Education 4.12 - Flipbook - Page 20
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| Sunday, April 12, 2026
Aiming to Make an Impact,
continued from page 4
with many types of patients, such as
stroke victims or those on the autism
spectrum.
During their training, they will have
the opportunity to work with people
across the lifespan. Music therapy and
sound therapy can be used with infants
in hospital settings. It can be used along
with physical and occupational therapy
to help patients regain balance and stability. Music is especially useful in helping those with memory loss. It can help
people learn new information.
All students will get this practical
experience working with different types
of people along with their coursework.
A clinic is being developed on site at the
university so that students can offer their
services to the local community. Music
therapy for other populations will be
offered to local retirement communities.
After their coursework, students
must complete a six-month long internship. There are many opportunities in
the Salisbury area, but they could do
their internship anywhere in the United
States if it is a pre-approved program
Colleges Partner with Industry Leaders,
continued from page 16
body designed to help the college
anticipate long-term workforce needs
rather than simply react to them.
Formed to strengthen connections
between the college and employers
across business, government, health
care, nonprofit and civic sectors, the
President’s Advisory Board provides
a high-level view of the region’s economic trends and emerging workforce
demands.
The goal is to maintain ongoing
dialogue with the region’s employers
– conversations that help identify not
just immediate labor shortages but the
broader shifts that will shape the next
decade of work.
“The President’s Advisory Board is
helping the college imagine and manage the risks and opportunities associated with staying vibrant and relevant
over the next five, 10, even 30 years,”
says Rosalie Mince, Pd.D., president,
Carroll Community College.
The President’s Advisory Board
through the American Music Therapy
Association. Working as an intern could
lead to employment at that facility or
give them the experience needed for a
position in another practice.
The University of Maryland School
of Nursing (UMSON) has started a grant
funded nursing policy academy for
pre-licensure nursing students graduating in 2026 or later. Most nurses do
not have the opportunity to learn about
policy and advocacy until they attend
graduate school.
“Advocacy and policy is happening
as soon as nurses hit the bedside,” says
Yvette Conyers, D.N.P., R.N., associate
dean, strategic engagement and impact
and assistant professor, department of
family and community health. “We want
to use this academy to expose them
to leadership and policy and advocacy before they even graduate, so they
understand some of the impact or the
effects of policy.”
The academy has planned monthly sessions with guest speakers who
share their experiences about legislation, advocacy and policy. There will be
immersion activities, such as visiting
Annapolis, sitting in on hearings, and
attending legislative conferences such
as the Maryland Nurses Association.
Students will be working with community partners within Baltimore City to
influences decisions at the strategic level, helping the college understand the bigger picture – technology adoption, demographic trends,
growth industries, regulatory shifts
– and how they will shape regional
workforce needs. These insights guide
priorities such as investment in equipment, expansion of specific training
programs, and exploration of emerging
credentials.
At the program level, separate advisory boards composed of subject-matter experts work directly with faculty to
ensure individual courses and degrees
meet today’s industry standards.
“The President’s Advisory Board
helps us see the horizon while the program advisory boards help us build the
road,” says Mince.
This dual approach creates a feedback loop that allows the college to
remain nimble, workforce-aligned, and
deeply connected to employer needs.
Workforce needs aren’t shaped
only by industry trends – state and
federal policy decisions also influence Maryland’s economic land-
scape. In January 2026, the Maryland
Comptroller’s Office partnered with the
University of Maryland’s Robert H.
Smith School of Business to analyze
how federal cuts to major agencies
would impact the state’s economy.
Graduate students in the Smith
School’s master of finance program,
guided by Liu Yang, associate professor of finance, conducted economic
modeling and released a scenario analysis and interactive dashboard illustrating the data.
“We feel really proud that we can
use our expertise to help our state,”
says Yang. “The idea that we could use
what we are good at and help policy
makers and help our state really resonated with a lot of us. The government
wants to know what’s going on but
a lot of the time they don’t have the
capacity to understand the data. And
that’s what we do.”
The work quantifies both executed and potential reductions, providing
county-level estimates that now inform
state budgeting and workforce planning.
help them with projects where they look
at changing policies that can impact
the constituents they serve. One project
might be working with the Department
of Health to utilize the expertise of a
nurse or nursing student where it is
needed.
A voter empowerment campaign is
also in the works since this is a midterm
election year. The aim is to get students and voters engaged in issues that
impact their district, as a community,
learning about who their officials are,
what the issues are, and voter registration. This will be done in partnership with
other University of Maryland schools in
Baltimore.
This first cohort of the Nursing Policy
Academy brings a variety of background
experience. From a legislative aid for
an elected official to those with global immersion experiences, and those
advocating for maternal health, they
share their experiences with each other
and the faculty. The goal is to build
strong leadership capability and civic
engagement skills so whether at the
bedside, in their community or in public
legislature, these nurses will make a
difference.
The project also includes a publicly accessible dashboard that allows
policymakers and citizens to model
the effects of federal spending changes. Users can explore which agencies
drive the most spending and employment in each county and simulate the
implications of further cuts – information designed to help communities
anticipate and withstand economic
shocks.
For Pranshu Sahasrabuddhe, a
recent master of finance graduate, the
project offered a chance to contribute
to high-impact public policy work and
ultimately led to a few job offers.
“We analyzed more than $150 billion in federal spending flowing into
Maryland and built data infrastructure
to deliver stakeholder-ready insights,”
Sahasrabuddhe says. “Through the
project, I learned that this is exactly
the kind of work I want to do full-time
– helping decision-makers understand
risk and make informed choices.”
