Student Advocate
Gov. O’Malley appoints Sondheim Scholar Catherine Cano as 2014–15 MHEC student commissioner.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) sets state policies on tuition rates, academic programs and many other issues that affect every college student in Maryland. As the commission works this year, one UMBC student is making her voice heard on behalf of students in those important debates.
In August, Governor Martin OÂ’Malley appointed Catherine Cano Â’16, political science, as the Student Commissioner to MHEC for the 2014-2015 school year. This prestigious position will allow Cano to advocate for students and their educational institutions, weigh in on state plans for postsecondary education, review proposals for new academic programs and help the commission understand how its policies affect those who attend the stateÂ’s colleges and universities.
“Ms. Cano’s leadership in the community and at UMBC exemplifies her commitment to learning and serving diverse populations,” said MHEC Acting Secretary Catherine M. Shultz in a news release announcing the appointment. “I look forward to her playing a critical role in our discussions regarding the expansion of Maryland’s postsecondary opportunities for traditional and non-traditional students alike.”
Cano brings a commitment to diversity and a determination to help Maryland institutions of higher education lower the achievement gap among first-generation college students to her service on the commission. As a member of the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, Cano already has developed a strong interest in educational policy and deepened her personal resolve to make a difference in that field.
“My main job is to be a voice for students,” says Cano, who assists in teaching the Introduction to an Honors University (IHU) seminar for first year students and is the Student Life intern for service and volunteerism.
The key experience in Cano’s path to the appointment has been work she has accomplished as a volunteer at the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) – a residential/day treatment school facility for emotionally disturbed youth. Cano has implemented several self-sustaining projects at RICA, including creating an auxiliary board for the school, establishing life skills workshops for students using a UMBC BreakingGround grant, and organizing college tours for graduating students with the goal of getting every senior into tech programs or community college with less than a semester of remedial classes. She now leads a group of UMBC volunteers at RICA every week.
Cano is the third UMBC student appointed as a MHEC Student Commissioner in the past eight years. Joshua Michael ’10, political science and secondary education, and Alexia Van Orden ’06, history, ’08 M.P.P., legal policy, and ’13 Ph.D., education policy, served on the commission during the 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 school years, respectively. Both UMBC alumni continue to work in education – Michael as a mathematics teacher at the Commodore John Rogers School, and Van Orden as a research analyst at MHEC.
David Hoffman, Assistant Director of Student Life for Civic Agency, says the university’s three MHEC commissioners share qualities that have made them excellent student representatives for the commission. “What Cano, Michael and Van Orden have in common is confidence and the ability to speak knowledgably about state policy and the policy making process,” he observes. “They share a sense that they will make meaningful contributions to a statewide policy making body.”
Cano wants to bring UMBC’s spirit of student participation and diversity to a commission that sets the tone and practice for all postsecondary institutions in Maryland. “One of the reasons that I really love UMBC is how diverse it is and how all populations of our students do really well, but that’s not the case for every university,” she says. “I’m really excited to try and work on ways and initiatives for these students to succeed.”
(10/15/2014)
