The Maryland Space Grant Consortium in partnership with the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, the Governor's Workforce Investment Board and Maryland Works is conducting a 2002 Maryland Workforce Conference on Nov. 22. It will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Applied Physics Laboratory. The conference will provide a forum for Maryland business representatives, educators, workforce development professionals and other interested parties to discuss methods of developing, recruiting and retaining a properly skilled and productive workforce.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Gov. Parris Glendening have been invited to speak. Plenary sessions will discuss workforce demographics, current and future workforce needs, barriers to meeting those needs and actions the community can take in overcoming those barriers and creating a workforce to meet current and future needs.

Morning breakout sessions will focus on items that may apply to all economic sectors, such as ways to expand the current workforce and preparing the future workforce. The afternoon sessions will focus on economic sector needs. The five tracks are science and technology-related industries, health care, manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, and transportation and distribution. The final session of the conference will highlight near- and long-term solutions for each of the track's key recommendations.

Approximately 300 business executives, human resource managers, academia representatives and government and nonprofit professionals are expected to attend. To learn more and to register, go to www.mdchamber.org/workforce.pdf.