Mount
Launches Delaney Center for Public Sector
Information
Four
years after the death of Mount St.
Mary’s beloved sociology professor
Father James Delaney, the Mount is
preparing to launch a unique
graduate-level program that honors his
life and legacy. The Delaney Center for
Public Sector Information (CPSI), founded
through a grant from the Delaney
Foundation, will begin offering courses
January 14, 2002, as part of a
certification program to educate and train
professional data analysts who work in the
field of intelligence in both the private
and public sectors.
"The
launch of CPSI is an important first step
in filling a critical shortage of
qualified data analysts in the United
States," said Center Director Joe
Vince, a former official with the
Department of Treasury’s Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms Division. "Law
enforcement agencies at all levels -
local, state and federal - are collecting
huge amounts of data every day, and there
is a real need for professionals who know
how to analyze and understand what all
that information means."
CPSI’s
inaugural offering, an accredited
certification program in Information
Management/Analytical Intelligence,
represents an extension of Mount St.
Mary’s mission to "educate men and
women who are ethically mature and who
seek to resolve social problems."
The
Center is committed to:
- Providing
relevant, quality educational
opportunities for current
professionals
- Improving
the understanding of the ethical use
of information technology
- Applying
the results of basic social research
to solving public-sector problems
- Supporting
and developing a national standard of
excellence for data analysis
A unique
aspect of the Delaney Center’s program
is its commitment to recruiting public
safety officers who have been physically
injured in the line of duty. This focus on
providing professional re-training to
disabled individuals is a particularly
significant nod to Father Delaney, the
center’s namesake, who was legally blind
due to diabetes in his last years yet
continued teaching some of the most
popular classes at the Mount.
"Public
safety agencies are facing a dilemma in
retaining skilled officers who have been
physically injured on the job and are no
longer able to perform the duties of their
previous positions," said Vince.
"This population, already educated
and trained in a public-safety mission,
can provide unique insight and perspective
into the complexities of practical
analysis and intelligence."
The
program also targets professionals who
want to upgrade their analytical skills,
as well as those who want to enter the
burgeoning field of data analysis. Vince
said the program offers a viable career
for aging law-enforcement officers, as
well.
Vince, a
28-year veteran of the law enforcement,
has worked since his appointment last
November to forge partnerships and support
from various public and private sector
organizations to create an elite advisory
board that includes among its many
dignitaries the deputy director of the
White House’s National Drug Control
Policy, the superintendent of the Maryland
State Police and the rehabilitation
supervisor of the Maryland State
Department of Education. In addition, the
CPSI advisory board boasts unparalleled
corporate and academic support from a
variety of insurance agencies, software
manufacturers, and accredited educational
institutions.
Both
practicing professionals and academic
scholars will instruct working
professionals from both the public and
private sectors, said Dr. Martin Malone,
chair of the Mount St. Mary’s department
of sociology and the college’s
liaison/advisor to CPSI.
"We
at the Mount see this certification
program as the first of many
graduate-level offerings related to
criminal justice and analysis,"
Malone said. "The Delaney Center is
at the forefront of a national initiative
for the ethical and informed analysis of
data in the new economy of the 21st
century."
"Mount
St. Mary’s has long been known for its
commitment to socially responsible
programs," added Vince. "Now the
college is able to offer an unprecedented
service to thousands of professionals in
the area."
The Mount
has locations in Emmitsburg, Frederick and
Westminster, making it easily accessible
to the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan
area, where 50,000 sworn law-enforcement
officers and intelligence analysts reside.
And the Mount’s reach is expanding even
more. The initial courses in January will
be taught at Urbana High School in
Frederick County, just north of the
Montgomery County line and conveniently
located off I-270.
Registration
for the Delaney Center for Public Sector
Information is going on now, and it is
being administered by the Mount’s office
of continuing studies, headquartered in
the Spectrum Professional Center in
Frederick. For more information, call
301-682-8315 or 301-447-3417.