LOCAL SYMPHONY IN THE SPOTLIGHT  

      Our guest today is no stranger to most of us.  Armando de la Cruz is here tell us about the upcoming concert season for the highly popular Starkville/MSU Symphony Orchestra. 

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 

      Next week, our speaker will be Brandon Presley, Public Service Commissioner for Mississippi’s Northern District. The former mayor of Nettleton, Presley represents our part of the state on the agency that regulates telecommunications, electric, gas, and water utilities.  

LAST WEEK AT ROTARY  

Attendance: There were 104 members (72 active and 32 exempt)  present. Missing members were 61 actives, 18 exempt, all 9 honoraries, and 3 who are on leave. Current membership is 195. 

Invocation and Pledge: Bob Wolverton.

Visitors and Guests: Dr. Terry Frey, a member of the Rotary Club of North Vernon, IN, joined us for the June 29 meeting.  Monday, July 6,  West Point Rotarian Martin Harpole was a guest of his wife Sandra. Other member guests were Graham Wells of Martha, Joe Geddie of Kim Richardson, and Peter Graves of Sean Owen. Club guests were Mike Taquino, MSU nSPARC; Paul Sims, Starkville Daily News, and RYE student Taka Sato. 

Makeups Reported: Roy Ruby madeup in Winona June 23; Mike Hainsey made  up  in West Point June 29; Dale Tate made up  in West Point July 2; and Carey Hardin made up twice  on-line. 

.Meeting Notes: Presiding over her first meeting at the Club’s helm, President Martha pointed to the new cover on The Rotogram featuring this year’s international theme The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands. “Rotary International President John Kenny’s theme puts it at the grassroots level where things get done,” Martha said. Promising to share more about the 2009 RI Convention in weeks ahead, she described the experience in two typically British words  as “bloody awesome.” 

Kudos: Martha congratulated Rodney Faver on his appointment as Starkville’s new municipal judge and Sandra Harpole on entering the world of retirement after an outstanding and widely  recognized career at Mississippi State University. 

Taka Says Goodbye.  RYE Student Taka Sato spoke briefly to say farewell and to thank the Club for making his year with us possible. Just back from a 2-week exchange student tour of the west, Taka was honored at a party Monday evening at the FUMC Family Life Center. A dozen Rotarians and his host families joined 50 or 60 of Taka’s friends from school to honor the outstanding student ambassador. He left for Japan Wednesday morning. 

nSPARC GAINS NATIONAL PROMINENCE 

      In his introduction, Rotarian Joe Thompson called it “the new center in the constellation of centers of excellence at Mississippi State...a rising star rapidly growing in size and stature.” And it soon became apparent that the focused and enthusiastic leadership of Director Domenico “Mimmo” Parisi, provides the spark for nSPARC (National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center).

      The native of Italy said that while the “center” is relatively young, it’s actually a spinoff of an effort launched more than 10 years ago in the MSU Social Science Research Center. It began with a single graduate student (Mike Taquino, now the Center’s associate director who was present at our meeting), a single project,  one cubicle for an office, and a $10,000 grant.

      “Today, research grants total $25 million and we are in a  20,000 square foot facility with an interdisciplinary staff of more than 50 operating on an annual budget of $8 million. We’ve completed more than 200 projects and impacted the lives of more than a million people in the state,” he said.

      Five years ago when he was interviewed for the directorship, he told officials his goal had always been to be part of a center where knowledge, developed by effective research, would be taken to application in the real world.  He credits Social Science Research Center Director Art Cosby and former Vice President for Research Kirk Schulz for believing in that goal and “making my dream real.”

      In a PowerPoint presentation, the speaker said the Center’s objective is to “align university, industry, and government expertise and resources to maintain and increase economic competitiveness using the latest computer technology.”  He then described some of the 16 current  projects that significantly benefit  the state, region, and beyond.

      The State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB), designed as a management tool and implemented by the state, is a model for the rest of the nation. It is a research and evaluation tool of all state agencies (including the IHL Board and the 15 community colleges) networked under the Governor’s office.

      One example he cited was the economic importance of  coordinating all the efforts of the Departments of Correction, Human Services, Rehabilitation, and Education in workforce training of prison inmates  prior to their release.

      The Mississippi Policy Academy designed by nSPARC is a sector-based data-driven framework partnering private, government, and other public organizations to promote target sectors. “The National Governors’ Assn.  named it one of the five most innovative strategies in the country and other states are coming to study our system,” Parisi said.

      Another example he cited is called Mississippi Momentum WIRED, which promotes expanded metal-related manufacturing sectors throughout an 18 county  region.

      A project with the Mississippi Manufacturers Association (MMA) is identifying critical workforce needs and incentives for increasing competitiveness of manufacturing within the state.

      More effective response and effective use of national emergency grants in such emergencies as Katrina, the closure of  major plants such the Sara Lee facility in West Point, and BRAC (military base realignment and closure) is the focus of another project.

      Parisi said the Center’s reputation resulted in a call from the mayor of Chattanooga asking for strategic assistance and workforce evaluation in 28 counties of the tri-state area. The city was competing as a site for construction of  Volkswagen’s first U.S. manufacturing facility and subsequently was chosen by the company.

      Among the other projects touched on were those directed at workforce development among low-income families in the state, increasing the role of the state’s public universities in economic development, and developing statewide integrated longitudinal systems for workforce development from early childhood through graduate and professional school. 

      In closing, Parisi said “I have a personal passion for research. Industry wants knowledge so you must align university, government, and industry. We have successfully built this partnership within the state and we are now working beyond Mississippi.”