The authors explain not only the ‘what’ but also ‘how’ effective execution is achieved. They share numerous examples of companies that have done just that, not once, but over and over again. This is a book that every leader should read.”

J. W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International, Inc., said, “Many of the foundational values of Marriott are embodied within The 4 Disciplines of Execution. By utilizing this process inside our organization, our leaders and teams have been able to set and achieve extraordinary goals, which have had a significant impact on making ‘Our Guests’ Experience’ truly remarkable. Any organization can create these same kinds of breakthrough results if they apply the principles and processes taught in this book.”

The 4 Disciplines of Execution are sequential and interdependent — they must be done in order and done well to achieve breakthrough results. They are:

Focus on the Wildly Important. Give your best effort to those few goals that really matter instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals.

Act on the Lead Measures. Carefully track the lead measures and let the lag measures take care of themselves.

Keep a Compelling Scoreboard. Make sure everybody knows the score at all times so they can tell if they are winning or not.

Create a Cadence of Accountability. Hold frequent, regular accountability sessions whose only purpose is to advance the Wildly Important Goals. These disciplines are deceptively simple to state, but they are not simplistic. They will profoundly change the way you approach your goals, and represent a major breakthrough in how to move teams and organizations forward. When done correctly, the 4 Disciplines of Execution lead to superb results every time.

For more information on The 4 Disciplines of Execution, visit
www.4dxbook.com .

About The Authors

Chris McChesney is the Global Practice Leader of Execution for Franklin Covey Co. and one of the primary developers of The 4 Disciplines of Execution. For more than a decade, he has led Franklin Covey’s ongoing design and development of these principles, as well as the consulting organization that has achieved extraordinary growth in many countries around the globe and impacted hundreds of organizations.

Sean Covey is Executive Vice President of Global Solutions and Partnerships for Franklin Covey Co. and oversees Franklin Covey’s international operations in 141 countries around the globe. As the Chief Product Architect for Franklin Covey, Sean organized and directed the original teams that conceived and created The 4 Disciplines of Execution and has been an avid practitioner and promoter of the methodology ever since.

Jim Huling is the Managing Consultant for Franklin Covey’s The 4 Disciplines of Execution. Jim’s career spans more than three decades of corporate leadership, from Fortune 500 organizations to privately held companies, including serving as CEO of a company recognized as one of the “25 Best Companies to Work for in America.” Prior to joining Franklin Covey, Jim was one of the first leaders to adopt The 4 Disciplines of Execution.

About The Franklin Covey Execution PracticeFranklin Covey Execution Practice provides practical processes to organizations and teams so they know what the wildly important goals of the organization are and how to achieve them, how to track success, and how to be accountable for creating extraordinary results.

About Franklin Covey CompanyFranklin Covey Co.

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is the global consulting and training leader in the areas of strategy execution, leadership, productivity, trust, customer loyalty, sales performance, education and individual effectiveness. Franklin Covey clients have included 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. Franklin Covey has more than 40 direct and licensee offices providing professional services in over 140 countries. For more information, visit
www.franklincovey.com .

Contact: Debra Lund, 801-244-4474

SOURCE Franklin Covey

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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Add to portfolio

FC

Franklin Covey Co.

US

: U.S.: NYSE


$
9.42

+0.14
+1.51%

Volume: 26,562
May 11, 2012 4:01p

P/E Ratio26.37
Dividend YieldN/A

Market Cap$167.68 million
Rev. per Employee$278,097

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Add to portfolio

FC

Franklin Covey Co.

US

: U.S.: NYSE


$
9.42

+0.14
+1.51%

Volume: 26,562
May 11, 2012 4:01p

P/E Ratio26.37
Dividend YieldN/A

Market Cap$167.68 million
Rev. per Employee$278,097

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NeighborWorks America Resident Leadership Symposium in New Orleans Draws …

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

NEW ORLEANS, May 7, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Resident community leaders from around the U.S. will be here May 9 participating in “From Surviving to Thriving: Communities Recharged by the Power of Resident Leadership.” The all-day interactive symposium with exciting break-out sessions is designed to help community development professionals learn and share proven strategies that build the residents’ ability to effect positive change in their communities. More than 200 leaders registered to attend will hear from dynamic local government officials, including New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Salt Lake City, Utah Councilman Kyle LaMalfa. The symposium is held in conjunction with the NeighborWorks Training Institute, May 7-11.

This is the third NeighborWorks Training Institute in New Orleans since 2006. NeighborWorks America is the largest trainer of community development professionals, and each year its NTI’s are attended by more than 8,000 nonprofit professionals who expand their skills and learn new ways to strengthen their communities.

The resident leaders’ symposium May 9 is packed with opportunities for attendees to learn how to:

Learn effective models of leadership development that deliver results for revitalized communities

Structure and leverage resident leaders’ engagement to foster economic and community development

Attract and energize new resident leaders, enabling the infusion of new ideas

“All of us here at NeighborWorks America are excited by the opportunities for committed resident leaders to work together and build stronger communities literally one block at a time,” said NeighborWorks America CEO Eileen Fitzgerald. “Resident leadership is at the core of the NeighborWorks community development philosophy.”

Each year NeighborWorks America recognizes outstanding residents with its Dorothy Richardson Award, named for the founder of the first NeighborWorks organization formed nearly 35 years ago. Information about the Dorothy Richardson Award can be found at

http://www.nw.org/network/neighborworksProgs/awards/aboutresidentawards.asp

In addition to the all-day symposium, the New Orleans NTI offers a series of courses designed for intensive training and education on the subject of community building as well as dozens of other disciplines – including affordable mortgage lending, real estate development, homeownership counseling and more. Registration for community building courses taught at this New Orleans NTI is closed, but registration is open for other disciplines in New Orleans and for all disciplines at the next NTI which will be held in Cincinnati in August, 2012. Visit
www.nw.org/training for information about upcoming NeighborWorks Training Institutes.

“Our curriculum can help just about anyone involved in the housing and community development fields enhance their knowledge and sharpen their ability to compete in the fast-changing market,” said John McCloskey, acting training division director for NeighborWorks America.

About NeighborWorks® America

NeighborWorks® America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $19.5 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.

SOURCE NeighborWorks America

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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Supreme Court disciplines 21 attorneys

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

05/07/2012

from The Florida Bar News

The Florida Bar, the state?s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, announces that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 21 attorneys, disbarring six and suspending 13.

Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Two attorneys were placed on probation; two attorneys were publicly reprimanded.

Lawyer Koko Head of Jacksonville was suspended for 91 days.

As an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 93,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida.

Since Aug. 1, 2007, case files have been posted to attorneys? individual Florida Bar profiles and may be reviewed at and/or downloaded from The Florida Bar?s website, www.floridabar.org.

Court orders are not final until time expires to file a rehearing motion and, if filed, determined. The filing of such a motion does not alter the effective date of the discipline.

Disbarred lawyers may not re-apply for admission for five years. They are required to go through an extensive process that rejects many who apply. It includes a rigorous background check and retaking the bar exam. Historically, fewer than 5 percent of disbarred lawyers seek readmission.

? Edward Joel Abramson, 7270 NW 12th St. Suite 580, Miami, suspended for 60 days, effective 30 days from a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1989) Abramson is further directed to attend a Florida Bar professionalism workshop. Abramson engaged in conduct involving dishonesty. In representing a client in an immigration hearing, Abramson was aware but failed to disclose to the judge a client?s prior arrest. (Case No. SC11-1425)

? Andrea Ruth Bateman, PO Box 104, Winter Park, suspended for 30 days, effective 30 days from a March 19 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1974) Bateman was found in contempt for violating the terms of an October 2009 probation. She failed to submit quarterly trust account CPA reports and also failed to remit the quarterly monitoring fee on several occasions, accumulating arrearages of $700. (Case No. SC11-2323)

? Jennifer Aycock Bonifield, 1025 Professional Park Drive, Brandon, suspended until further order, effective 30 days from an April 4 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Bonifield was found in contempt for willfully failing to comply with a subpoena without good cause. The Bar was seeking copies of all Bonifield?s trust and operating account records. In July 2009, deposits to Bonifield?s escrow account totaled more than $856,000. Since that time, more than $575,000 has been electronically transferred from the account to Bonifield?s checking account. Bonifield failed to provide documentation for the transfers. She also failed to appear at the non-compliance hearing before the grievance committee in February. Stephan Tabano has been appointed as inventory attorney. (Case No. SC12-264)

? Robert T. Carter, PO Box 790, Tullahoma, Tenn., suspended until further order, effective 30 days from a March 20 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1991) Carter, who was licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Florida, pleaded guilty to a felony in the criminal court of Tennessee. Carter misappropriated approximately $59,000 from his former law firm by accepting fees from clients and not reporting them to the firm. (Case No. SC12-518)

? Brian Gerard Doherty, 42129 N. Golf Crest Road, Anthem, Ariz., disbarred effective 30 days from a Jan. 17 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1987) Doherty formed a professional relationship with a married couple. He provided legal advice concerning estate planning and also served as their financial adviser. As the years progressed, the husband died and the wife became gravely ill and subsequently died also. During these years, Doherty engaged in a conflict of interest by mixing his roles as attorney, trustee and financial planner. He improperly advised the client to take specific actions that would earn him a financial benefit without disclosing his personal interest to the client. (Case No. SC10-332)

? Thomas W. Dvorak, 633 S. Andrews Ave., Suite 402, Fort Lauderdale, suspended for an additional year, consecutive to his current suspension, following a March 22 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Dvorak was found in contempt for failing to comply with the conditions of an Aug. 25, 2011, suspension order. Dvorak did not submit to the Bar a sworn affidavit listing the names and addresses of all persons and entities to which he gave notice of his suspension. (Case No. SC11-2341)

? Robert W. Frazier Jr., 507 SE 11th Court, Fort Lauderdale, publicly reprimanded following a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1977) Frazier failed to comply with a March 2, 2011, court order mandating that he immediately furnish a copy of his emergency suspension order, (which is currently in effect) to all of his clients and the bank. Frazier notified his clients 30 days later, and he failed to notify the bank of the suspension. Because of his failure to immediately inform his clients, one client wired more than $156,000 to Frazier?s law firm?s trust account while he was suspended.  Multiple other deposits and withdrawals went in and out of the account during that time as well. The transactions were completed without Frazier seeking approval of the Florida Supreme Court or referee, as the court order mandates. (Case No. SC11-867)

? Clifford Gorman, 3807 Ave. H, Unit B, Austin, Texas, disbarred, effective immediately, following a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1988) Gorman received an inquiry from The Florida Bar regarding trust account funds that were requested by a client, but not disbursed. Gorman responded to the Bar by invoking the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. Subsequently, a trust account subpoena was served upon Gorman, with which he has failed to comply. (Case No. SC12-324)

? Koko Head, PO Box 600788, Jacksonville, suspended for 91 days and thereafter until he proves rehabilitation, effective 30 days from a March 15 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1985) Upon reinstatement, Head is further placed on probation for one year. Head will also attend the Bar?s ethics school and take a professionalism course. In two separate cases, Head engaged in deceptive behavior by filing a false affidavit with the court; testifying untruthfully during a disciplinary hearing and creating a fraudulent letter that gave the appearance that he?d already filed a civil case. (SC19-1175)

? Patricia A. Johnston, Calle Cesar Chavez 84, Arrecife de Lanzarote, Canary, Spain, disbarred for 10 years, following a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2001) Johnston was the subject of several Bar complaints. She misappropriated client funds and engaged in other unethical conduct. In one instance, Johnston was removed as personal representative after she failed to provide information upon request about a $3 million estate, from which she took funds without authorization. In another matter, Johnston provided false misleading testimony in a civil collection matter in an attempt to hide the true nature of her spouse?s assets. Johnston abandoned her Orlando law practice, changed her bar status to retired and moved to Spain. (Case No. SC11-1767)

? Bruce Allan Lamchick, 9200 S. Dadeland Blvd., Suite 518, Miami, suspended for 90 days following an April 9 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1974) After being served a subpoena, Lamchick failed to provide complete bank and trust account records to the Bar. He also engaged in misconduct while serving as the closing agent for numerous real estate transactions. In another matter, while serving as a settlement agent, Lamchick notarized two signatures on a mortgage deed that were not signed in his presence. (Case No. SC11-1781)

? Paul Alan Lehrman, PO Box 12242, Tallahassee, suspended for 30 days, effective 30 days from a March 21 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1978) Lehrman pleaded guilty to three felony counts of filing false income taxes. The charges were the result of his failure to report income consisting of $85,541 in attorney fees received from the City of Apalachicola over a three-year period. He was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, a fine of $10,000 and restitution of $23,832 to the internal Revenue Service. (Case No. SC12-523)

? Roderick Lynn McGee, 4631 NW 31st Ave., Fort Lauderdale, permanently disbarred effective immediately, following a March 12 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1974) McGee was found in contempt for failure to respond to comply with the terms of his Aug. 30, 2011, disbarment. McGee did not submit to the Bar a sworn affidavit listing the names and addresses of all persons and entities to which he gave notice of his disbarment. (Case No. SC12-130)

? Kenneth J. Morilak, 3825 Apaloosa Drive, Woodbridge, Va., suspended  until further order, effective  30 days from a March 20 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1998) Morilak pleaded guilty in court to one felony count of violation of the Joint Federal Travel Regulation Paragraph 4131, which prohibits the renting of lodging from friends or family members not in the routine business of providing accommodations of the general intent crime of a false claim against the government. (Case No. SC12-517)

? Paul William Moses II, 1000 N. Magnolia Ave., Orlando, suspended for 91 days, effective 30 days from a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1994) Upon reinstatement, Moses is further placed on probation for three years. Moses was a licensed insurance agent as well as an attorney, but he was not practicing law at the time. From 1996 to 2006, Moses was the broker and financial adviser for an elderly woman who was not a relative. Moses took out a life insurance policy on the woman when he had no insurable interest in her life and he made misrepresentations in the insurance application although he claims it was unintentional. Moses also failed to respond in writing to the bar. (Case No. SC11-1218)

? A. J. Rohe, 201 W. Main St., Tavares, suspended until further order, effective March 30, following a March 27 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1997) Rohe pleaded no contest in court to resisting arrest with violence, a third degree felony. Adjudication of guilt was withheld and Rohe was sentenced to two years probations with various conditions, including abstention from alcohol and illegal drugs and random alcohol/drug testing. (Case No. SC12-560)

? Doris Wellman Sanders, 2181 Crawfordville Highway, Crawfordville, disbarred, effective immediately, following a March 27 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1997)  A Bar investigation indicated theft of funds by Sanders from a client?s revocable trust. The Bar?s complaint contained the following allegations: While serving as the sole trustee of the trust, Sanders gave gifts to her boyfriend and relatives totaling more than $41,000. She also paid off two personal mortgages worth $95,000 and paid herself nearly $25,000 in attorney?s fees, but failed to provide a sufficient explanation as to what she did to earn the fees. Sanders waived her right to consideration by a grievance committee and agreed to disbarment. (Case No. SC11-1990)

? Aaron J. Slavin, 4707 140th Ave. N., Suite 211, Clearwater, suspended until further order, effective 30 days from a March 13 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Slavin was adjudicated guilty of trafficking in illegal drugs (Oxycodone), a first degree felony. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, followed by five years of drug offender probation. (Case No. SC12-484)

? Patricia Anne Snyder, PO Box 420188, Summerland Key, suspended for one year, effective 30 days from a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1990) After being retained in January 2009 to handle a real property case for a client, Snyder failed to adequately communicate and around September 2009, she stopped responding altogether. After the client filed a complaint, Snyder told the Bar that she had successfully negotiated an administrative variance for the client. Contrary to her claim, the planning department had no record of any communication with Snyder. (Case No. SC11-1715)

? David M. Sostchin, 797 W. 18th St., Hialeah, publicly reprimanded following a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1978) Sostchin was retained to represent a client in a foreclosure proceeding in which a final order of foreclosure had already been issued and a sale date had been set. Although there were no defects in the underlying proceeding, Sostchin failed to ensure that the client was adequately informed of the status of the representation, and notwithstanding the eventual sale of the property, continued to accept monthly payments until the client ceased making payment. Upon learning of the sale of the property, the client went to the office and demanded an explanation. The firm issued a refund check in the amount of $2,295. (Case No. SC11-1471)

? Michelle R. Tustin, 12737 Tamiami Trail S., North Port, disbarred effective immediately, following a March 8 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2000) Tustin was the subject of several Bar disciplinary matters. She waived her right to consideration by a grievance committee and agreed to disbarment. (Case No. SC12-329)